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In these days of limited resources, it is especially important that every employee works at maximum effectiveness. Unfortunately, this is the real world. Nearly every workplace has an employee who is unproductive.
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What are your options? You basically have three:
• Do nothing
• Fire the employee
• Take steps to improve the employee’s effectiveness
The problem with doing nothing is that all too often, the employees who are working hard resent seeing an employee who is goofing off and still getting paid. What makes matters worse, the good workers even have to work even harder since they must pick up the extra work the poor employee is not doing.
While deciding to fire the nonfunctioning employee seems like a good option, often when you check with your lawyer or personnel office, you will find that it is not so easy. You must spend lots of time and effort giving the employee “rights” such as a hearing. You also must “prove” that the employee is not doing the job.
So it is highly recommended that you select the third option –taking steps to improve the employee’s effectiveness. Try three steps:
1. Document the inappropriate behavior three times
If the employee comes late to work, write down exactly when he/she arrived late for work on three different occasions. If the employee was rude to a fellow employee or a member of the public, write down the exact offensive words on three separate occasions. If letters were mailed with numerous grammatical and spelling errors, keep three examples.
2. Think of an “improvement plan.”
Before you meet with the employee, think about ways to improve the work. Perhaps the employee can be sent to a workshop to obtain needed skills. Employees using inappropriate language can be shown the appropriate language. Perhaps the hours an employee works can be changed.
3. Meet with the employee
Select a quiet place. Shown the employee the three examples of inappropriate work. Do not editorialize. Just tell what times they arrived at the workplace or show examples of the letters that were sent with numerous errors. Then listen to the employee’s response.
Often, employees will come up with a solution to the problem. They may ask to be assigned for a short time to an experienced worker. They may ask to attend a workshop to learn particular skills.
Your next step is to set up the next appointment. If the work has improved by the time of the next appointment, you can cancel the meeting or just briefly thank the employee.
(See Dealing With Difficult Employees-Part II for a discussion of steps to take if the employee’s work does not improve)
(Michael A. Sand heads SAND ASSOCIATES, a national management consulting firm based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Contact Mike at MSand9999@aol.com for information about his firm’s services.)
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