Employee issues

[phyrebird]

Hi,

Just looking to get some advice. I'm anxious and have stomach pains because of what's going on at work.

I've been working at my company 3 years and recently been promoted. I'm enjoying my new job but the person who was brought in to do my previous job (who I'm line managing) has been giving me cause for concern. He initially applied for the job I'm now doing as we had to advertise externally too but was asked to interview for my old job instead. I was involved in interviewing and had some reservations as he seemed a bit too confident but we chose him anyway. I should have listened to my gut.

Things were going well I thought, for the first few weeks. But since then there's been lots of little things that are bothering me. It's not as if he's not doing the work, he is although he seems to need some prompting and reminding to do certain things. He seemed to be getting through the work fairly quickly but when I checked there were some obvious mistakes, which I told him to correct. No problem, everyone makes mistakes but some of these were really obvious things that he should have noticed. Missing out steps from what he should be doing, costing things to the wrong place etc. I have also offered him some additional support for a certain issue he has but I'm not sure if he's going to take me up on it even though it could make the company look unprofessional. I'm trying to be supportive and just want the work to be done properly and for there to be a harmonious atmosphere but he's really trying my patience. I'm trying not to take it personally and think maybe he's just got a bad attitude and thinks he can do whatever he likes. It's really winding me up and I'm worried it'll reflect badly on me.

The main issue is that he spends a lot of time texting/IMing throughout the day when he's meant to be working. The first time I noticed this (chatting on FB messenger) I asked him not to do it and he stopped. But I noticed he was doing it still, minimising the screen when I walked past him. I discussed this with him in a meeting and he denied it at first, until I said I'd seen him typing into the chat window. Now he is mostly texting instead, he spends a lot of time staring down at his phone and messaging in between doing the work. I don't think he realises I can see him doing this. I've spoken to him a few times when I've noticed this happening and he says he'll stop it but I might as well talk to the wall.

I'm feeling frustrated that he's still doing this when I've asked him not to several times, and even pointed out that he's still in his probationary period and should be trying to make a good impression. He agreed that it doesn't look good yet still he persists!!

He also started calling me a particular term of endearment a few weeks in, which made me feel creeped out/patronised and I asked him not to. But every now and then he'll call me it again. Each time I remind him not to call me that. The guy is several years younger than me at least but it's not as if he's just new to working, and I find it bizarre that he calls me this (it's not a cultural thing). It could be construed as sexist too. When I mentioned it again (for the umpteenth time) he told me he'd picked it up from his grandmother!!! Which is just weird. Do I remind him of his grandma?!

I just don't understand why he does this. Surely, if someone says "Hey Jim, I don't like being called honey, call me Julie instead please" you damn well call them Julie? How could you forget that? It's not difficult.

There has also been some issues with him saying things that are vaguely racist/sexually harassing. He seems pretty clueless about what is inappropriate. I've had discussions with him and told him why he shouldn't be saying this or that and he apologised.

On top of this, I googled him out of curiousity and something very concerning appeared. The name/age/location matched up with what I found but I'm not sure if it's him or not as there's several entries in the phone book/voting register so I don't know if it's him moving around or several different people. Not sure if I can find out if it's him for sure but it's made me even more nervous about the whole situation.

I have spoken to both my own manager and someone in HR about the various incidents (haven't said anything about what I found online) so they are aware of what's happening and have given me advice about how to deal with things. I'm keeping a diary of these incidents. It's making me feel demoralised and unable to concentrate because there he is fiddling with his phone again. I don't want to micromanage him but ffs. The thing is the office is quite laid back and the odd bit of texting isn't frowned upon, but he is taking advantage. I think back to when I was first employed there and I was scared to even check the internet during my lunch break because I was worried about failing my probational but this guy has such a brass neck he was IMing openly in front of dozens of people when he should have been working.

His probationary period is coming up and although part of me just wants to let him go asap I think I'll at least have to extend it to show fairness and also to give myself more time as I've been very busy learning my new role too. Final decision is down to me. I'm torn because on one hand it's good to have someone doing the work that would otherwise be building up but on the other hand it shouldn't be this difficult should it? I shouldn't have to tell someone multiple times to focus on the job. I shouldn't be feeling ill coming into a job that i otherwise enjoy. I'm also worried about potential repercussions if I end his employment. This situation is playing on my mind and I wish I could turn back the clock and have chosen someone else for the job.

Thanks for any advice.

PB

And HR said it doesn't look great if someone is let go right away

Yes, I've had this one before too. And you know what, no it doesn't look great but that doesn't change the fact that the person is a bad hire. You need to get rid ASAP.

As for the not looking great, well, it makes sense to do some sort of retrospective review. Was it a case of best candidate of a really bad bunch (in which case, you need to look at your recruitment policy and how you're choosing/being supplied candidates etc), or maybe a case of how he talked a good game but can't back it up (in which case, maybe some interview training is required etc). I'd just be upfront with HR and say yes, hiring him was a mistake and to ensure this doesn't happen in future, we'll do x, y and z but he needs to be fired. NOW.

I was desperately short of staff for my team and was in the process of hiring (an offer had gone out and been accepted) when my boss decided I would be made to take 2 guys starting the next week that a colleague had hired for their team (and this colleague would get my guy that had accepted the offer and was working his notice in his current role before joining us). I protested that I would rather work all the hours under the sun for another month and get the guy I wanted but the boss insisted. And that was the start of The Muppet Show. The 2 guys were USELESS. Or rather one was useless and the other only aspired to be useless (if he could raise his game). I went to HR at the end of their first week and said I wanted them out now. I was told "no, it's too soon, give them a chance" grrr. I waited a month (by which point my original guy had started in the other team and was getting great feedback and I was seething). I went to HR again as well as my boss (who backed me up) and said get them out now please. HR's response was that I was only allowed to get rid of one of them as they were both ethnic minorities so it would look like discrimination. Argh, I was pulling my hair out! So I put them both on PIPs. It was a miserable time as the extra work involved for the PIPs was a nightmare when I was desperately short staffed still. But the writing was on the wall for them. They realised that they were never going to pass their PIPs and they both resigned on the same day before we could fire at least one of them. What a relief! My boss' boss came to me and said how he didn't understand how one of them had even got past first interview as he was SO bad. I will admit that I was so furious about what happened that I went on a witchhunt about who interviewed them and the people involved were banned by HR from interviewing again. Yes, it was THAT bad.

Always go with your gut. OP your guy sounds so similar to my one in my earlier post in that he's very good at charming people, especially those above. Don't let this put you off. You know the truth, you have so many examples of his unacceptable behaviour, you need to fire him or you will end up in a horrible mess like some of the rest of us have done and it's much harder to get out then. My nightmare guy started complaining that I was victimising him and that it was my standards he was being asked to meet rather than the company's standards and it was unfair discrimination. He made a real drama and I was very upset and started fearing for my own job at one point. He knew I saw through him and he tried using his "social popularity" to try and take me down and save himself. It was a horrendous time and I just clung on to the belief that the truth will out. And it did.

As for being too nice, yes you are! You need to stop it. Nice is good for people having genuine problems at work but NOT for people taking the mickey like your problem guy. The fact he thinks he can get away with such bad behaviour despite being reprimanded by you demonstrates a total lack of respect for you. This will only get worse the longer he stays. He probably thinks you don't have the balls to fire him. Please prove him wrong.

he sounds like a rotten apple and a misogynist who's bent you got 'his' job... no way would i let him out of probation

Be formalre the minor things, even ban mobile phone. Remind Internet policy, and specifically set your boundaries for this.

You might gain good behaviour, and it might work, so no loss.

I suspect a good chunk of your filter is neither positive or objective, as your instincts are undoubtedly going to make you feel threatened a different critical of someone who has alreadygone for your job, and you have now, to manage. This is another good reason to follow ultra best practice.
You have to set expectations clearly otherwise you can't know if he feels he is acting in good faith or not.
I've worked with people who clearly had no clue of whether workplaces were lax or not about a whole hist of things and his manager refused to do anything. The guy ended up taking days off for sickness the coming in in festival t-shirts from where he had been that weekend,.. And was firmly of the opinion we would all think he was clever.... Clearly never worked anywhere political..

So it takes all sorts!

I have also emailed a professional that a friend recommended who specialises in the learning disability that he has

This is a big dripfeed, even if unintentional. Is he registered disabled? Is his disability on his HR record? Can you be certain his behaviour isnt significantly influenced and impacted by having a learning disability.

My advice would have been very different if I had known this before. You could have a very delicate situation on your hands, in terms of just firing him. He may have special needs formally on his record, and by sacking him because of his behaviour you might be faced with action against the company, given that disability is a protected characteristic. I'd get your HR department involved and ensure you handle this situation correctly, not just because of the risk, but because it's the right thing to do.

I would extend for 3 months but make it clear that if there is no improvement then he will be going.

daisychain Yeah dripfeeding but I'm paranoid about someone I know seeing this and putting 2 and 2 together and me getting into trouble (even though it's only a handful of people at work who know about this situation). Anyway, no he's not registered disabled and HR don't have anything on his record. I had suspicions that he had this common learning disability but then he casually mentioned it when we were chatting about something else. But this is why I wanted to speak to the professional to get some advice in case he tried to get me into trouble somehow because of this disability. I just don't trust the guy - he's already lied to me about his FB messaging. HR told me I should approach him about it and ask how it affects him etc. He said he doesn't feel like it's that bad and isn't actually diagnosed but was happy to get any extra support I could offer, which I have done. I guess I want to cover my own back by being supportive and trying to help him. I'm worried about all this biting me on the bum somehow.

I spoke to my boss today and ended up in tears because of the stress. I've only cried once at work before and that was due to something that wasn't work related. My boss said he's impressed with the way I've handled this and some people just don't bother saying anything early on when issues come up and things get worse towards the end. I don't think he's that bothered about things because the guy has been doing the work (albeit making some mistakes and not following things up, I think he's just rushing to get things done) and he thinks the incidents I've told him about are only minor things. He said he's not noticed the guy texting so much lately, but I think that's because he's being more secretive about it. I can tell when he's doing it but it's not obvious to others unless they actually walk past. So I kinda feel now that I'm making a big deal out of nothing. And he could be calling me worse things. But it is affecting my health and making me demoralised. I shouldn't be feeling sick all day should I? It makes me second guess myself. I'm not very high up in my company, just a grade higher than my report so it's not as if I hold much sway and it's not a specialised job. I get the impression my boss doesn't want to go through the whole recruitment thing again. The other managers are in my dept so there's nowhere else he could go.

neoflex that's the thing, this guy isn't really horrible. He's not having a go at me or refusing to work. His work isn't super bad he's just done some stuff wrong and missed bits out and needs some prompting and reminding about stuff. He's just still doing the texting/IMing despite me saying many times that he needs to stop it. I guess I'm comparing him to how I was when I first joined - worried to even use the Internet on my lunch break, keen to please, worried I would fail, the relief when I was told I was getting kept on. He thinks he's home and dry. He's been openly IMing when he should be working, not giving a fig. He is good at some stuff (mostly involving talking...) but the lack of respect is winding me up. I have already warned him he's still in probation but it appears to make no difference.

This guy and the others we interviewed were selected out of the applicants for the job I'd been promoted to. There was nobody from HR at the interview, I'm not sure how common this is. I wish I could turn back the clock and either go for someone else or carried on looking for someone new.

Anyway I think we are going to extend his probation. In the meantime we're going to look into his internet usage, see if that tells us anything. And check out his references. I have a lot of work to do.

I really think you should let him go. There are plenty of talented, hard working people out there who would jump at the chance to fill his shoes.

I fired someone today. It wasn't nice but the rest of the team ended up thanking me because he was making their lives difficult.

Hang on, you didn't check his references before he started???

Get your IT dept/guy to monitor his internet usage and continue to keep your own diary of his behaviour (including when he's texting/IMing).

Of course your boss will want to take the easy option of keeping him. Which is why you need to keep building your case. I'm a little surprised you're extending his probation rather than firing him though. I thought it was agreed that it would be your decision? You sound like you've lost a lot of confidence in yourself??

I'd strongly suggest that when you extend his probation, you set him clear objectives that he needs to meet and have regular status meetings with him. Like being on a PIP but without calling it a PIP. This may give you the evidence you need to get rid of him with your boss' blessing, and hopefully it will help you feel that it is less personal if you're talking about clear, factual objectives.

It's good that you're talking to HR about his disability but given that it has never actually been diagnosed, let alone disclosed to his employer, I think he would be on shaky ground to his this as a defence. But always best to err on the side of caution.

I do think it's a bit odd to select someone from the candidates who failed to get the job at a level higher (i.e. the job the OP was promoted to). Surely that is starting things off on a bad foot? You weren't good enough for the job you applied for but you can have this more junior role and report to the person who used to do it but now does the job you were rejected for.....that's creating a whole load of potential relationship dynamic issues. Very bizarre.

We haven't seen his references, they went straight to HR. My boss said he'd talk to IT about his internet use. I've to send him my diary as well, looking at it now it all feels a bit petty and I'm worried about repercussions. Am I too sensitive? But I'm stressed out with all this.

Yes, I imagine firing someone is rather unpleasant, even if there's a strong reason for it.

Yeah looking back that was a bit of a weird decision. He could be feeling resentful, I was even introduced as the person who'd got that job. The thing is, he's wound me up so much that he could end world hunger and he'd still annoy me! Which sounds awful but that's the stage I'm at... I'm probably focusing on the negative but he's brought it on himself. Even all the silly little things he does are irritating me. Singing at his desk and so on. Things that wouldn't bother me if it was someone else.

I have some paperwork to complete for his review, the thing is there's nothing to score him about attitude or whatever, although I guess I could put my feelings/observations in a comments box. I just feel like my boss is happy to have him there despite what's going on. He doesn't think that him calling me the pet name is all that bad. I think someone was let go once before due to a 'personality clash' with their manager years ago but it's not often that someone doesn't pass their probation.

I think he's started pulling his socks up a bit but who knows how long it'll last. And he's a lot more subtle about the texting, but I can tell when he's doing it. He's started asking me for more work but then I'll check back what he's done and there's stuff he's missed out, or not done properly, or he's not chased up someone about whatever. It's not like he's got nothing to do. He's not great at keeping tabs on stuff that's not immediate work.

I'm glad I can vent here. Thanks for listening and for all your advice.