difficult employee - help needed please

[Pingu]

I think that the problem is that the company is small so they don't really have much experience in dealing with staff as they are close knit - the accounts manager is have a problem with one of her clerks, she has been off sick for 15 days and only been in the company 5 months, she is always late, makes mistakes etc and the accounts manager needs to address these issues, the MD and HR lady won't back her, saying that they have no grounds - they are also very scared of putting anything in writing which does concern me as they just don't seem to either know what to do or want to do what is needed - as for looking for somewhere else to work - I have no reason to leave as I have done nothing wrong - I will just present the MD with all of the errors this lady makes and let her deal with them and I am sure, when she starts to compromise the MD's position then the MD will do something especially when it comes to the accounts side as the MD answers to finance director who will not be happy if revenue is not in because my staff member has not delivered, if the MD turns round to me and says I am not managing my team I will throw all the proof that she is aware that there is an issue right back into her face and CC the finance director on the email too - she will then move her butt into gear that's for sure

tbh - good luck with that.

all that will do is alienate people. people dont like it when the chain of command is subverted and i can pretty much guarentee that it wont be your md who comes out of it looking bad

 

[temper_tantrum]

Yeah, I think you need to document everything fairly as part of an existing, fairly-applied process across the whole workforce. And you need to 'take ownership' (ugh) of the situation - if you're the line manager, then you need to be seen to deal with it (with management support in advance where strategically appropriate, of course).


Edit: performance management procedures are about far more than annual appraisals, incidentally. If your firm just uses them as an annual butt-kicking measure, then they're missing out. Monthly progress meetings at minimum, really. And you set very clear goals and targets.

 

[Space Girl]

tbh - good luck with that.

all that will do is alienate people. people dont like it when the chain of command is subverted and i can pretty much guarentee that it wont be your md who comes out of it looking bad

if my staff member needs dealing with and my md does not want me to deal with her then all I can do is document the issues and give them to the md clearly stating what the issues are and my concerns regarding the MD's decision not to address the issues then if it goes tits up and the financial director gets involved and they point the finger at my dept I can clearly show that I was aware of the issues, tried to address them and was directed not to by the MD but I don't think that the MD will take that route as once I have documented all the issues I am sure that she will not be willing to ignore them as it will reflect on her and if it does get to the stage that the financial director wants answers then he will come directly to me for an answer and I will let him know the truth and if that includes telling him that the MD is aware then so be it, I am not going to take the blame for something that I was told to ignore

as for taking ownership of the situation, I am more than happy to do that but I have to have my managers support otherwise it just won't work

I am not sure how they do PDP's in the company, but I know how I like to do them and I really think they are good as long as time is spent on them, we used to do them twice a year at my old place but review them each month if things needed to be done by each month - we did not put pdp's in the same pot as kpi's - these were done monthly with the more senior staff and other staff had them yearly unless there were problems where we had to micro manage them then kpi's were done when ever they needed to be done

 

[Pingu]

some punctuation would probably help in your report btw.



in all seriousness you need to be careful. you are comming across as "new broom". what most small companies want is not 100% efficiency but low levels of hassle. yes imo she needs to change the attitude but you need to make sure you fully understand any interpersonal politics and relationships that exist otherwise you are going to fall on your arse. Make sure any changes you are looking to impliment stay within the culture of the company and dont be too radical too soon.

 

[Space Girl]

i totally agree with you there pingu but I also have been given a remit which is to get it up and running efficiently and to make changes as the new owners are not happy with the way it runs and quite rightly too - I know what I have to do will cause distress but I have a job to do and my first one is finding out how the hell to deal with this one staff member so that she becomes part of the team that is needed to move the business on to where it needs to be

 

[butchersapron]

New owners - ah.

 

[Space Girl]

I know that change is going to be scary and maybe that's what the problem is with this lady that I am having probs with, maybe she realises that her work is not up to standard and she is getting defensive because I am looking into working practices and if she diverts my attention it may give her time to sort her work out - don't know but maybe this is the way she is looking at things....and as for the md - she is part of the old business and she has a remit too and I thinks that it conflicts with the way she has always worked - she knows we have dead wood and problem staff (as well as some excellent staff) but she has never dealt with it, she now has to but it goes against her previous ways of working and I have come in and have started to do what I have been employed to do, and that includes sorting out the issues, maybe the MD does not like me taking the lead in this but it is she who has told me to do it so it is going to be a confussing time for me I thinks

 

[London_Calling]

I suspect you're going to have to play a long game and go with the flow for a while. Perhaps your short term goal is to make sure you fully understand the context and get the boss fully on side - there's something about the boss going to her house that seems a litte odd, perhaps there's more to it. I'd build that relationship first.

So I'd concentrate on the boss first and roll with the punches in relation to the employee; it might be hard to bear but you're also giving her enough rope - more examples of her behaviour with the accounts manager, for example.

 

[Space Girl]

yep, you are right london calling, I have now told the employee that she is aggressive etc so it's not like she is unaware and that I have swept it under the carpet so I think i can leave it to see where she goes whilst I deal with the other issues which I can keep the MD in the loop about, the employee I am sure, will be the dealer of her own destiny as I think as the business progresses the MD will see that there is no room for staff who don't perform or who have an attitude problem, and the more the MD sees me standing up to the employee she may also feel empowered to do it too, I think the MD has been shouted at by the employee too but she just has swept it under the carpet, we need to work together to deal with the issues so she does need to stand by me and not go running to the employee just because she is upset about being told her attitude is wrong

 

[trevhagl]

I think a lot of it boils down to silly unreasonable ideas from those at the very top - creating more work for people when there isn't the man (or woman)power to do them.
We had auditor in the other week and it's turned the whole place into a farce , we now have to book appts every 90 min instead of 60 min so less people get seen, and no one is better off as it just means a whole lot more typing.
Maybe the girl from Somalia is intelligent, and is proper pissed off at needless work being created, whereas dumb people just do the work and don't ask questions?
Must be frustrating being a boss when those up top have no idea of reality/practicality though

 

[Space Girl]

no more work is being created, I am trying to get rid of the stuff that does not need doing and automate the humdrum stuff that has to remain - she still finds fault with all of this too despite the fact she has been involved in all the discussions about it - I have no porbs with her asking questions and wanting more info - it's just the way she does it that is the issue - no one takes well to people shouting and being in your face for no reason