'Micro-Influencer' Manager Forces Employees To Build His Personal Brand On Company Time: 'Glaring Red Flags'

A marketing professional has caught social media's attention after revealing that their 'micro-influencer' manager was forcing other employees to manage his personal brand on company time. In a post titled, 'Manager is a micro-influencer on LinkedIn - uses office resources to amplify it," the professional explained that the manager, who served as the director of marketing, routinely attended networking events as a participant and as a speaker when it had nothing to do with the company's official events calendar.

The employee highlighted that the manager had picked one of the team members in the last year to maintain his LinkedIn account and grow his online profile.

"Throughout last year, he made one of our team members maintain his LinkedIn account. The posts had nothing to do with our company's voice on social media - they were purely personal with very scattered company updates," the professional wrote.

"My work friends from other companies who saw his company updates post often commented that he was giving a line-item breakdown of everything we were doing - including hiring and firing information."

The company CEO also noted that the manager was sharing too much information. "Nobody other than the Marketing team knew that his account was being handled as a job responsibility by a company resource. He then fired her last month," the employee said.

Highlighting that these 'glaring red flags' had them concerned, the employee said the manager pushed vendors from his personal network to the company.

"I have also noticed he has a tendency to push vendors from his personal network for company activities in India. His vendors charge higher than market rate most times and he calls our shortlisted vendors cheap."

Check The Post Here:

Manager is a micro influencer on LinkedIn - uses office resources to amplify it
by u/Rachel1702 in IndianWorkplace

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As the post gained traction, social media users advised the individual to file an official complaint while others speculated that the manager was receiving kickbacks for pushing certain vendors.

"Gather evidence and escalate to the CEO," said one user, while another added: "Be anonymous. Document everything, take photos, screenshots, recordings, collect all the evidence. Then make a case saying that all this has been happening since ages and he is a sly weasel."

A third commented: "I wouldn't be surprised if your manager is getting kickbacks from the vendors. A lot of times people work with vendors they have previously worked with because of the existing relationship and ease of working with."

A fourth said: "My last company had a manager who was also using his known vendors to get kickbacks. I am assuming this is not a massive company, most likely - leadership knows. They're either complacent or complicit. Don't risk it."