Work colleague (currently on mat leave) is being outperformed massively by temp replacement

[Workplaceconundrum]

A potentially tricky situation has cropped up in my workplace and I'd like to ask for MN's thoughts about it. A colleague is currently on maternity leave and isn't due to return for another 8 months. A replacement has been drafted in on a temporary basis. While they have only been here for a few months, the difference in their productivity and performance (compared to the colleague on ML) has been astonishing. I myself would say it's been a night and day difference in performance between them, and I am quite certain most of the other staff would agree. I would say she is a nice enough person, but can be prone to slacking and underperforming. She basically does enough not to get sacked (just about), but doesn't exert herself compared to other staff. All of this was true even before she was pregnant, but the pregnancy made it more egregious.

Now I understand that you can't sack staff just for being pregnant, but my boss has seemingly got themselves into a pickle. They have been openly discussing with myself and others that they wouldn't mind if the mat leave colleague didn't come back. They can't get rid of her now though, as that would be an unfair dismissal case waiting to happen. What other levers could they potentially pull if they wanted to get rid of her without getting into any ethical hot water? Could they offer her voluntary redundancy? What if someone tried to gently persuade her to resign?

What HR adviser? I haven't seen any mention of one so far. I wonder if this a small company with no HR department. I worked for such a company once and it was rather idiosyncratic in several ways, but the MD did at least have the sense to get professional HR advice as required.

Offering a position with lower responsibilitiies could well be construed as constructive dismissal - especially if it comes with reduced salary.

Funny how nobody addressed poor performance previously.

You’ve got to admire the confidence it takes to be unanimously told to pipe down and still circle back with news. Christ, if you’re as good at your job as you are at reading the room, you’ll be next on the chopping block… hopefully.

😂😂😂

I'm not entirely convinced that this thread is genuine, anyway.

Have none of you considered supporting her to improve her performance in the first instance?

Thing is, you cannot change a person's personality, how they work etc.

If she is not up to standard, well, that's life.

There’s no way the woman on maternity leave is going to accept the lower responsibility role if it means less pay, so your boss needs to make sure there’s a matched salary. But I totally agree with creating a new role for the high-performing temp. She’s obviously done a lot for the team and this should be recognised.

Create new role for high performer that constitutes a promotion to reflect that.
Mat leaver comes back into old role without question. If she’s under performing, deal with it then in an appropriate way. You can’t just suddenly change her role or suddenly decide she’s not performing now.

She may not return or may want to return under flexible arrangements you can’t offer her anyway so could be a moot point.
There is no other alternative.

it would be considered discriminatory if the woman on maternity leave wasn’t informed about the new role or given opportunity to apply and be assessed fairly etc. that’s a slippery slope that can still lead to allegations of discrimination.

Then you address it immediately! Rather than letting her get away with it for years as if you are happy with her work, until she gets pregnant, before suddenly raising it, and thereby find yourself in a legal quagmire.

Surely.