Hi - I'm just after some different perspectives/advice. I work in local government and manage a small team. One of the team members has a track record of poor performance and a general attitude problem. The biggest issue is his attendance/working hours. It's a regular office setting and flexible working is welcomed but this employee seems to think it's perfectly acceptable to turn up to work at 11am most days and to be completely vague about his working patterns. I took over management of the team about 3 months ago and confronted him with this issue then and made it clear that I was on to him in terms of working contracted hours, being visible during core office hours and also discussed general performance. He was in the office by 10 the next few days (miraculous for him) but it gradually started slipping back. A few weeks ago his wife had a new baby, their first, and he took a week's annual leave and a week's paternity leave - all fine. Since returning to work his working hours have been even more random than before. Now, I know how tricky things are with a newborn so did try to encourage him to take longer off and but he insisted he was ready to return - except he's not worked a full day in the 4 weeks he's been back. The situation is further complicated by the fact the baby has been in and out of hospital for tests/treatment. It's obviously been a really stressful time and I do feel for him but he has been 'playing it by ear' on the work front for weeks now which basically means being generally AWOL, turning up when he feels like it, if at all, "working from home" but not actually being contactable etc. Ive suggested he takes annual leave or parental leave and have offered to support him with a request for 'special leave' - he's ignored all this. I've had to keep a log of all the ad hoc time he's taken off and will have to ask him to book it off and I can't imagine that's going to go down well. I've been really patient and not put any pressure on him during this time - I can imagine how worrying it all is - but I feel that he's really taking the Micky now. I'm also getting pressure from my boss to sort it out. I'd be really interested to hear people's views on how to handle this one - should I keep up the "softly, softly" approach until things with the baby are a bit more settled or do I start getting firmer with him? Thanks for reading!