Do I have a bad employee on my hands?

Question

I am the supervisor of a receptionist at a corporate office. I cover the receptionist when she goes to lunch, calls in sick or has to leave early. I must cover her the entire day or until I can get a temp if possible. AND I must complete all my work while doing her job as well.

My receptionist has been here for 11 months, the last 4 months she has had the following:

3 dentist appointments for her wisdom teeth and surgery
2 doctor appointments for her hives that are not visible
1 urgent care appointment to get hive medication

For these appointments she leaves 2 or 3 hours early.

And this month she has left once a week 2 hours early for doctor appointments for unknown reasons. Thats 4 times this month!

I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt so I never asked for doctor notes.

What can she possibly have wrong that she needs to go the doctors weekly? She is NOT pregnant.

Do I have a bad employee? I think she is over the job and is flaking out!

She gives me a day or two notice of her appointments.

Answer 1

In short, I would say yes.
It seems that this employee is affecting productivity in your office with the front desk and your own work when you have to cover her.

Is there a current policy on absences like this?
If yes, then are you following the procedure?
If not, perhaps it is time to consider addressing multiple doctor visits. Your person may have a legitimate condition.
You need to know if it is legal to inquire further about it or if termination is possible. Check with an attorney to find out for sure. Avoid any potential discrimination claims by doing your homework.

It seems that your lack of action is encouraging her to take off earlier than she probably needs or miss work all together. How much 'benefit of the doubt' does she get? Are other employees even coming close to missing as much as she does? Surely, they notice and probably feel slighted. Did you ever check her previous references when you hired her? If she is flaking out, then you are doing the employer a disservice by keeping her on. If you really think she's over the job, maybe you would be doing both of you a favor by communicating with her to see if she's happy in her position.

Answer 2

Have you considered asking her to use her lunch break for doctor's appts? If the alloted time is not enough, she needs to coordinate the extra time she will need.

Also instead of her taking her appts in the afternoon, ask if she can schedule her dr's appt first thing in the morning. Many clinics are open at 7:30am, and ask that she come to work immediately following the appointment.

An honest conversation with her is warranted, but tread lightly on asking too personal questions. Especially if your office has a reputation for "loose lips". The inconvenience of covering for her is your main problem, not her health problems. She should be able to provide you a montly schedule of upcoming medical appointments. Otherwise you need to adjust her work schedule so that she can visit her physician at the end of the day, not during her workday.

Answer 3

It is time to start asking for Drs. note. I have five employees working for me. I had one who was doing that sort of thing. When I asked for a Drs. note that had I to be very specific, I got the note but she quit having so many Drs. appts.
I also have another employee who had a really personal problem that she was trying to resolve. When I pressed her for a note from the DR. she broke down and confided in me as to what was going on. She had basically lied to me, but, in her circumstances I would have lied too. So, I gave her the benefit of the doubt. There may be extenuating circumstances, talk frankly with her, if she is just using Drs. appts as an excuse to "play hookey" then tell her what has to be done and stick to your guns. If she has an obviously personal reason for having so many Drs. appts. then see what can be done to work things out. In my employee's case she has not been here long enough to have any sick days. However, we are extremely blessed to work for an incredible corporation and our clinical administrator is very open and understanding. They ended up giving her time off with pay so that she could work out her situation. She is back at work and is a fantastic employee. Good luck, it's a hard call. We have to be both tough and understanding, it "ain't" easy.

Answer 4

I concur, she seems to be bad and flaking out, she can make better doctor appointment times. Dental wisdom teeth would be an acceptable issue, however how many Wisdom teeth can she have...LOL

I would start requesting doctor notes.
Is her position a full time one or part time, perhaps hire another
part time person and cut down on the bad persons shifts and phase her out slowly.

Answer 5

Who knows if she is faking or just sick? She is certainly not responsible, and you are bearing the brunt of it. At some point, you will have to make a decision.

If this keeps up, you still have to build a file on her to protect the company. If you ask her for a doctor's note (and do not ask others), you may create a legal problem. Check and see what your HR person says about sick time and doctor's notes. It may be worth using it now to prevent later problems.

Answer 6

Sounds to me like she's an unreliable employee and doesn't care about her job anymore....I would take this to mean she is out fielding other job opportunities/interviews. Cut your losses and hire a temp until you can find a reliable individual and if you are going to keep her, I would request a physician's note.

However, make sure you do the two step rule, verbal and written notice about her absences and that she must improve upon it or her position is in jeopardy.

Answer 7

You should have a heart-to-heart talk with her to find out what's the problem. Most of the time, employers think the problem lies with the employee. But it is the environment and the leader that is strictly responsible.

When you go to war and you lose the battle. Do you blame the soldiers? Of course not. The leaders need to take ownership.

You need to know why is she visiting the doctors so frequently. Is it because she's sick or not motivated? If true, why is it so? The best way would be to talk it out before you jump into conclusions.





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Edmund Ng
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Infinique Technologies
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Answer 8

make sure you get doctors notes from now on. DOCUMENT everything. It sounds like you have a flake on your hands. If she is unable to provide notes, have her written up per your company's policy. She has figured out that you allow her to flake out whenever she wants the time. Start implemting rules for her time off. All time off must be approved, etc. If you dont start documenting this stuff and you give her the heave ho, she might have a wrongfull term claim.

Answer 9

She could have a multitude of legitimate medical issues that require weekly treatment, however that should not preclude her from pulling her own weight. Perhaps you can discuss with her that whatever medical issue she is dealing with, although it is unfortunate and you are not unsympathetic to it, is forcing you to have to pick up the slack for her and it is unfair and that she may need to work out an arrangement that enables her to recieve her weekly treatments and perform the duties that she was hired to do.

Answer 10

You need to firstly sit down and ask her what the issues are and if there is a problem with her job. You are entitled to ask her for appointment letters and to try to make arrangements outside hours for appointments.

I think you also need to explain the impact this has on you and the business. You can also set her targets around her performance including attendance and if she does not meet them you can take disciplinary action.