A brief background, my dh and i run a small food shop business with 8 staff, 3 who work in the production side and 5 who work in the shop. An employee, who for this thread i will call sally, has worked there for 6 years. I took some time off with my dc during which time she was hired and i came back to work last year for 3 days per week.
I would describe sally as quite hard faced and can come across as a little agressive and intimidating at times. Amounst the currant staff, she has also been there longest by 6 months and will use this to make others think she is in more authority so because of this she did not like me coming back to work last year (my dh has always been there but is not as hands on as me with staff in terms of making sure everything is done the right way.)
Since i have come back i have stopped some things sally was doing such as ensuring she starts work on time (she was coming in 2-10 minutes late a few times a week,) stopping a little fag break she was sneaking in 30 minutes before she went home and stopping her having a snack put by each morning for her breakfast (staff are allowed to have food within reason on a break without charge, the snack she was having put by was something we were selling out of everyday and staff are not allowed to "put by" anything for themselves.) She did not ask my dh if she could have this put by and if she had the answer would have been no. The staff member who she intimidated to put it by for her was told off.
Just to add i am quite a quiet person and i like to let the staff in the shop get on with their work because the other 4 staff are very capable and pleasent and i will pick up miner problems when they occur. When i say to the other 4 staff can we do it like this or change something they are all very nice and accepting and do what is asked. When i go to sally i get attitude and she can be very hard to tell something to.
So sally was not impressed i was back and became more moody. My dh had a word with her at christmas about her attitude and moods, she blamed me for her moods. Upon investigation my dh discovered she has bad moods when i am not in work (so cannot be all my fault) and discovered the other staff cannot stand sally, hate working with her and say the atmosphere changes when she comes in. They also said she is very lazy and they do not like telling her anything personal because she like to stir things up to get people into trouble.
Things went quiet for a short while, sally and i don't really speak on a personal level and she can be very difficult to deal with proffessionally. In the past few weeks my dh has been busy doing house decorating so i have been at the shop more.
My dh had left her instructions to put the hot food in the oven for delivery at a certain time - then she will ask me who is doing the hot food and will put it in at a different time my dh has said.
I have asked salads be done in a certain way to keep things uniform for the customers - again she is the only one who goes against this and does them a different way because she doesn't like being asked by me to do something. When i pick her up on it i get attitude and "okay."
I have called her out to say hot food is ready to be delivered and will be egnored (sometimes if she is serving she will not hear which is what i assumed she was doing) and when i go out i find her stood against the side chatting to another member of staff doing nothing.
In catering we have a safe food book which has been clearly stated to all the staff what cleaning jobs need to be done and be written in the book. Upon closer inspection today i see she hasn't written in it at all - the other staff have. I pull her aside and ask her if her writing isn't in the book because she has done the jobs but not written it in the book or because she isn't doing the jobs? Her answer was she was too busy, i point out to her that she often stands propping up the counter chatting. She then tries to use the excuse "i don't know what the jobs are that need doing" to which i remind her it is written on the wall what extra cleaning jobs can be done and also say she can ask or look through the book to see what other are writing. Other staff inform me she is lazy and doesn't want to do the cleaning.
So today i suggested a meeting with me, her and my dh tomorrow afternnon to go through the issues. She clearly has a problem with authority and undermines us at every oppertunity.
Obviously i want to handle this calmly, fairly and legally. So tonight i am writing down the issues we want to raise with her and how we want them resolved. This will be an informal meeting with her so do i set out a timeframe for said issues to be resolved or see what she has to say? The jist i get from when i have picked her up on things is for her to deny being told or shown (which i know she has.)
Sorry about any spelling
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Problem with member of staff
25 replies
problem163 · 10/07/2013 16:59
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