If you are a manager, what would you do with this employee

[CrawleyJ]

You hire someone full time (37.5hrs) to do a job which has always taken previous employees 37.5hrs to do.

New employee changes processes/way of working and the job gets done in a quarter of the time and to a higher standard (we can measure the metrics). Employee then requests other work to do as now under employed.

However, other employees are not happy to hand over their responsibilities as its part of their job role. When employee went on annual leave colleague covered their job role. Even accounting for new process put in place they couldn't do it in the same amount of time as new employee can.

We now have the problem of a) this job only takes a portion of the time so job role is changed to reflect that, employee leaves as needs full time hours and job cannot be done by someone else in that time. b) find other work/projects for employee to do, however other staff reluctant to hand over their responsibilities to someone else. c) Tell employee they are under employed and maybe would want to seek work elsewhere (we have no promotions coming up)

Employee was given a project to do, delivered 3 days before deadline to a v high standard.

I am at a loss as to what to do with this person (disclaimer I am not the line manager, but a line manager across and up from her iyswim!)

@Ilovesausages, do you think that mums can't be managers?

You need to be managing the process and the staff need to fall in line. Tell staff who don't want to do the new process , the new process is x and I'd appreciate if you complied. The evolution of being successful in this job role is for you to now do x instead of y, can I trust that you will evolve with the job?… There's no "no thank you". It's not a choice.

Totally agree with this. I don't understand why staff are being allowed to bumble on inefficiently and say no thanks to a new process.

I'm not a manager, I admit, but have been a bit on the other side (but I was temping and only doing data entry so might not be applicable).

You might find that, no matter how well it's written down/process explained, nobody else can do it that fast. I could get through about twice as much work as the other temps and went to the loo/got a drink just as much. It was partly because I'm a quick typist, but also because I'm good at patterns — I learnt the process very quickly and could repeat it easily and reliably.

So you might just have been lucky that you got somebody who could not only see ways to streamline the process, but is also just very good at it! Is there a new project coming in where you could hive a bit off for them? Otherwise I agree that study/CPD would be good.

Management must be very poor to effectively have slow, lazy employees running the show and dictating that no process efficiencies can be implemented.

That employee will probably move on themselves quickly enough, knowing that management are so poor.

Effective management would create a role for this employee, to specifically look at different processes with a view to greater efficiencies.

Just because the person is younger shouldn't impact that decision.

It certainly wouldn't in most major corporations.

It must be a government work place.....especially when you mention long term employees having expectations based on longevity rather than ability.

It must be a government work place.....especially when you mention long term employees having expectations based on longevity rather than ability.

This stuff happens a lot at SME private companies, too. It's common to find someone who's worked there for years, has a huge attitude and nothing can be done about it, especially if they're a family member of one of the directors. This is definitely not just a public sector problem.

if I was the manager id be wondering what to do with the other employees......

This ^

Also, from a managerial POV I find it quite buzzard that you have given 3 options and 2 of them involve the employee leaving. Surely listing an employee should not be an option at all, let alone twice. So as well as wondering what to do with the other employees, I would be wondering wtf the management team are all about.

And yes, highly unprofessional to post on Mumsnet in the first place, identifiable or not.

@Ilovesausages I called you Billy Big Balls, not Billy Blue Balls. Get it right. Your Freudian Slip is showing. 🙄

There is a culture of complacency amongst the 'old guard' as it were. Employee offered to help one of them change a way of doing something to make it more efficient and was told no thank you. It was changed eventually and has made a difference but hasn't helped with people not wanting to hand over work.

D) Start managing the old guard effectively.

StrictlyAFemaleFemale

She's charming, too. Just a bit porkier.

I like the comments about devising a sort of mini programme for them and one or two others? encompassing different aspects of work. Could you poss invest in some training in people skills as well? Could you introduce a sort of "champion" programme for example for health and safety, or equalities or plain english, or environmental issues and get them and Other(s) to take on various aspects? Or working in the pandemic?

I've had one of these - we talked about the whole situation, I promoted them, raised their hourly, and cut them down to three days so overall pay stayed the same.

We've had this. We brought them through the ranks and they're flourishing. Studying for professional qualifications while taking on new projects.

Get them a mentor if you have anyone suitable internally, look externally if not. They will need support to be an outlier if there's a culture issue.

Accept you may lose them despite best efforts and maximise their input while you have them - I'd get them making recommendations to replicate their efficiencies across other departments.

The old guard thing is a headache - we've nearly dealt with that but it's been a long, painful process. You need to overhaul your culture to reward effort and productivity.

It sounds like actually everyone is a bit underworked, and that's why people won't hand things over - they know how it'll look when new employee does everything they do in a quarter of the time, too.

This ^

I think it's time the company introduced a "high flyers programme", with your employee the first recruit.