AIBU to be pissed off with my employee?

[Fueledwithfairydustandgin]

I have very recently employed a new girl to help with my horses. She wasn't quite what I was looking for in the level of her experience but I liked her and maybe saw a bit of myself in her and decided to hire her and train her on the job. This isn't totally ideal in that I'm busy and this is another drain on my time. It's being going ok but on Tuesday she contacted me to let me know she wouldn't make it in due to the snow. I was a bit annoyed because it wasn't that bad and I could have picked her up from the village as I've done before to save her mum (who drops her off as she doesn't drive). It meant I was left with a yard full of animals in the snow and a toddler on my own. She has just contacted me to say she won't be in this weekend because she went to her granny's to help her out with her horses (45mins away, we live 10 tops) and is now snowed in there. My PILs have just driven home via that way no trouble. I am worried because she needs lots of training which I'm loathe to do if she's going to be unreliable. She wants to bring a horse here which I'm happy with except I would have had yet another animal to look after. I'm worried I will seem like an unreasonable bitch if I sack someone for not turning in when the weather has been so horrific but I feel the whole thing has been a bit unprofessional.

Did you actually offer to pick her up either time? She probably doesn't have a 4*4. Offer to pick her up tomorrow and if she makes excuse then she clearly isn't a dedicated employee and find someone else.

Get rid

POsted too soon.
More hassle than she’s worth.

They do have a 4 wheel drive. I didn't offer but she said she didn't think they'd get to the village.

Hard to say. Partly it depends on what you're paying. Minimum hourly wage and no salary, then imo you are getting what you've paid for. Paying a decent rate or salary then you are entitled to expect better.

Also depends why you took her on in the first place when she was lacking experience. Eg nobody suitable interested, in which case even if she's a piss taker it might be better to keep her till you can find an alternative.

But even if you're paying peanuts and are a nightmare boss, I'd be hugely concerned by anyone wanting to move a horse on unless they were dedicated enough to crawl through snow if needs be to take care of it.

I'm paying double what she'd be entitled to. There was other people but there was something about her I just liked. I want to be able to treat employees well and with respect but I expect the same in return and it seems unless you're a cow people just take a lend so bloody frustrating

Occurred to me that she may not need the money and therefore will not be a reliable employee. Surely if she wanted the money and you offered to pick her up in your 4WD then she'd jump at the chance to get to her job.

Hard to say. Partly it depends on what you're paying. Minimum hourly wage and no salary, then imo you are getting what you've paid for. Paying a decent rate or salary then you are entitled to expect better.

What a load of shit. It doesn't depend on what you're paying, you pay what the job is worth to both yourself and the employee's time and experience.

So you're saying anyone paid minumum wage in any job, they can toss it off, because they're not being paid more, and employers should just suck it up and deal with it?

I think you need to be very clear.

contact her again and say something along the lines of "we agreed xx hours per week/day, and that is what I need from you. I'll do all I can to help you get here, but if you're not able to make it, then I'll have to look for someone else to do the job who can be here."

I’d give it another couple of weeks. If her parents won’t drive her in the snow, and she doesn’t drive herself, her options are quite limited.

I agree with Biker. That attitude is just ridiculous.

I’d be wary, OP. She’s not sounding that committed and reliable.

Do you take into consideration that her perhaps her family don't feel happy about driving in snow?

It’s not her fault you hired her when she’s not exactly what you wanted - you’re acting like she owes you something. You could have picked her up but you didn’t offer? I’m afraid you are being very unreasonable.

differentnameforthis The OP said she would pick her up in the village.

I used to see an issue a lot managing teen-agers in retail- their first job, still living at home meant that they just hadn't learnt yet what was expected. Their parents would be the ones calling in sick or telling us when they needed to start early to fit it with (parents) driving them around and we'd have to politely point out we hadn't employed the whole family, and the child needed to manage on their own. I would give her the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like you're mad at your expectations which you really can't blame her for. Offer to pick her up and make it clear you expect her to honour her commitment to the job first (nicely).

Is she dependent on her mum to get to you? It may be more her mum than her IYSWIM. If you are sure about the reasonableness of them getting around in the snow and if she's young and she could do things other than get her mum to drive her, I would tell her you need a bit more dedication and see if she bucks her ideas up and uses some initiative to get to you. But if she's got no way to get there other than her mum, I would just tell her it isn't working out, because in that case whether it's her or her mum, it's a block on you getting what you need..

Charolais But she also said that she didn't actually offer to pick her up ...

I didn't offer but she said she didn't think they'd get to the village.

In my experience stable hands are paid way less than the legal minimum wage so even if you doubled it I doubt it’s very much. Pay more and be clear on the terms and conditions of her legal contract including days and hours and hopefully you will get better output from your workers.
Where I live pretty much every business has shut down for the last few days and will be tomorrow so she’s not unreasonable I’m not making it to work.
Employing kids is cheap but if they’re lucky they’ll have family supporting them and no doubt her family discouraged her from working rurally after all the red weather warnings.

I’d give it another couple of weeks

Well I wouldn't. You just do everything under the sun to not get sick or miss a day of work during the first few months.

This is a job that many people would give their eyeteeth for, which is also partly why the wages are so low. Someone who really wanted to work with horses would be even more concerned to make sure they got in on a bad weather day.

Is it possible that just because you or you PILs feel safe to drive doesn't mean that she does?Not everyone has the experience to feel confident driving in conditions like that.

I'm aware it's likely an excuse but maybe just something to consider.

I think YABU
There has been red and amber warnings for a reason and those warnings have included advice 'not to travel'. I don't think you should sack somebody for following the advice.

I'd offer to collect her from home since you have a 4x4. It sounds like you are quite rural and her family have concerns about driving in the snow. Possibly fearing to that she/they could get stranded.

She may have travelled to the grandparents with the logic she could sleep over if the weather gets too bad.

How do you cope with your horses on her days off?

I wouldn’t give her more time. It sounds very much as if she comes from family with money and doesn’t understand or hasn’t been taught the implication of not going to work. I imagine her parents aren’t that fussed about getting little Jocasta to work for few quid an hour. Maybe there was something about her you really liked but even directors in multinationals make mistakes and employ people, who interview well and are then diabolical at their job. As a pp said, if she really were passionate about horses, she’d be going the extra mile to come in.

Give her a chance. You can't judge someone's overall reliability on what happens during heavy snow. If she's rubbish you have two years to fire her.

I think the responses would be very different if this was an adult being fired because they didn't want to risk driving in poor conditions. Some real reverse snobbery on the thread, with assumptions she doesn't need the job or is some sort of spoiled little princess - because it's horses? Surely everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.

How old is she? How much do you pay her? You can't just sack someone because they were unable to get in to work due to the snow. That's not just being unreasonable, that's breaking employment law.