To not push an employee to do more?

[itsallbowlsbaby]

I started a new role six weeks ago and have inherited a small team based all over the world. Three of them are young, ambitious, eager to progress. One of them works at a very large site and does all the admin for it, and therefore is quite insular and self sufficient. She also speaks a different language. She's been there 20 years and is considered part of the furniture. I've just done her mid year performance review and it's very clear she doesn't want to do any more, take on any more, broaden her role or do any additional training. She's quite happy doing her job and going home. Says she has no capacity to take on any more. Thing is, MY boss wants her to take on more but by the sounds of it, she will push back. I'd be quite happy to leave her to it and focus on the younger members who do want to further their careers. WIBU to just let her get on with it?? She's late 50s if that's relevant.

And she is probably doing so much more than most people can see - it just gets done and you don't notice it until she's on annual leave.

Lol , it's all about doing extra, getting yourself "out there" (why, who cares if someone in Middlesbrough knows who I am?).
It's tick box, literally tick box.
Maybe one call /trip to share information but it is never just that. It has to be a regular thing, as if processes change month on month!
And this is on top of the day job btw, I am paid to do 7 hours a day but mostly I do 8.5 hours a day DOING MY DAY JOB. How do I fit in this extra crap?

I think there's quite a bit of projection going on here...

One thing I would say is that people who are good at their jobs make it look easy, they use their skills and knowledge without thinking. I'm guessing that if she left you'd find out exactly what she does. I'd leave her if it's possible.

Your line manager can promote her and include that added responsibility along with new title and pay grade.
It is utterly ridicilous to expect employees to "do more" year on year for the same recognition.
Also, unless you work in a kebab shop, do not call your line manager "boss" lol

Oh I'm sorry @LondonFox. "My line manager..."

From my manager? Or me?

So boss wants to use her as some sort of diversity token while ignoring the reality than middle aged middle management women are largely ignored when it comes to actual money paying promotions within an organisation?

All they want her to do is share some information about how things work in her department to help other departments.

I work hard and there’s an expectation for me to share knowledge and train younger staff - there’s nothing in it for me, I take in more responsibility without recognition or promotion, yet the young go getters don’t have this responsibility - how is that even fair?

Why should I share the knowledge I gained by reading the procedures, attending training sessions when we have a training team?

Methinks the lady doth protest too much, why wouldn't you want a career?

Yes, if he wats more he needs to actually promote her and not just exploit her

Neither! From other posters in this thread.

I was very much of the review that having a few people in the team who are a safe pair of hands doing their "thing" with no wish to progress was actually quite an asset. Those areas kept themselves going with minimal intervention and I could focus on helping people who wanted to develop their careers.

The only time it would be an issue would be if there was very much a need to change for logical reasons and they were resistant. It's not worth upsetting a solid "plodder" just to indulge the latest corporate fad

All sorts of reasons. I have health issues which mean I have taken a couple of steps back down the career ladder and don't plan to progress again as I need to keep work at a manageable level

Meh,."line manager" is more unwieldy that "boss"

Some people aren't interested in career progression. I slogged my guts out to get promoted & my pay only went up less than £200 a month for a ton of responsibility. I stuck it out 5 years & then reverted to my previous grade, it simply wasn't worth the effort, especially when I went part time after having ds.

How to piss off a good employee, a stable 'do'er' that most managers love having a few of, for solid reliability. To satisfy a dick/twat of a boss, who is your manager. Lord save us from such plonkers as him!

55 year old menopausal woman who can do her job with her eyes shut. Can you afford to lose her, easily replaceable? Bet not. You'd have to hire 1.5 people when she leaves.

But new boss's idea is to take away all the easy bits of her job that she likes and can do with her eyes closed and give them to a junior employee. and ask her to do new things, more challenging, for the same money, (salary). it's hysterical. Let's watch and see how this pans out shall we ?

This. I don't think the manager is being unreasonable here at all. He's not pushing her for a promotion she doesn't want, he's just asking her to do something as part of her job that is slightly new/ different to what she's already doing. That's fine. It's how he wants to manage the company and he wants things to be more connected and collaborative.

If she's struggling because of workload then he/ you of course need to find a way to help her manage, but being so averse to any kind of change/ new way of doing things is very unhelpful.

As someone who managed teams of up to 100, the backbone of the team were the people who were happy to do their (usually less complex) job and did it well. They didn’t want progression or more (not everyone does) and you were able to ‘set and forget’. I knew that they’d just methodically work through and get it done. To force them into doing other things (which was not part of their basic job description) generally ended in less productivity. You were also able to place additional focus on developing those who wanted more/progression. If you have to do this, maybe work out how you can gain an understanding of her ‘best practice’ and then you look to write it up and promulgate that to others.

As to the term ‘boss’ you use what you want. In some workplaces it’s used as a term of respect. Nothing to do with kebab shops.

It's not exploiting someone to ask them to work in a slightly different/ more collaborative way.

Being paid to do a job doesn't mean that job stays the exact same for 20, 30, 40 years and nothing ever changes. You have to sometimes adapt to different ways of doing things.

Horrible.

My manager is the same and it's causing major issues. He wants us to push our team to be more visible, take on more challenging projects outside of their job description etc.

And he wants them to want it, because why would anyone be different from him?!

It's causing major issues in one of the teams, they are relatively low level admin type role, over 50 individuals, and don't give a crap about career progression.

I am trying to recruit someone new, and he is pushing back on my top candidate because he lacks progression potential when he is the most qualified individual for the - quite technical - role.

I bet that's what others in the team are thinking though...not right or moral, but if someone is just sitting comfortably and leaving others to do the grunt work that's surely unfair.

Methinks the lady doth protest too much, why wouldn't you want a career?

I'll turn that around - why should anyone want a career? Yes the money aspect, and status, but some people have other priorities.

As I said above, been there, done that, been broken by it. I'm now early 60's with pretty bad arthritis and rather fragile mental health. I also don't need to prove myself any more, which I think a lot of people obsessed with pushing themselves up the career ladder are. Yes more money would be nice, but the additional effort, stress and responsibility aren't worth it to me. I do my job very well and at the end of the day get in my car and forget about it until I get to the office the next day