Direct report consistently forgets things

[HettyMeg]

I line manage someone who is supposed to deputise for me in my absence. They work full time and I am part time so there are times when they are supposed to work independently and they are aware of this. They are fine with managing the "day to day" duties and simple tasks on those days but seem to really struggle with anything beyond that. They are in a relatively senior position ie not a junior level. They are experienced in the skilled industry we work in and they are paid above average for the industry (although not highly paid, we work in not profit sector).

On days when I have been off work and then come back in, I have come to expect that things will have been missed. These are things I specifically ask them to do in my absence, so I am not expecting them to just guess what needs to be done. I will ask them if they have done it and they will respond with a "No, I didn't get to it, sorry". When asked why, reasons range from not having enough time to feeling unwell (but not being off sick) to being out on a long lunch meeting. Essentially excuses are constantly made and I am sick of it. This is not a one-off thing but a pattern. When it does happen I make a point of stating why it's important that these things are picked up in my absence, and I get another apology but it doesn't change then happens again.

We work in a small, non profit organisation with one HR person who essentially manages the HR administration. There is scope for disciplinary processes but I don't want the stress of going down that route. I just want them to improve. I have invested a large proportion of my time and energy over the last few years on this person and there have been considerable improvements but there are still issues.

Can any other line managers please advise if you have handled similar? Managing this person is making me hate being a manager but I don't know how I can change that. I spend 50% of my week on them - I want to be able to focus more on the main part of my job. It is affecting my happiness at work and making me dread it.

Presumably they are not sat twiddling their thumbs after completing tasks early on the day that you are there. That their working day when you are there is full. So where is the capacity for them to take on extra tasks on the days that you are not there? Are you sure it just isn't the case that theere is no capacity for you to be working part time, and the business need is you both need to be there full time?

Surely you just need an hour with them before your days off.
Start with asking what they already have in the diary, what the priorities are for the next couple of days - allow them to say theirs first and then schedule another meeting for your first day back.

One of my overworked friends now makes his first question “what happens if this task doesn’t get done at all”. Does this person have any free time and what happens when they don’t do the task you want doing?

Might it be deliberate because they don’t think it’s a reasonable expectation?

So do they do a part time role + part time in your role? Or are they doing a full time role + picking up for you when you're on non working days?

If the day to day is getting done on your non working days surely ad hoc tasks should be picked up by you when you're back in? That's how it works where I am - part time staff have some day to day bits picked up by full time staff when they're not in, anything specific normally waits for the staff member unless super time sensitive.

Maybe they genuinely don't have time for all these extra tasks?

If its taken a few years for them to improve to the level they are now at, maybe that's it - they've reached the limit of their capabilities.

Or do you think its pure laziness?

They are time sensitive things as the industry is very deadline oriented and often things come up where I need to deputise just before I finish up and the next day is a working day and it can't be left until I return.

To be honest, it sounds rather like your job needs to be full time then if there are things coming up in it which can't wait for your return as a part timer. From what you've written, it sounds like your 'deputy' either doesn't have capacity or doesn't have the ability / inclination to cover your work.

But you're saying it has been left - so what are the consequences of it not being done?

This doesn’t sound like the right setup to me and I’d be very cautious of taking any formal action as you could hit significant challenge. It sounds as if you are working part time but your tasks require 5 days a week coverage. It appears you have a colleague with their own full time job expected to absorb your tasks. Normally the setup would be a job share around a single role specifically to avoid the exact scenario you are describing. If I need coverage for my annual leave then I only ever ask a team member to cover emergencies and the unexpected rather than my planned tasks. On the rare occasion I can’t cancel a meeting then I will check their workload and possibly delegate elsewhere eg one person covering my meeting and another covering line manager emergencies. If a professional full time worker can push things aside to free up a day a week to cover other tasks that would be unusual and effectively invalidating their own role. Ask yourself if you could lose a day a week from your own role to do someone else’s work. If it is an agreed approach that one day a week she perform this different role then it’s sounds as if there are insufficient measures in place to facilitate it. This would again come back to bite you if formal action was taken. What has been put in place to ensure their normal day job tasks, calls and chases are fully blocked on the day they need to perform your role? If this isn’t in place you could get challenged around creating unnecessary stress for staff member etc. Appreciate you probably didn’t create the role description or this situation yourself but it won’t serve you well if you go down any formal routes.

I managed someone like this, they were a passive aggressive nightmare.

The day I moved elsewhere in the company I celebrated!

I actually do think disciplinary is the way to go. Or a firm commitment from them that they will do it, and if they don't then take action.

I have managed someone like this and it was extremely frustrating!
What's your feeling about why it is happening? Lack of time, too much workload - or lack of effort or priorities, trying to undermine you? I think this will determine the approach.

Here's what I did - it took a lot of time and intensive effort over a few weeks, but sorted the problem out permanently (though I didn't win any popularity contest). If you want to do the same, check work policies carefully and try to get a senior manager onboard first.

1.I set up a meeting to outline the issue, expressed concern without any blame. Listened carefully. Then made clear I was going to explore thoroughly what needed to be addressed and improved to make things work smoothly for the colleague in a supportive way. Was it a workload issue, time management, organisation, lack of guidance?

2.In order to address issues raised and the feedback from colleague, I gave them a time and motion study to complete, initially over the course of a week. Every half hour during the day they wrote down which task they were involved in and how long each task was taking them. They also wrote a priority list at the beginning of each day, and at end of each day a note of any deviation from the priorities with an explanation. Also any work they weren't able to complete for lack of time or too many competing demands.

If they said they didn't have time to complete the list I replied it was their top priority in order to ensure they had a manageable workload; or I could shadow them for the day/week to do it myself on their behalf - yes even on my days off!

3.Once I had this competed list, I started analysing the tasks and how long each one had taken. I also analysed their priority list - especially on days when I wasn't there to monitor myself. I also asked for a copy of their work diary commitments such as meetings for that week, so I could cross check timings and relevance. This enabled me to see if my expectations were reasonable and see whether it was a workload issue.

4.Further meeting to discuss what this had shown up. Studied their diary list with them for upcoming important tasks.
Then I set my own priority list for them to use, (if I felt theirs wasn't optimal), and my timetable for them to follow for the following week. I checked every day on this, and made them accountable for the priority list at the end of each day as before and also at the next meeting. During the day I made spot checks on the list to see if they were sticking to my timetable and if not find out why at the end of the day. I adjusted timetable for the following day with them if necessary. I presented this as a way of supporting their workload.

5.Started to ease of the monitoring once it was working effectively, and just giving the priority list and brief timetable for action every day - again monitored weekly. Any slippage we went back a stage of completing the priority list and time and motion study/detailed daily timetable given, analysing workload and priorities.

It took about 8 weeks of really intensive effort on my part to show I wasn't going to backtrack and let things slide and I was very serious about my focus and expectations, but also addressing any issues of workload, timetable or conflicting priorities they were experiencing. After this my priority list was always given top billing when I was away. They knew any ditching of my priorities would restart the whole process again.

If such an approach is acceptable in your workplace and you try it, if it doesn't work you then have a clear paper trail with evidence of intensive support you have offered, and their response and any poor performance to follow up with the competency/disciplinary route if necessary.

Thanks for the responses everyone. These are all valid points. I think I should be clear that the tasks I'm asking them to do are not particularly time consuming, it is usually along the lines of forwarding an email to the relevant person, saving a document in a particular folder etc. Not onerous and not every week - but when we have deadlines. Certainly the sort of thing they should be able to handle with ease as a large part of their job description is deputising and when I went part time they were given a pay rise and additional responsibilities to cover that.

The consequences of these things not being done - well, it slows things down. A working day has gone past and someone in another team hasn't been able to carry out their bit of the project because they were waiting on the bit that comes from us. Perhaps I need to be much clearer with my direct report that them not picking up these tasks that are specifically delegated causes issues elsewhere.

That is really helpful, thanks. I am not sure if I can bear to embark on something like this, though. I already feel completely stacked in my day to day duties that I don't think I could do this process justice. It might be different if there was more support available but there isn't.

Oh and I don't think it is about undermining - I don't get that impression. It seems more about a real lack of focus and a lack of urgency or even energy. They are the type of person who replies to a detailed email with a one word response and responds to all feedback with things like "OK" and never challenges or questions it further. Any requests from me to check if they are OK with workload, tasks, instructions etc are met with the affirmative, and no questions or issues raised, ever, so it means that when things aren't achieved, I find it surprising and when I later ask them what the issue was, I feel that they are making excuses. As if they don't have time for any of this, they've never once said that when I've checked.

Not being funny but, for the first example you give - forwarding an email - can't you just log on from home/your phone and do that? If as you say it's only when a deadline is on the horizon might it just be easier to do it yourself?

This isn't delegation though it's expecting someone to cover their job AND your job when you're not there. Are they paid to do that?

I don't want to do that. I took a pay cut to go part time and they were given a pay rise to deal with picking up the slack on certain things when my contract changed.

Yes they were given a pay rise when my contract changed to part time and their job description changed to state that they would deputise on the day I am off.

Absolutely not should OP log on because of someone else's incompetence. They got a payrise and she went down to pt. Non working days are just that, non working.

OP you need to sit down and lay it out. Set your expectations and make it really clear. Give them opportunity to speak and directly ask if they are not giving you much back. They need to understand this can't continue and they are not performing their role correctly by missing these items.

Then they are not doing the tasks allocated to them, despite you providing them with instructions

Disciplinary starts now, doesn't it?

Why on earth don’t you write your own emails snd schedule them to be forwarded later instead if introducing an extra step? Also: you did not “take a pay cut” you are working less so your pay decreased. Their pay went up to cover their assumption of your work load but the hours they have available did not increase nor did their original work decrease.

Sounds frustrating, as in those tasks sound mind bogglingly simple.

When you send the request to do x or y task, can you add a copy and paste sentence to the email/ or mention in person stressing the importance of and the reason WHY the tasks need to be done on time? Adding that you're happy to book some time out to explain WHY .

Some ppl are just dim and don't think about the overall picture.
She does sound dim.

So the options are:

the other person actually does what he/ she is now supposed to do;

you do the extra bits and get back a bit of the 20% you dropped (but not all of it if it's just a few bits) and the extra is taken away from the other person; or

someone else get the extra money and does the tasks.

If the middle option would work for you, suggest that but otherwise ask the deputy which of the other two she'd prefer. She may then up her game or you get someone else to deputise. If there isn't anyone else, you need a harder think about the middle option or a much firmer conversation about the first option.

Bonkers responses, she’s paid to deputise for you, that’s what she should be doing. Regardless if you’re part time. If her workload is too much then she needs to raise that. Make sure everything is documented (i.e. everything she is supposed to be doing is given to her in audit trail written notes). Every time she fails to do something, keep it all in writing too.

Do you have regular 1:1s with her?