No one likes a tattletale at work, yet some sneaky individuals often go to great lengths to gain clout or become the boss’s favorite. And in one Colorado employee’s case, he discovered one of his co-workers had been ratting out others in the firm by using a LinkedIn Premium subscription. For those not in the know, LinkedIn Premium grants subscribers detailed information about users on the site and is usually used by recruiters. However, one person was using it maliciously to report their co-workers in the company who were applying elsewhere.
In his post on r/mildlyinfuriating, the employee shared his story of how he found out about this traitor using LinkedIn Premium to rat him out. His boss suddenly called him into her office and joked, “Don’t worry you’re not fired.” However, she then explains how someone in their company, who’s not HR, has used their LinkedIn subscription to determine that he updated his work experience and could be looking for new employment. She then started interrogating him.
“Are you happy here?” she asks, to which he replies that it’s upsetting that he’s being secretly monitored on LinkedIn by HR. The boss states again that this ‘snitch’ isn’t HR but that what they do is “more of like a hobby…weird right?” She eventually lets him leave, but he quickly emails HR, saying how malicious it is for someone posing as a recruiter to track his social media activity for non-business reasons. He admits he has used it to find recruiters, but “wasn’t expecting someone to buy a $170 premium license to become a recruiter/ private detective.”
Many people in the Reddit post’s comments strongly believe that the boss is not telling the truth about this undercover “co-worker” using LinkedIn Premium to rat out people. Instead, they assume it’s the boss who’s just lying to pose like she’s the “good guy.” “She’s definitely the person doing it,” reads a top-upvoted comment. “That or she’s got someone directly reporting to her that does on her orders,” deduced another. One person chimed in, saying how most HR departments of medium to larger sized companies probably have subscribed to LinkedIn Premium.
Regardless of who the actual LinkedIn Premium stalker or rat in the company is, several commenters urge OP to start looking for employment elsewhere. As one person puts it, no one would be a “fan of this shady type stuff.” And unless OP is willing to delete their entire LinkedIn account, their privacy has already been compromised.
