Ex 1 - I had a member of staff in my team who was in her first professional role, she was a recent graduate, had worked in student union bar part time during term but had never worked in an office environment. She found the more rigid environment difficult to accustom to, was not adhering to dress code, arriving to work late, not following the break/lunch schedule which impacted service levels for the phone lines, was upsetting some other staff members with overly personal and blunt comments.
I initially addressed informally, reminding her of company policy, directing her to induction content, reminding her of the rules. When this didn't bring about an improvement I had a more formal discussion with her. Outlined the areas of underperformance and conduct issues. Asked her if she understood why these things were a problem and what would help her to acclimate to the environment. We went through the policies together, I explained the SLAs and impact to the team and business if not met. The area she was most concerned about was the feedback about how she spoke to colleagues, she struggled to understand how what she said was inappropriate. I arranged for her to have a mentor, someone she could speak to within the team who was a high performer and well liked so she could observe her inter personal skills, I also arranged for some additional training from the L&D team about soft skills.
I explained clearly that lateness and failure to follow the schedule going forwards without an exceptional reason would result in formal disciplinary action being taken.
Outside of the formal meeting I made it a priority for me to deliver praise and feedback immediately so that she could use that information to make the required changes.
I did have to invoke the disciplinary process as despite the warnings she was late twice the next week, however did not need to progress past stage 1 as she was not late again.
She amended the content of her conversations in work and was able to form professional friendly relationships within the team, to the extent that she was promoted 9 months after starting and showed huge capability for further promotions.
Ex 2 I had a member of my team who was experiencing significant personal problems, she was difficult to manage because it became clear that it was not possible for her to maintain her role and work full time due to her health but she needed a full time job. I found it very difficult to maintain the professional balance of meeting the businesses needs and supporting a colleague who I liked immensely and who was having a really hard time.
I worked with HR and occupational health to identify any reasonable adjustments that could be made and referred the staff member to the Employment Advice Service who were able to offer advice on benefits, medical support and treatments that could be provided. through the EAS and the work based health insurance policy she was able to access counselling and physio.
It wasn't possible ultimately for her to maintain her role full time, but I was able to support her to access services and advice which enabled her to move to a part time role without too much detriment to her finances on a temporary basis while she recovered. This also allowed me to free up budget to cover a temporary position for backfill which relieved the pressure on the rest of the team and enabled the business to meet targets.