Please help me line manage this member of staff

[Pleeby]

I’ve recently taken over a new team, I was forewarned about one member of staff. Not so much about her work but her attitude and behaviours. Since I started one member of staff has handed in their notice as they can no longer work with her and another one indicated they are looking for another post due to her.

Examples of her behaviour:

Arguing about everything with me. If I send out a “team actions” email, she will return it to me with red font reasons about why she shouldn’t have to do/can’t do something. Each point followed by a stream of !!!!!!!!!!

Constant loud huffing and sighing, banging desk drawers closed and files down on her desk

Eye rolling and sighing during meetings

I called a quick huddle and she sat at her desk not turning around. I asked her to get involved and she slammed her paperwork down, turned around and said “I’m busy”

Work rate is half what everyone else’s is. This is because she says the work is unfairly distributed. I asked everyone to give me a list of all of their responsibilities, it isn’t correct that she has more to do than other people at her level.

Gossiping and bitching about who ever is working from home that day (they are on a rota)

Refuses to sign into teams every morning when working from home. I have to call her and tell her to sign in each day.

It is ruining the office to be honest. My 1-1s are just people complaining about her. Her 1-1 she has cancelled the last 3 times.

Please give me some advice

[Bertiebassetsbabe]

Agree with others about speaking to her about every issue and making sure it’s all documented.

I’ve worked with someone similar and it’s not nice working in a toxic environment.

Good luck OP.

[AndromedaGal]

I'd be organising a performance/conduct meeting with her, with a fully briefed senior member of HR present. Just because you are a manager yourself does not mean you are an island. You must take control over this destructive situation, but with support. Be very careful of going into meetings alone with her, as you must also protect yourself.

You are not solely responsible for picking up the shitty stick here. You must involve HR - this type of scenario is exactly what they're for.

[HoppingPavlova]

Manage her out ASAP.

[Tistheseason17]

Does she have a copy of her job description?
What is in it?
Does she fulfil her JD?
If it's not reflecting what you need, update the JD.
Manage her to the JD.
121s, review if agreed actions etc
This sounds like gross insubordination which is grounds for dismissal. But you need to follow your company policy on documentation, reviews etc prior to action. Most dismissals fail as procedures not followed. Do not let her be employed more than 2 yrs if she is as bad as you say.

Or she could just be a poor misunderstood soul who has gone from one short term job to the next, I doubt it.

[Lifeisforalimitedperiodonly]

I feel for you, having an employee like this. There are several things you can do, some good advice has been given here already.

I would call her in for a one-to-one. There would be no excuse about cancelling it, you just tell her it is today.
I would then express concern to her. Don't mention that others are complaining and upset, just deal with what you personally have witnessed.
Tell her that is non-negotiable that she logs in onto Teams when working from home. You will not be calling her to remind her. If she is struggling with this, you can remove her from the rota and she can work from the office each day instead if it will help her. You will review this in two weeks/however long the rota is.
This is a professional organisation and we require professional attitude to the work and to our colleagues and clients. To puff and sigh and slam files and drawers is unprofessional and it will cease from today. You don't expect to see this occur again after she leaves the room. You are not happy with red font and exclamaation marks all over emails so that needs to end today as well.

This is her opportunity today in her one-to-one to make you aware of any issues that are causing her to act like this and you will help with them.
If she mentions workload, say yes, you have looked at this and are concerned about productivity. Say you may consider swapping a work area with another member of staff to see if there is an improvement, you will think about that.
At her next one to one you will review everything you've discussed. but hope that some things have been clarified for her in how she must conduct herself at work. You will be putting this all in writing to her.
If nothing improves then the next one to one will be a formal meeting or whatever is in your company policy in respect of misconduct.
Good luck OP!

[Shamoo]

Month one, raise every negative behaviour with her, tell her why it’s not acceptable and what you expect instead, and keep a record.

No change, month two, raise with HR and put on a formal plan in accordance with your company’s processes.

No change, month x (depends on how long your development plan is) get rid of her.

Keep constant notes of eg cancelling 121s, poor behaviour etc.

[MrsElijahMikaelson1]

You seriously need to manage her-there are lots of good plans above. It will reflect badly on you to not do so as her line manager-you’re basically putting her above everyone else

[pam290358]

Despite your reservations I think you do need to escalate this to your manager because at some point you have to make your mind up that you will either have to put up with this behaviour or tackle it properly through official channels. Staff have either left or are looking for alternatives because of her behaviour, so why isn’t your manager concerned about that ? I took over as office manager on promotion and had one member of staff who behaved similarly because she thought that it was she and not me who should have been promoted. Her behaviour was not quite as overt but it could be disruptive and she was very disrespectful of me. I took her quietly aside in private and explained the issues I had with her, made it clear that her behaviour was disruptive, would not be tolerated and that any further incidents would be met with official disciplinary action. It didn’t stop even after that and because I had made my manager aware of the problem before taking her aside, I had her full support when disciplinary action was necessary. You need to do the same. You’re paid to manage and unfortunately stroppy staff come under that heading.

[pam290358]

Oh, and keep a record of your conversation with her, copying her in on it.

[DeclineandFall]

So you have given it a year. Now you get a meeting with your boss with a report if you like and say- my recommendation is we need something formal done with her - be it disciplinary or performance planning, or retraining. Get them and HR involved. Then you can implement it.
There's no informally managing people like this

[MintyCedric]

Gossiping/bitching/attitude: next time.this happens, take her aside asap...tell her you've noticed her behaviour as have other members of the team. Everyone can have an off day but as it's a regular occurence and is disruptive and detrimental to a pleasant working atmosphere it needs to stop. Couch it in terms of 'is there anything bothering you' (in work or out if you have capacity to deal with that eg a staff support/wellbeing programme) that you need support with?

Send an email reminding everyone of the importance of following correct procedure when working from home and clarify the reasons for this and what steps would be taken if these procedures are not followed (eg late procedure as mentioned by PP)

When she replies saying why she can't do things are her reasons valid or just whinging? If the former, is there scope for shaking up tasks between the team. If the latter, ask her what support she needs in order to be able to fulfil those elements of her job description (ie turn it back on her performance).

Ditto complaining about workload...you have the same level of work as others on the team, how can we support you if you are struggling.

As for the refusal to attend PM meetings I would send her an email stating that I'd noticed she had declined to attend the last three dates an giving her an option of three new ones to choose from, and copy in your own manager and HR is applicable. She cannot keep shirking this.

[MintyCedric]

Goes without saying...follow everything up with email notes/clarification/confirmation.

[UrAWizHarry]

You need to do your sodding job and manage this person, or put them through a formal disciplinary process.

"Since I started one member of staff has handed in their notice as they can no longer work with her and another one indicated they are looking for another post due to her."

So basically you are putting this ineffective member of staff above the decent people. Nicely done

[Jaxhog]

@beingsunny

I've had one of these,
Go to HR and work with them on a performance plan. When they fail to meet expectations issue the required warnings.

AKA manage them out

This. And do it quickly.

[Sleepdeprivedmama1]

Give her a written warning (with the help of HR). I'm sure she'll either buck up or look elsewhere.

She knows she can get away with this shit, change that.

[pam290358]

@MintyCedric. I agree, and perhaps point out that if she spent less time bitching and gossiping she might get more work done. !!

[EarthSight]

'Since I started one member of staff has handed in their notice as they can no longer work with her and another one indicated they are looking for another post due to her'

This is a massive problem. People don't leave their jobs just because they don't like someone. They leave their jobs because that colleague is having a serious detrimental impact on their working life and emotional health. They can't stand to be around them anymore.

Teams are ruined not just because of bad employees. They are ruined by bad managers. Management who would rather stick their heads in the sand and carry o with their own admin than deal with confrontation, who would rather see all the other employees leave than deal with the problem, who would rather the rest of the time pick up the work that a employee refuses to do.

You are the manager, so I would like to ask you - why have you not been trained in how to handle this kind of situation? There has been no mention of you going to HR for advise - why? Do you not feel supported? Why is she so incredible as an employee that she cannot be sacked or given an official warning? What are her strengths because in order to stay, they must outweigh the negatives of employing her.

[Elderflower14]

I would line manage her right out of the building. Her attitude stinks and can't be good for the business or the people who work there.

[MagentaRocks]

You really need to take hold of this. I line manage some difficult people. One I inherited from someone else who did nothing about the issues, so I am then seen as the bad guy, but I am following our processes. I record every single interaction with them. I keep all emails. I log every conversation etc. They are now on a supportive development plan after a disciplinary. This way I can record how they are not improving despite my best supportive actions. It is hard, it isn’t nice to have the difficult conversations but it has to be done. My first and second line manager know what I am doing with them and I have HR assistance if I need it to make sure I am following the process correctly. I come up with a plan and decide what I am going to do and then run it past my manager and HR because of the complexities of this particular person, so they know what is going on when the person inevitably goes to them with half truths and tries to go over my head. It is time consuming and exhausting but needs to be done.

[FriteFuaite]

//www.askamanager.org is a great site for advice and help, both for employers and employees.

[crowsfeet57]

I’m not going to escalate staff issues to my manager at this stage

..and this is why she is behaving this way. she needs to know you have the confidence to take this further.

[amusedbush]

I line manage some difficult people. One I inherited from someone else who did nothing about the issues, so I am then seen as the bad guy, but I am following our processes.

This happened to my mum. She has 20+ years of management experience and when she took on a role a while ago, she inherited someone who was as you describe, OP. She followed the processes and tried to put the person on a performance plan, but senior management turned it around and fired my mum because they said she didn't have the skills to adequately manage her team.

Go carefully and take advice from HR/ your manager.

[Unsure33]

so OP you have had lots of good advice - and I would make sure you listen to the member of staff as well - so what is your plan ?

[Makingnumber2]

Support plan? You said she produces half the work yet has same level of workload as other colleagues. I would meet with her, state these 2 facts and inform her you'll be putting in a support plan to help her complete the same amount of work as the rest of the team- it will be in place for 2 or 4 weeks initially and reviewed at that point between the two of you.

Support measure could include: more 1-2-1s, discussing her work tasks, is she struggling with any aspects, how can she better tackle them etc.
Her reporting to you via email each morning what she is working on and what she will complete by end of day, then emailing you at end of day an update.

If her productivity doesn't increase then you can escalate the plan to something more formal at the 4 week review.
If she doesn't show up to 1-2-1s or engage with aspects of the support plan then you note it and have evidence she refused to engage with support that has been offered and can then refer up to HR/your manager.

[OnePinaColada]

Lots of great advice here. It's a difficult situation to manage.

I would:

1. Document everything
   
2. Speak to her privately regularly (at least twice a week) explaining what you believe is appropriate and expected and why (eg no eye rolling, huffing, and to log into Teams as it is unprofessional behaviour)
   
3. Follow up every private 1:1 with her with an email outlining what was discussed
   
4. Do tell her what you think has gone well. It's easy to focus on the negatives only and acknowledging the good things may motivate her
   
5. Outline clear consequences (e.g. disciplinary, performance plan etc)
   
6. Seek guidance from HR. They are happy to advise before formally having to go down the disciplinary route
   
7. Protect yourself. By doing nothing she may start grievances against you or one of your valued team members
   
   All the best. As horrible as it is, it is better to get this dealt with as early as possible as people like this just make the situation worse in time, not better.