Director repeatedly displaying polarising behaviour
Hi,
I am HR director in a call centre type workplace (250 people), part of a huge company. I sit on the site's senior leadership board, with all other directors. Our finance director has always been a "character" and not one for political correctness, but over the past 2 years or so he has clearly been influenced more and more by far right rhetoric. This has become more and more obvious.
He doesn't cross the line of saying actual racist/islamophobic things, at least not in a way that we can actually intervene. For example, we may get second or third hand comments long after the fact that he said that the UK should sink or shoot at small boats, but nothing anyone can actually corroborate.
He does however create an uncomfortable climate for some employees by openly talking about his love of certain figures such as Tommy Robinson. This is also combined with a generally poor management style (ordering people around, micromanaging, giving negative feedback in public, talking to people in an unpleasant tone in general). People working for/around him are in disbelief that nothing is being addressed.
Truth is, this was partially addressed in writing as part of a formal grievance where he received clear feedback on his management style, but also clear guidance that as a director he should not be discussing polarising topics in a public setting. This was effective for a short while. Following another report (not a grievance), he had a strong "talking to" from our superior. That was 2 weeks ago, and this week he is talking again about how this weekends far right rally in London with Tommy Robinson was great etc, for the whole office to hear. this has been reported informally.
I'm unsure how to address this. I don't think it meets the requirements to be addressed under our harassment policy. I don't want to be accused of curtailing free speech and find MYSELF on the receiving end of a grievance. I also don't want him to continue making people uncomfortable, setting a bad example, and making the rest of the leadership team especially myself look like we don't care about inclusion and diversity. Currently, everybody thinks we are letting him "get away with it" when we should be acting.
Any tips?