To take this higher even though it could cause stress for a lot of people…

[Jessforless]

Long story short, I manage someone at work who is absolutely terrible. They have no respect for me and I suspect do almost no work. I in turn have become ridiculous, over praising them for the smallest of tasks, asking them for things that are the bare minimum in their role and when they say no, I just do it myself.

This person previously went off with stress several months ago when I pushed back and HR are having me keep a list of all incidents. There are so many (like, 6 to 10 times daily) that I can write something down on this sheet. Them going off with stress and kicking off previously caused issues because they have been at the company longer than the rest of us in the team and keeps ownership of passwords for a few things. Them wanting ‘autonomy’ in their role meant that it was negotiated with HR that they would keep ownership of these accounts.

I’m at the end of my tether. I actually cried this morning at the idea of logging on and predictably, first thing they’re not online, still not actually, and nothing I asked for by today has been done. I feel like I don’t have a choice but to go to HR again and ask what the next step is… but then everyone in my team is going to have serious work issues without the passwords they have and won’t give us.

Sorry, I think this has become a bit of a confusing rant. I just don’t know what to do and I feel really low. It feels like a selfish thing to make everyone else’s lives harder as I think they will probably just go off sick again if challenged and it will be a nightmare like last time.

Passwords can be reset. The company needs to take ownership of the problem. You need a paper trail of jobs you've asked for that haven't been done. Make it clear that you/others can't do your job because they haven't done there's.

Take back control. This isn't something you should be crying about - that's a sign that the stress is taking over. You need to take a step back and deal with it by the processes that exist for this very reason.

You're a manager why haven't you looked at the performance management policy and asked HR for support in implementing it? Yes it can be a long process to performance manage someone out if their job but you need to start now.

They should not be allowed to keep ownership of passwords which has the potential to impact other members of the team doing their job. Put a stop to that right now, use IT to reset the passwords.

Stop praising them for doing a shit job, they are not a child. If constructive feedback on their performance leads to them going off sick with stress then clearly the role is beyond their capabilities.

Right, sort out the passwords thing immediately.

This is a failure for the company operationally and from a security perspective because of having a single point of failure, also she's basically holding you hostage which is a ludicrous position to be in.

Are these for systems where the company (not her) have a relationship with the supplier?

If so just contact the supplier directly and explain that you need an additional system admin to be created on the account. Ideally this would be a couple of people in the It function that allocates access to new users and removes access for movers/leavers, even more ideally this would be operated via SSO which would be implemented by your It team.

If not then you need to look at creating new accounts and moving over to them, they need to be centrally managed with clear rules around who has access to do what and how that access is given and taken away.

Then set a very clear performance improvement plan with SMART objectives and set check in points, manage her to that plan, if she doesn't meet the target by the deadline move to the next stage in your company process. She'll either improve or be managed out.

There are plenty of corporate password managers that allow passwords to be shared amongst teams.

Surely as their manager you can tell if they are working or not, so your opening sentence of 'I suspect do almost no work' is odd

You need to take control of this, get them on a performance plan, and manage them

Stop letting them walk all over you

The first step is someone else explaining that there’s a business continuity audit and single password holders have been flagged as a risk. Therefore it’s impartial and sensible. (Batshit that HR agreed they could be the only one with them).

Then you can start a performance management process. Follow all procedures, act fairly and then if it comes to dismissal you have no guilt or ramifications.

I once had a role where the person I line managed objected to someone being appointed above her, so claimed she was stressed at the slightest thing, implicitly threatening that she'd take a couple of months off sick - she had form for doing this.
I was relatively new, the organisation wouldn't address the issue, so I cut my losses and moved on. Life's too short to put up with that shit.

How long has the person been there? If less than 2 yes (with no protected characteristic) talk to HR about getting rid. If longer, start the PMP and then if the person goes off, the absence msnagememt route. You are managing this person, so you need to be proactive.

The first step is someone else explaining that there’s a business continuity audit and single password holders have been flagged as a risk. Therefore it’s impartial and sensible. (Batshit that HR agreed they could be the only one with them).

I've deduced that disaster planning and business continuity are things other people do. Certainly in the UK. When I started it was the "under a bus" scenario. Which upset more sensitive souls, so it became "winning the lottery". Either way, if you don't have a plan to account for key personnel being permanently unavailable at short notice, you could be in a very sticky situation.

These things always baffle me; I appreciate it's not easy, but why on earth isn't anyone stepping up to actually manage this - unless it's public sector which would explain a lot?

Granted any kind of action will probably prompt her to "go off sick with stress" again, but even this - come to that even protected characteristics - don't have to be a barrier if someone won't perform as opposed to can't

Basically management need to get their act together; it''s not much use complaining that an employee won't function if they won't either

I’m sorry, why are you asking if it’s worth the effort of you doing your actual job ? The one you’re paid for as the manager?

if it’s too much stress and effort for you to do your role then maybe you need a new job or a performance management yourself?

INSANE work placed behaviour!

Honestly, I have proactively managed this as much as I can, but am constantly having my hands tied by HR. As a PP said of their situation, this person will be stressed and go off sick if challenged in any way and I absolutely don’t agree with the way HR are wrapping them in cotton wool to protect themselves. This person is a very vocal complainer and threatens formal complaints against people for the most ridiculous things.

in terms of not knowing if they work very much, they profess to be working on X and say it takes them all week to do, however, when I’ve done X when they’ve been off sick it can literally take less than an hour. If I question this, the stressed and sick issue arises. But I’m sick of it, I need HR to do something now. They have told me it’s essentially really hard to fire someone, especially when they are prone to making controversial complaints about being triggered etc.