Staff Member issues

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I need some advice!!

So I started my first managerial role not too long ago and my team are brill, I'm lucky!

I have a girl who is lovely, great team member, shit-hot at her job etc., buuttttt... her attendance is awful 😣 She is 5 months in, so has her 6-month probationary period due in just under a month. I have been tasked with making the call as to whether we should offer her the opportunity to interview for a different role within the company which she wants to do, or tell her she will not be put forward for this role and then possibly terminate her employment at the point of her 6-month interview 😣

I sat down and discussed her current role with her, whether we could provide any support or further training (not that she needs the latter imo); she has numerous MH and physical health issues, but these were not recorded with HR when she joined the company nor does she take any meds 😕 which raises the question in my cynical head as to whether this may be a smoke-screen?

I have told my colleague (the person who will be responsible for the team she wants to join) that I would come to them with a decision come Mon but my head and heart are saying different things 🥺

How many absences has she had.
I don't take meds however I do have a hidden disability.

In ratio with how many days she has been in

Have you managed her according to the Absence policy? Would she pass probation currently? If nit is there an option to extend and review but not put her forward? Is new manager aware of her attendance record?

In ratio with how many days she has been in

Do you mean she only has 50% attendance.?

If so, I'd let her go. Experience tells me that people with such poor attendance don't improve. If she's like this during her probation period, what's she going to be like if you keep her on?

Oh heck I would rather have a steady reliable person myself or it doesn't look good for the team.
I agree probation is when you show your best side.

Could you extend her probation as you need to see her attendance improve?
Please don't make her someone else's problem in her new team. In my organisation these people get moved around frequently as no one has the guts to address their poor attendance. They just irritate the hell out of every team until they are moved on.

If her attendance is poor now I suspect it will only get worse. A probationary period is usually when you’re trying to impress!

I hope none of your team are on mumsnet because they will recognise the situation and therefore you - e.g. If they're the person expecting an answer from you on Monday about the person 5 months into probation who's been off sick for 2.5 months etc etc.

In fact the person you're talking about firing would probably be able to recognise herself and you too.

You've been very specific, which is probably a breach of your employer policies on social media and confidentiality. this forum comes up on Google searches, you've just published identifiable information about an employee.

Jigsaw ID.

I would work closely with Hr to end her employment within her probationary period - presuming any appropriate reasonable adjustments have been made and her attendance is still very poor. This is not likely to improve, and to allow her to apply for another role will just piss off your existing staff also, as well as just moving the problem round the company.

Surely she hasn’t got to this point in her probation period without the sickness being addressed?

We have probation reviews at week 7, 13, 20 and 26. It would never get to week 26 without the person knowing what was likely to happen.

I would ask to extend her probation. The probation period is completely to asses whether someone performs well enough to become permanent, and normally, internal applications shouldn't be considered in the probation period.
You've only been able to assess her performance for 50% of the required time. If she stays in your team I'd ask to see another three months of solid performance. If she's desperate to move to the other job, they could reasonably ask for a probation period there on the grounds that she didn't complete it with you.

50% attendance and still in probation period?

Why on earth would you keep her? Your staff will have noticed and you will lose any self respect if you choose to keep her on.

Be aware that although she didn't originally tell HR about her health conditions, she's now told you. So she's informed her employer.

You need to talk to HR asap so you can be sure you're doing everything by the book (no matter what you decide).

Would you keep someone on who only does 50% effort but attends every day? I suspect not. Unless her conditions are considered Disabilities requiring reduced hours as a reasonable adjustment even 100% when she shows up does not meet a threshold to pass Probation, let alone merit a new role.

You need to extend whilst you find out more. She has disclosed a potential disability - you can’t fire for that.

work with HR, document everything. Likely an occupational health referral and manage via capability (f that’s a process you utilise).

whilst they have less than two years service, dismissal due to a disability opens your company up to unfair dismissal claim due to a protected characteristic.

You need to understand what you're dealing with in regards to the health issues - ask hr for an occ health referral. That will tell you what, if any, adjustments may be needed and whether she's covered under the equality act 2010. If she is, you might want to consider different absence triggers or putting in adjustments to support.

Adjustments should be reasonable and proportionate - we might allow more remote working for employees managing chronic health conditions, for example or provide standing desks or special chairs.

I cannot imagine 50% attendance is reasonable in anyones book but if you do not follow a fair process (look at the acas website) you risk a discrimination claim if you dismiss without proper assessment.

This should have been dealt with as part of pre employment checks and any adjustments been in from the start or as early as possible. There also should have been absence reviews.

If it's all a smoke screen I'd just dismiss as it won't get better and nobody can be a decent performer on that attendance. I certainly wouldn't recommend her for another role until this is fully sorted, tempting though it may be to pass on the problem.

I would be concerned that if she's not that bothered about her attendance in her probation period then I can only think it's going to get worse the more settled she is.

You are a very inexperienced manager and you are just about to walk into a potential discriminatory situation so you do nothing at the moment. You set a meeting with HR and go through the recent declaration and what you do next to avoid her leaving and taking you to the cleaners.

And she is not a girl. Why on earth this wasn't addressed the second time she didn't appear for work?

Was the absence one big chunk or spread over the last 5 months. I had a colleague who had 2 months off during his probation period due to a particularly badly timed accident. In that case he was kept on though they did extend the probation by the amount of time he was off.

You have a legal responsibility to make adjustments if you know, or could reasonably be expected to know, someone is disabled.
So even if she hasn't registered anything with HR - she's told YOU. So she's now covered by law (she doesn't even need to have told you, that's what 'reasonably expected' means - you need to spot the signs and absence is a sign).
And even if she hasn't requested adjustments, you should still offer them and consider what you can do.
So have a conversation with the employee. State that you have concerns about her attendance and ask if there are any adjustments that can be made to help her improve her attendance. Offer a referral to OH.
If nothing changes or improves, then you can let her go.
Make sure all conversations are kept on record.

Why on earth have you not called her to a meeting to address her attendance,already? Do that first.

You are a very inexperienced manager and you are just about to walk into a potential discriminatory situation so you do nothing at the moment. You set a meeting with HR and go through the recent declaration and what you do next to avoid her leaving and taking you to the cleaners.

And she is not a girl.

This. You're in way over your head here and the company is foolish to expect you to deal with this rather than an experienced manager on this occasion.

HR should be following procedure to the absolute letter on this.

If you're asking MN rather than HR what to do then you really, really need to push for some management training ASAP and have some meetings with HR to discuss their procedures so you're aware of your role and responsibilities when it comes to working in accordance with their policies for future.

she has numerous MH and physical health issues, but these were not recorded with HR when she joined the company nor does she take any meds 😕 which raises the question in my cynical head as to whether this may be a smoke-screen?

Have they been recorded with HR now?

Have reasonable adjustments been discussed?

Do you understand the principle of reasonable adjustments and how a staff member, manager and HR would need to work together to agree and implement them? It sounds like you haven't had any training at all on the managerial front and that means you are essentially being set up to fail.

You cannot use language like you've used when in a professional environment eg suggesting it might be a 'smoke-screen' so hopefully you're just using it anonymously on here.

Have you discussed her absences and how this can put her role at risk?

Are you managing her absences according to your absence policy?

Now that she has disclosed health problems have you lugged this with HR? She may require reasonable adjustments and/or have protected characteristics. Occupational health may be an appropriate route to take.