WWYD: Team member accidently sent me a...mail

[Junestepe]

WWYD: Employee accidently sent me voice note via TEAMs outlining how they were hungover in work today. They were supposedly WFH and didnt attend team meetings were uncontactable for large parts of the day, they provided excuses BUT they just accidently sent me a voice note meant for a friend detailing their hangover and elaborate cover story for not attending meetings/not working today!!!

Employee is senior, established team member who can go rouge from time time but over all is a solid performer.

WWYD: How do I handle this? Person works full time remote. I don't want to fire them...don't want to involve HR..but I want deal with this appropriately and send the correct message so the incident is never repeated. I'm a new manager so your advice appreciated! Thank you

You can't let it go - if you do you're setting a precedent that this behaviour is acceptable. The team member, unless they're an idiot, knows they sent this to you and will have a record of it. If pulled up on behaviour in the future that employee could say 'well Manager X is ok with it as did not respond to my voice mail of Y date where I accidentally revealed I had been hung over'. Doing nothing potentially puts you at risk, as it should because you're not really doing your job of managing if you just let this go.

I wouldn't do anything if it's not a pattern of work avoidance.

The kind of employee that would not only skive like this but also send messages to others telling them about it is the kind of employee who will take the piss.

Agree you have to do something. Either the “shall we call it half a day annual leave then”, or another approach could be to ask what their plan is to ensure all their work is done and how they are going to catch up on their missed meetings. It treats them as an adult but makes it clear that you expect their work to be done.

This.

I’ve only read the first page of this, as there are an awful lot of responses and nothing further from OP, but why are people assuming the culprit is a ‘he’? The OP did a very good job of keeping the offender gender neutral.

If the person is usually decent enough at their job, then I'd honestly not care. I worked with a guy like this and he was brilliant at his job but would - from time to time - do incredibly stupid (albeit harmless) stuff like this. I found it funny. I'd just reply to their message with 'did you mean to send me this?' or similar. They'll be mortified.

Everyone has a crap day sometimes - self inflicted or otherwise. Give them a break. I've certainly slacked at work on occasion - especially in my younger years - because I overdid things the night before.

If this is the latest in a string of fuck ups or they're generally incompetent or they hold others to higher standards than they model themselves then I'd handle it differently and I'd be speaking to their line manager (or to HR if I were their line manager).

Depending on who they've called in "sick" too, I'd press for annual leave rather than self-certification.

This, but a full day, and I'd look to review the full time wfh too. They're taking the piss.

There’s a lot to unpick here and I acknowledge that it is tricky
Firstly - currently you have done nothing wrong (yet!)
Secondly - you will need to be responsible for your actions, and the other people responsible for their actions.
You say you do want want them to lose their job - why?, and also you do not want to involve HE - again why? You need to justify why you, as a new manager think you know what’s best? These are questions that you may need to answer and be prepared to justify why you decided.
Fundamentally, the person involved would typically be considered for misconduct, however the cover-up lies and deception would IMHO fall into the gross misconduct range (depending on the organisation culture) and misconduct for others who continue to cover-up gross misconduct - and this would include the intended recipient, and of course now you.
All Teams communication will be recorded and back-up by IT. It will be on record that you were notified, hence my point that you will need to be able to justify your actions or indeed your inaction.
Sorry but I strongly feel that you need to decide if you would want his actions to reflect badly on you?
I would go back to them, and ask them to account for their actions, and I would (atleast) make HR aware of the incident and seek guidance in how to proceed (as a new manager) delicately to gain experience on how to deal with the situation.
Utimately as a manager you will need to have the trust of the whole team, and your employer to do the right thing, at the right time, in the right way…… and not restricted by the conduct of others. Your team may welcome dealing with it “under wraps” but are you comfortable with this? If so you can justify your own actions with HR, but only you can answer for your own actions.

Well said @leaflywren

The HR reporters here must be absolute hell to work with. It doesn't make you harder, it makes you hate your job and want to leave.

I think we’ve all been hungover on a work day at some point but your employee was very sneaky, they skived for the day rather than calling in sick and joked/boasted about it with a work colleague. As their manager that’s what I’d take issue with.

As a homeworker you have to trust them. I would let them know that you’ve heard the voicemail and book a 1 to 1. I would absolutely insist they took a days holiday.

Note - your initial contact with HR can be confidential - especially to help with this being a learning experience for you as a new manager.
The advice from HR should no alter because of the identity of the individual concerned

This is interesting. I imagine this is different in different lines of work, that attract different personality types. A ‘solid performer’ in my role and industry would be, by definition, incredibly conscientious because of the sheer amount of work they have to produce to strict deadlines, and the rigour with which this work is scrutinised by others. Someone who’s capable of doing this work to a high standard js probably temperamentally incapable of taking the piss on the regular.

But I can see how a ‘solid performer’ in a role that relies more on charm / persuasiveness than meticulousness might attract people with a higher risk tolerance and a thicker skin.

The facts of the situation here are that he essentially skipped a day of work, because he was not fit to work due to having a self inflicted hangover. He involved a colleague (or even colleagues) in his cover up and he lied to his employer. In addition, he was stupid enough to send details of his deception to you!

You say that this person is a good member of the team usually, although not always. As a manager, I think you have every right to have an informal meeting with him one on one. You let him know that what he inadvertently sent you and see what he says. This is the most important bit. If an apology is forthcoming and he assures you it won't happen again, you say that you've noted that for your records and you don't need to take it any further. You then tell him that if anything like this happens again that you will have to involve HR. Make a note of the meeting and send him a copy.

If person's (a) a crap employee anyway, or (b) has 'form' for this or other scams, then take it further with HR and keep the evidence, to cover yourself.

If they are normally a good worker and it's a one-off, then tell him he's going to take it as a day's leave.... isn't he 😃?

@Junestepe

If it's a one off, I'd be inclined to say 'Woops, was this message for me? Let's discuss this at a future date' but then not bother to bring it up - make them sweat a bit but let them off 😅.

They could have pulled a sickie at the end of the day but they didn't.

Some employees are absolute time wasters day in day out, but if they're on the whole generally a good performer I'd just put it down to a one off and let them have this one!

This. You don’t need to say anything more…that’ll be way more effective than going ballistic at him (assuming it’s a 1 off)

If they’re that hung over they’ve accidentally messaged their boss without realising, they are likely to make mistakes that could bring the company into disrepute.
I would 100% let them know they’ve sent you a voice note!

Your message was sent to me in error. Let's draw a line but is there anything I can do to support you to avoid this moving forwards.

Shot across the bows but wrapped with support if needed.

Call them.
Tell them you got the message, very funny.
If there is a next time he can't work just remember you now know .
That you hope his hangover is better, and that you hope this is a one off...

Why would they need support? For what? 'Support' is starting to become a default position for sneezing, it's nonsense.

The half day offer is good. You don't want to be a pushover but you don't want to be an arsehole.

"Oh dear. Don't think this was meant for me. I can mark this down as a half day holiday if you like. Let me know."

The 'let me know' means that they have to address it and not just cringe and pretend it never happened.

But you are offering them a soft way out.

To me, that is good management.

Yes, it's completely proportionate to sack someone and take away their livelihood for a one-off thing which didn't happen in the workplace anyway.

You def need to call them out.

I think the 'I know you didn't mean to message this to me, but you did' is best to open up the conversation. They will be mortified and say whatever. If they offer to take annual leave then agree it. If not you'll need to say that you want to avoid involving HR, and ask them what are you going to do to support me?

They need to take annual leave for yesterday to cover the fact that they weren't working. This is the outcome you need. They need to take responsibility otherwise you need to go through a disciplinary with them.

Remind them that if you are under the weather or are not in work for person they need to take appropriate leave.
Make sure you say that you value them but you're shocked by their behaviour because clearly you are.

Oh for goodness sake. Sometimes you just drink a bit too much and get a hangover (I mean a real one where you spend the day in bed). I always laugh when people say they've run parkrun with a hangover. No you didn't. You had a bit of a headache.

It doesn't mean you're an idiot who's going to start bringing your employer into disrepute.

I agree with the idea to reply and suggest a half day's leave.

Good question! For me it's the word 'rogue'. It's so gendered.