Colleague taking the p***

[stressedboss]

I am a supervisor with a staff of 15. At any one time there are 5/6 staff on duty. One of the staff has recently returned from a long period of absence. Since returning she is not pulling her weight, but only when I'm not there to see it. She is being careful to be seen to be working normally when I am there.

There were a number of issues which came to light whilst this person was away - things I had previously been unaware of - regarding duties she was not carrying out, confidentiality, general attitude towards other staff.

The other staff are becoming very unhappy (understandably so). However, as I am only aware of these things because they are telling me, not because I actually witness it myself, how do I go about resolving it without dropping them in it? Any help or suggestions are very welcome!

Do you have a HR department to advise you?

Do you allocate work to her? It should be obvious if you give her X amount of work to do, and it isn't being done. You can also pull her in to tell her that there have been issues raised to do with confidentiality /attitude but that you want to discuss this with her and not make an official disciplinary matter out of it on this occasion. In many cases, that will give the person enough of a fright to make them sort themself out a bit.

You can also ensure that other staff don't feel pressured to do work for her when she is responsible for something, so that it becomes more obvious that it hasn't been done.

Sauvignon - no, there is no HR department as such. My own boss is aware of the situation but is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

None of the staff have work allocated to them in a measureable way - it's not office work. I don't want to say exactly what type of work it is as we're all women and I don't know if any of the others are MNers.

She will know that I've been told by the other staff and unless someone is willing to say something officially, or something really serious happens, I don't see how I can raise it with her without involving the other individual staff. I have mentioned a couple things in a roundabout way so she knows I'm aware of them. That caused an unpleasant atmosphere between her and the staff she suspects of telling me.

It's maddening that all this is going on behind my back and I can't seem to find a way of dealing with it without involving other people.

Why can't you say 'it's been brought to my attention' or 'I've been made aware' or something? You don't need a formal individual complaint from another team member to address performance concerns that have come to light in the course of discussions with other team members.

Are you concerned she may bully your other team members or something? I'm sure they'd rather you dealt with her than otherwise, plus if there's always 5/6 on duty it shouldn't be a case of her being able to pick on one person or anything.

Might her absence have anything to do with her poor performance? Was she definitely well enough to come back to work? When addressing performance concerns with staff who have returned from long term absence you need to tread much more carefully in terms of providing plenty of support and establishing whether there are any background health/other reasons for the performance problems.

Do you have regular supervision / appraisals? Can you get her to identify the failings with carefully worded questions?

As flowery suggests, if this were me, I'd have an informal chat. I do this fairly often. I try and keep a calm and collected - even kind - atmosphere, letting the person know that things have come to your attention, asking what their response is, do they feel these are fair comments, and letting them know that because they have come to your attention, you must raise them, and any issues must be addressed.

and then talk about the support you will put in place, and the improvements you need to see.

flowery Yes, I am concerned she may bully the people she thinks are responsible for telling me. I realise that this could then be dealt with formally but don't want things to get that bad. Her absence isn't anything to do with the performance - it was going on before that, although I was unaware of it, because it's only when I'm not there. However, she will try to blame things on her absence and I am treading very carefully for that reason as you say.

blinder We do have appraisals - and they are due soon - so I should sit down and draw up some questions.

Thanks for all your replies & suggestions. Up to now I've been trying to protect the identity of the person(s) who are telling me about these shortcomings. However, if it continues I think I'll just have to bite the bullet, be direct and deal with the consequences. It used to be such a nice place to work and it is sad that one person can cause such upset amongst others.

Sorry hairylights, I posted before seeing your reply. That sounds ideal - wish I could come and see you in action! What do you say if the person asks who brought it to your attention? Do you do this even if you have been told something but asked not to say anything? After our last chat, she went back and made pointed comments in front of the person she thinks is telling me. She also gossips & whispers with another member of staff, making others feel uncomfortable. It's all pretty pathetic playground stuff, and as adults people should (and can) be able to deal with it, but it just makes for an unnecessarily awkward atmosphere and creates a divide in the team.

I say that I dont think it's relevant who brought it to my attentiion and see no purpose in disclosing it, but that what is important is ensuring issues that affect the team are dealt with. I also say that the issue isn't about who has mentioned it, but about the issues being raised.

I thunk you need to raise with her the issue of gossip etc. Make sure she knows that it isnt acceptable to discuss the issues raised with others. And be firm but fair.

She should leave feeling that she's been nobbled and needs to sort herself out.

What was her work like prior to the absence? Was she great, average, pants?

I have often used in the initial stages the cheesy tactics of " I wanted this chat with you cos' I am concerned..... How are things since your return? Blah Blah.... Settling in ok? Because I am a little concerned that you are finding it hard a the moment to achieve/complete ( whatever it is you do). Which is understandable after your absence. So what can we do to help you to get you back on track?"

If she bullshits that nothing wrong or who has been talking just calmly say it's been brought to your attention and you've noticed it yourself and that things need to improve so this is to discuss on how you can help her do this.

That's the sort of thing I rehearse over in my mind but it never seems to come out that way! You do sound very calm and collected, I'm going to have to practise. I hadn't had any supervisory experience before this post (as you can probably tell!!!) and am pretty much learning as I go along.

Maybe I'm trying too hard not to incriminate those who are telling me these things. It's more than one person who has mentioned these issues. The morale of the team and the effect that has on our overall performance is more important. I wish she would slip up and do it in front of me - that would make it easier to deal with.

Sorry, that was to hairylights

Pancakeflipper - I'm ashamed to say that I thought her work was great before she went off, because it was when I was present. Without going into too much detail, because I don't want to be recognised, our work is not measurable in a tangible way. I won't be able to go in tomorrow and see what she did after I left yesterday. I will only know whether she has or has not been pulling her weight by what the others tell me.

There are a couple of minor things that I've noticed myself so the approaches that you and hairy suggest sound ideal. I can start with them and see where the conversation goes!

The last 'chat' we had left her realising that I know more than she thought about how she's acting. However it also left me thinking of all the other things I could/should have said at the time, and other issues have been raised since. I think we are going to have to have another chat ...

I would end your 'chat' with a "let's catch up next week and see how things are eh?"

So she knows you are fully aware things are not good.

There could be a genuine reason for things not being good. And we all have peaks and troughs at work and times we act like utter dick-heads ( or is that just me and my colleagues?)for various reasons.

Is she feeling undervalued on her return? Kinda pushed to the side lines when she was top dog?

If she was off with illness is that still causing problems?

I would be calm and appear kindly at first. But firm. If there are genuine reasons then she has the opportunity to talk to you and you have provided the opportunity to help her to work to a more positive position.

Have you got a manager you can talk to? Just for ideas and tactics?

stressedboss

When I am in this kind of situation and need to talk to the staff I have to write it all out first so that it is clear in my head. I usually have the notes and refer to them/add comments and replies throughout the meeting.

The employees do not think this is unusual as I am the HR Manager and they know this is how I operate.

I agree with the post above about talking about returning to work and how she is getting on etc.

Don't forget to document/write down what is said at the meeting so that you can recall it accurately later and if needs be use it as the starting block for performance management.

She may be feeling undervalued on her return but without wishing to seem harsh, that is the result of her own actions. She has been 'found out' if that's the right way to put it because things have improved while she's been off. It is hard for anyone to return to work after a long period but if she hadn't acted the way she has then things would have got back to normal more quickly.

That probably makes me sound unsympathetic but believe me I'm not. I have bent over backwards for her in the past and offered support and sympathy up to now. There's a lot of history here that I won't go into as it would take all night. I do feel that I have been taken for a ride and now see her true colours. However I will remain professional and not let my personal feelings cloud the issue.

My manager is not very helpful in this situation. There is so much I can speak to her about but TBH unless it causes a major division in the team and impacts on our 'service', she will just listen and nod and then do nothing.

I'm feeling more confident thanks to all your replies and will make sure I've thought my comments and proposed questions through carefully before I speak to the member of staff again.

Update us won't you cos' I am nosey

Powdermum - That's a good point about writing it down prior to the meeting and also making a note of what is said. I didn't do that after our last meeting and therefore have nothing to refer to now. I will make sure to do it from now on, thank you.

You're putting me on the spot now Pancake - I'll have to come back with something positive now won't I? Give me a couple of days though ...

I write it out too, and I use my notes as an aide
memoire during the meeting.

Thanks to all for your words of wisdom. I have to go now and sort out DSs homework which won't print for some reason. I will give an update and hope it's a positive one!

You have a week!

I did a post about a colleague invading my desk with bananas and stuff and I wanted to know if I was being precious. The MNetters on that thread were brilliant and I could feel them all with me when he 'invaded' again and knowing I had to report back on here made me be really brave for me and say something. I could not return to the boards saying I was a wimp - I'd have been lynched.