To tell or not to tell? That is the question....?

Question

Ok, so where I work the general manager hired his stepdaughter. She's been here for a good 2 months and should be picking things up by now. But all she does is her homework and neglects the work around her. I told her from the very beginning that she could do homework IF and only if she didn't neglect things. Should I say something to the GM? I mean, I've given her plenty of opportunities to catch up and redeem herself, but nada. There was a similiar incident that occurred earlier on where he hired his girlfriends son. This guy was nothing but a waste of time and money, but no one would say anything b/c he was the girlfriends son. Is there a right way to go about doing this, or am I doomed to deal with insufficient work?

I guess I might add that I have been at this job for over 2 years which is more than the new girl and the GM combined.

Answer 1

If she's doing homework, I would guess that she's in school, and probably is not a permanent full-time employee.

Can you put up with it until school starts again?

If not, try to phrase your objection in a different light (other than directly criticizing his stepdaughter).

For example, maybe ask your boss if you can hire an additional worker to handle the load. When he says that you already have his stepdaughter, let him know in no uncertain terms that you need more production than she seems capable of (and have concrete EXAMPLES ready at hand).

Maybe he'll hire someone you like, and then the stepdaughter can do homework and you and the new worker can get the job done.

It's possible he has no choice but to let her work there, and is aware of her lack of effort / progress.

You have to do something to save your reputation, but DO NOT come out with guns blazing screaming nepotism and incompetance. . .tha'll do nobody any good.

Answer 2

Do they report to you? If not then don't worry about it. I know it sucks for you that you have to pick up the slack but if it wasn't them it would be some other run-of-the-mill lazy employee-we all deal with them!

If they do report to you, so that their lack of productivity reflects negatively on you, that's a little trickier. Do you report directly to te GM? If not then just go to your superior and apprise them of the situation and let them deal with it. If so then you need to approach the subject very delicately and with kid gloves.

Don't make it sound like an attack on the stepdaughter. In the name of self-preservation, swallow your pride and be a little self-deprecating and go to him and say that you are a little frustrated with yourself because you have tried to teach so-and-so the job but feel like you're not communicating clearly because you haven't got the results you were hoping for. Tell him you need help in this reagard. Ask him if the three of you could sit down together to outline a training program that she could follow and that could be tracked regularly to see if that gets everything back on target. This will put the ball in her court to go in there to the reviews with results.

If he doesn't seem interested then you have your answer: he doesn't care what she does, so neither should you. Tell him you need more help in the department and maybe you can hire someone that is qualified and motivated and the two of you can run the show and let her do her nails or whatever it is that she does.

Whatever you do, don't go above the GM's head. That could make things much worse for you! If all else fails, find a good recruiter to work with and start getting your resume out there!

Good luck!

Answer 3

This is one of those things where your just have to use your best judgement and really chose your battles. My guess is that if do say anything, it won't really help the situation since the boss seems to have a habbit of hiring people like that, and it may backfire on you.

On the other hand, how much are you willing to put up with?

Answer 4

Don't even bother. If I were you, I would give her specific tasks to do. If the tasks are not done, you know who to blame that way you won't be held accountable. Most relatives usually take advantage of the hand that feeds them because they know they can get away with it. Don't fret too much. The manager is wasting his money, not you.

Answer 5

I would talk to him, sometimes people are more reasonable about things like this then people think. If nobody says anything, then maybe he doesn't know. It reflects poorly on him which he probably wouldn't like. Just be respectful when you talk to him, explain that she is neglecting her duties.

Answer 6

At least she is doing homework and not running the streets. Situation does suck though, does he have a higher-up? Complain to his boss.

Answer 7

I think you run a bad risk if you do tell. It sucks, but I would find another job.