AIBU to formally tell HR I think new employee is too slow and potentially a liar?

[simbale]

I work closely with a new employee. They joined from another company and it was known that they didn’t really have the right experience for the job, but hoping they can learn fast.

This employee is a nice person, but they are just so slow. We have tight deadlines and she never wants to tell me an exact time she will finish something if I ask “when will X be done?”. She just says “hopefully by tomorrow” rather than “by 11am tomorrow”.

Recently I had to work really late to finish a work product because my boss was chasing me for it, but the new employee had sat on it because she didn’t know how to do it and was “busy”.

I recently found out that she has been telling another manager of my level that she couldn’t take on more work for him because she is super busy with my work. She told me the exact same thing the same day, that she couldn’t take on more work for me because she was super busy with his work.

I don’t know it, but it sounds like she is playing one off against the other to avoid work. AIBU to put this in formal feedback with HR?

I obviously don’t know for sure, and she seems very eager to learn when I have time to train her.

I accept that it might be too strong a word but it certainly isn't fair

I don't know what high pressure environments you have been in but none of the ones l have seen have particularly comprehensive training-it's just too labour intensive. Who it benefits is the company itself training, support and mentorship are all extremely expensive and very few work environments have enough fat on them to provide this, you have to have plenty of unused working hours to deliver what you describe- I agree it benefits everyone but it certainly does not benefit the bottom line.

The words “when I have time to train her” feel like maybe the issue is she’s not getting the training needed to succeed??

is this the case, because if so, you can’t blame her for not wanting to take on more, and for being not up to speed yet

I mean, there are two kinds of high pressure environment - there are real high pressure environments where you're making decisions that mean life and death and you have to be able to do so under pressure, such as hospitals, emergency services, etc. These types of environments tend to have very strong and structured training periods.

Then you have environments which are high pressure due to poor management or culture, where no one will die if you don't respond to an email within an hour, but you're made to feel like they will, and the pressure comes from understaffing, arbitrary and unrealistic targets, lack of proper training and support, and a culture of competitive overworking, and valuing the "bottom line" over the long term picture.

Again what is your role towards her? Are you her manager, are you fully responsible for her training?
If you are not her manager wind your neck in or speak to her manager. Don’t say she’s potentially a liar, say that she is feeding back that she has too much work on because she’s being given work from different people. Report facts not judgements.
If you are her manager you are a pretty poor one. You are giving her no clear guidance on prioritising her work and no training. You are critical but vague and are causing stress.

This

I don’t think OP is coming back somehow.

I think you’re being a bit harsh as 3 months isn’t long enough to be competent in a new job. You need at least 6 months to feel like you know the job well enough and be able to complete it quicker. Just have a chat, like a mini review and catch up to see how things are going.

4 hours training in three months. Christ.
As a person who has worked there for six years, what's your plan to support her and ensure that proper training is provided?

Was thinking this myself. If it was known that she didn’t have the requisite experience when she was hired, did the company just intend to throw her in with no reasonable training and hope that she coped? Doesn’t sound particularly professional or ethical…

This.

Precisely this. And some high pressure jobs (e.g solicitor, consultant at one of the Big Four) do have very structured training.

Words out of my mouth. There are so many good responses on this thread.

Last time I handed over a role it was four solid weeks of shadowing, each of us doing two weeks in the other's home country (the team was cross-border).
I can't believe you think that 4 hours training is a lot!

Most high pressure environments are actually about money not life and death,it is these that won't take the time or money to train people with so much at stake ,why would you,you just recruit people with experience or quick learners.

This, way too early for formal processes, but I would mention it to Line Management - after speaking to her from a position of curiosity- "we seem to have mixed messages here, I understand from x that you said you could not take on work for them because of work from me, and you had said to me that you could not take work from me because of work you were doing for them. So I am not sure what is going on here and would like to understand...." Then when she bullshits, I would raise with manager that you are not sure quite how she is coping.

You sound horrible! I was a manager and four hours training was done the first day! Four hours in three months is not training! Hopefully she goes to HR and tells them about the lack of you training her and you bullying her.

I've Trained people more than that for simple zero hours jobs or bar work! Come on OP. She’s not done the role and has been set up to fail frankly.

I wouldn’t want to work with you ! 🙄

Poor woman will be scarred for life after 3 months with you!
You sound exactly like a person I was unfortunate enough to work with a few years ago.

If the job is about answering queries via email as implied by your requirement for her to respond within an hour, you need a ticketing system so that queries can be logged and progress tracked.
If the job is something else and you are expecting a response to emails within the hour whilst she is supposed to be working on other tasks, you are fostering a culture of unreasonableness and harassment.
On top of that, during probation there should be regular touch points where competence against the job description is evaluated and training gaps identified so that the employee is supported to meet the role expectations by the end of the period.
You sound incompetent in terms of training and supervision of others, and your behaviour and lack of skill in this area is a barrier to a productive workplace.

You need to be giving her time managed deadlines for work. I had a colleague on the same level as me who made me miss deadlines. When I started saying I needed something by x, it meant I could demonstrate she wasn't making deadlines. Give as much warning as possible and give 12 hours lead time! If you need it by end of day tomorrow then "first thing tomorrow" is the latest time you should offer.

Spend five minutes each morning with them prioritising what needs to be done and check in what work they have for the other person. This way you are covering your own butt about their workload to make sure it's reasonable and achievable. If you are doing all of this and they are claiming they have too much work to do you'll then be able to talk to HR about it.

she may not be lying, she could have work from both yourself & the other manager & has no capacity to take on any more.

Also, i would not give someone a time the work would be done by, saying by 11am as per your example, may make her feel too pressured.

have you sat her down 1-1 to ask about any problems/time issues?

I think we all agree with you. Toxic.

This. Cardiac surgeons and firefighters work in actual high pressure environments, where rigorous training and clear expectations prepare them to do so consistently and well.

Shitty start ups and ‘we’re like a family’ companies with no proper onboarding or processes and a lack of boundaries merely like to THINK they’re ‘high pressure environments’ 🙄