How do you deal with huffy people?

[DunelmDoris]

So I'm an employee in a small business. I'm one of the more experienced and therefore senior members of staff. Recently I asked a junior colleague to do something (a fairly simple task which even a new graduate would be expected to do, and which I would happily do myself even though it isn't my area of expertise). I got a lot of grumping about how it wasn't something the staff member was comfortable with doing and they might get it wrong and then get in trouble and lots of sighing and drama. This person probably wanted myself or a colleague to rearrange our own work to do this job instead. To be perfectly frank I'm sick of this individual stropping about being asked to do the work they are employed to do. All of us have to do things we'd rather not, it's the nature of our job, and life is much nicer for everyone if we can work together to get things done with good humour.

Anyway, I stood my ground and the job got done but not without a lot of stomping feet and grumping. I talked the staff member through the task, giving suggestions for action depending on the outcome, so it isn't like no support was offered. And this individual has several years experience so they aren't exactly being thrown in at the deep end.

I'm taking the attitude that childish behaviour will result in being treated like a child so I totally ignored the stroppy crap and stood my ground. But it's terrible for morale and I'm not sure if there's anything else I could be doing. My seniors are aware and supportive but the challenges come with handling the huffing day to day

Perhaps your seniors need to grasp the nettle and remind the huffy employee that they are there to work, and that means getting on with it and not getting into an adolescent strop?

Who is this person's line manager? Why are they not dealing with the behaviour?

It's a small business, so there's no structured HR system to fall back on. Seniority is determined by experience. My senior is answerable to the owner of the business, and does most of the managerial stuff, but isn't always in the office and the rota dictates that I work with this person a lot. And as this person's senior I just need to be able to handle (or preferably extinguish) this behaviour.

I also feel responsible for other staff members who have to put up with it. I feel that if I can stand up to the crap it exposes it rather than facilitates it, but it's just whether that's the best way to handle this person. They are also frequently brusque or rude, needlessly so, which again isn't good for morale in a small workplace where we are all generally sociable and friendly.

Do they report to you?

I would hold a separate meeting to discuss the issue. I would say that I had received comments about their conduct from other members of staff and wanted to find out if there was a problem and, if so, how you can resolve it. Make it non-confrontational and get them to open up. You'll then get their side of the story. It could be that everyone is giving them the drudge work. We all have to do things that we don't like doing but perhaps they might just be justified in their whining.

Equally, they might just be a pain the bum and need a kick...

I still don't understand who is responsible for this person? Are you her line manager? Is your "senior" her manager? Does anybody know? Whoever it is, you need to speak to them and get them to deal with it. It does sound as if this person is taking advantage of the fact that there is no structure to get away with unacceptable behaviour - or they may be feeling completely demotivated if no-one appears to be responsible for them or providing coaching, appraisals etc.

People need to be clear who they report to. If you have no clear mandate to manage this person it is going to make dealing with difficulties very challenging.

I would press the business owner to clarify that issue for everyone's benefit asap. It's nothing to do with the size of the business- many of my clients are tiny businesses but all employees understand who they report to.

I'm not sure this is about handling a huffy person. It sounds more like confusion over roles, tasks and reporting structure. It's not enough for your seniors to be aware, they need to act. A team meeting that clarifies everyone's roles, responsibilities and reporting structure would help.

YY your colleague might just be huffy but they might also think you're asking them to fulfil tasks that they don't see as part of their role so a meeting to clear the air can only be beneficial. They sound unhappy in the workplace and if you are their manager then tbf you do have to manage and motivate them. An appraisal meeting would provide a good opportunity to do so.

If I was supporting a staff member throughout a task then I would think either they weren't capable of the task in which case it was a learning opportunity and I wouldn't resent them for needing my support. Or if I felt they could complete the task then I'd be questioning why I was needlessly interfering. It's not clear to me from your OP which it was in this case. If they didn't need support, you should have left them to it. If they did need support, then I don't understand why you resented having to provide it.

I've been told in the past by the owner that I have the all clear to pull her up there and then if she's causing a problem.

The thing is it isn't like most businesses - most of us do the same job, but have varying levels of experience. The most experienced member of staff is the person in charge at any time. Actual managerial stuff is done by my senior with input from the owner.

So this employee doesn't report to me, however, in the absence of our bosses I'm in charge. I wonder if it's the fact that she seems unclear on this that's the problem? Although she's stropped out on our bosses before as well! I think she's just got an attitude problem. If I was the boss I'd be having a serious word, but I'm not, and they are aware of the problem, so all I can do is manage situations as they arise.

It was an unpleasant task which she didn't want to do. She periodically tries to get out of things, or when asked to do things she says "I'll have to do x first" or "I'll need to go and get y before I can do that" - it's just superfluous information, we're busy, get on with it and stop stalling or trying to look for a get out!

I offered support because she was trying to claim that the task was too hard. Yet this person has several years' experience and the task is one that we would expect a new graduate to cope with. I don't resent offering any of my colleagues support - work can be tiring and difficult at times - but I do resent flouncing around. The support took the form of talking through the task beforehand and discussing the action to take depending on what happened. I did this to mitigate against claims that the task was beyond this person's abilities. If it's truly beyond their abilities then they're in the wrong job, although to say that would have been unkind so I didn't!

And this task is definitely part of our role.

Imagine a retail assistant having a huff because they couldn't possibly work the checkout and might get it wrong. There's a much greater degree of skill involved in the task in question, but our job is a skilled professional one and the task in question is not particularly specialised or niche.

The bosses have created a confusing structure. tbh they need to formalise it in a meeting with everyone present so everyone has the same understanding. Unless you're being paid to manage her and the owners have formalised that structure with everyone then I don't think you should manage situations as they arise. Your colleague might think that as everyone does the same job, she doesn't have to do what you tell her to do; and she might resent having work allocated by someone whom she considers to be on the same grade/level.

It may just be that the fluidity of such a structure really doesn't suit your colleague. In which case, she is going to be unhappy until she leaves.

Or she might just be a huffy person who hates her job in which case she's still going to be unhappy until she leaves

That's the structure of our profession I'm afraid. And we have been told, in a meeting, that the most experienced person is in charge at any given time (it had to be spelled out previously for other reasons).

Still a bit unclear about the lines of responsibility as you are in a position to delegate to a colleague which makes me think you are ultimately responsible for the task and must therefore be responsible for the supervision of the task. If this is not the case and your role is more one of allocating workflow to the most suitable team member then I would be inclined to give the task to the Huff and leave them to get on with it and suffer the consequences if it gets done wrong. Would be reluctant to leave myself exposed to being accused of bossing about an equal etc etc.

Allocating workflow - that's exactly it. And of course the task wasn't done wrong. This person is lazy, not incompetent

Maybe they don't see you as a senior. Being there longer does not automatically make you their supervisor unless you have that written into your job description. Maybe they see you as an equal which technically you are and are fed up of you treating them as a junior. Maybe they feel that you are giving them all the jobs you feel are beneath you, despite you being on the same level. Maybe they have started a thread about the older person who refuses to pull their weight...

It is the managements fault for not having clearly defined roles within the company. If the management valued you they would actually make you a supervisor and pay you as one

Honestly it's not a question of being bossy, it's a question of whether it makes any sort of sense for two members of staff, at an exceptionally busy time, both to drive 25 miles to the same destination because one of them doesn't fancy doing a task and would prefer another to do it. Or for the whole team's workload to be rearranged at the last minute to accommodate this person's desire to avoid doing a certain task.

The most experienced person present being in charge at any given time is different. That's a fluid thing, and is fine for the purposes of day to day operation. The person who is responsible for managing someone needs to be a fixed thing though. If someone has a tendency to be huffy, to be off sick a lot, or any other ongoing problem, then one single person needs a mandate to manage those types of situations.

agree with auntiedee's observations