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.

Wow, you sound awful.

I wouldn't worry, it sounds like she will leave soon, and I hope for her sake she does.

She was taken on in the full knowledge she did not have the experience for the role and would need to be trained. Yet she has only had four hours training in three months and her manager ( OP) seems to expect her to produce work to the speed and accuracy of an experienced staff member.

she is learning. She will be slower and will make more errors than a fully experienced employee. She will need proper training and support to do the role.

At the moment, this is an organisation/ management issue, not an employee issue.

Your workplace sounds like an absolute shitshow. No proper management structure, on boarding or support, colleagues with ridiculous self-imposed email response expectations. No wonder the new joiner has started to feel dispondent.

This.

If I were her, I’d be reporting you to HR.

OP you sound like a nightmare colleague.

Wanting to report a new hire to HR, expecting her to reply to your emails within 1 hour and giving her 11am deadlines...

Indeed it sounds like she is spending all her time having to deal with your nonsense.

If you have a real issue speak to your line manager but to me it just sounds like you are being unreasonable and should not be supervising or training new staff at all.

HR person here. Never fails to amaze me how many people see HR as the all seeing, all knowing workforce police. 99% of my interactions are with management, as it should be. You need to tell your manager, it's up to them to then come to HR if they need advice on how to deal with it. Not you.

The four hours was 1:1, she has had loads and loads of training videos or presentations otherwise.

that is utter bollocks. Read it back again. And if you are going to say "but i managed" then shame on you.

the "when i have time" comment shows her you are not at all invested in training/helping her.

When she started she was quite chatty and excited about the role, but now she just seems withdrawn and that comes across in the standard of her work.

Look deep inside yourself and ask yourself why this might be. It should take you less than 5 seconds, we all spotted it and we're not even there.

I have spoken to her on multiple occasions about how she needs to be faster and improve her work.

A) how are you giving this feedback?
B) how are you monitoring her progress?
C) how are you helping her correct errors?

We don’t have formal policies on responsiveness but at her level she should be checking with people.

So your one hour rule is absolute time-sucking bollocks. "at her level" she should have a buddy or a mentor all the time at the start, and then slowly getting up to speed on her own.

The only time she has admitted to struggling is when she told me she was getting reasonable workplace adjustments put in place so she can take a bit longer sometimes. But this just sounds like another way to avoid meeting expectations.

Your expectations or the expectations of the person who gave her the job? Was she taken on with lack of skills because your company, for a completely mysterious reason, can't get someone to stay at your company? Also "reasonable adjustments" - that sounds like a legal requirement. Be careful.

TBH, it sounds like you want her to fail, and are subtly bullying her, hence the change in her mood. You might not be the one who goes to HR...

You do sound awful. She clearly needs more training and support. Your onboarding procedures aren’t good enough. Four hours of training plus videos aren’t enough. And you are hassling her to reply within an hour and to be faster. Are these demands written in her training guidance. Otherwise she’ll have a case against you for bullying and harassment.

I bet this company has an atrocious Glassdoor score…

Your workplace sounds like a mess

you sound like an overzealous loser. It’s 9am on a Sunday, do you really have nothing better to do than fantasise over your colleague getting some type of disciplinary action over this? Do you have a life outside of work? Is this colleague younger and prettier than you per chance?

Realistically, disciplinary processes are fairly straightforward for performance issues. It all starts with the line manager though, which you are not. So why you’re so overly invested, I’m not sure.

People learn in different ways and spending 4 hours shadowing a colleague 1-1 sounds like a nightmare, is there nothing written that she can refer back to? It sounds like a low maturity environment.

How much training is she supposed to have? How much experience was needed before she took the role on? You mention it was known she didn’t have the experience needed before taking her on, so why hasn’t training being provided? Realistically this is down to poor management because you say in your OP “hoping they can learn fast” well how is she meant to learn if she’s having the equivalent of 1hr 20 mins a month of training / support? Are you her manager? Have you set out your expectations clearly? Eg “Sophie, you need to prioritise emails; I expect a reply within an hour or it holds up my work load. I expect priority client reports to be done and submitted within 24 hrs, and non priority reports to be submitted within 48 hrs. Here is an example of the report set out we follow, please make sure you use this format for all clients. Here is a list of terms and their meanings that we use, please either memorise or keep a copy handy. Are you familiar with using CAD (or other computer program) if you aren’t sure look at booking yourself on the in-house training / external course as soon as possible OR Is there any equipment / software you are not confident using? If so let’s set aside a date for me to go over it with you”.
If you are training her you need to make sure she can follow your instructions. It’s amazing how many people are brilliant at doing their job, but absolutely terrible at explaining in layman’s terms to those they are training.
Just as an aside 4hrs training in three months is a waste of everybody’s time, you need to set aside a proper amount of time to get her up to speed with office protocols.

In her shoes i would be asking do you want an answer to the emails or do you want the work done because you can't have both. You can't interrupt someone's work and then complain when it's not done on time.

I put the feedback here into her HR report. We don’t have line managers per se. I am much more experienced than her, I’ve been in this type of role for around 6 years total, she’s less than a year in

It sounds an awful environment to work in with no clear management structure. You’re not this woman’s line manager yet you’re feeding back to HR on her performance, insisting she answers your emails within an hour, telling her she’s not fast enough, editing her work without giving her feedback on how to improve, have given her little to no training and to be frank you’re sounding like a bully on some weird power trip. Be careful how you treat people on your way up OP, you might meet them again on your way down…

no wonder she is so withdrawn if you are cracking the whip as you describe

The more you respond the more it's clear that it's you and your organisation @simbale not the new employee.

YOU and your employer are the problem. Again. YOU and your EMPLOYER not new employee.

The average up to speed time in a new role is 6 months.

Nobody will be a carbon copy of you. Unless the work is not up to standard (not just not how you would have done it) you cannot blame the new employee for having to "spend lots of time editing"

You sound controlling and you are suffocating this woman without giving any actual support, constructive feed back ("get faster" is not constructive) or proper training based on her needs and how she learns.

In short. Your a bit of a dick.

I agree.

and now she is having to resort to getting reasonable work adjustments put in place
this can't be a real scenario?

What op has written

What do you think HR will do? God if every manager went to them with as something as minor as this, they'd have no time for anything.

She does sound quite irritating and shit but you also don’t perhaps sound the best manager. If you need something by 11 am tomorrow you tell her that, not just asking vaguely when it’ll be done by

Does she have a disability?

I'd say not from the OPs post immediately before your question!