Supervisor or Friend?

Question

I am the supervisor of about 7 employees all between the ages of 18-22. I have developed close relationships with most of them, but when I reprimand them on their work they tend to take it personal and "ignore" me. We talk about it and everything is fine until it happens again. It is a vicious cycle. How do I handle these situations in the future?

Answer 1

It is very difficult to be a supervisor and a friend. You should find other friends and keep your business relationship professional.

Answer 2

I think having close relationships with employees is fine. However, sometimes you do have to establish your authority and the need to get work done well. If someone ignores you then you need to keep a record of that for a performance review. Perhaps their is a need for discipline so that people do not take advantage of your friendship. Realizing that the employees are young and perhaps looking forward to a better career can leave you in a difficult position. Perhaps it is possible to give them more responsibility or make the job more interesting to them. Maybe just talking to them about how they see the job and how it fits into their their career could motivate to do it better. Look for the opportunity to motivate positively and also see the need to establish authority. This can be difficult of course, but that is why they have supervisors.

Answer 3

You should separate your status between being a friend and being a supervisor. When you are at work then the people under your supervision don't have to take it personally. You're trying to be a good supervisor but if those people won't follow and just ignore you, it will affect your work and your status.
Talk to them again and tell them that you don't want to have an argument and gap with them so all of them should cooperate

Answer 4

Tough to deal with. Be sure your mode of communications as a friend is NOT the same as a supervisor. I.E. If you've functioned as a friend verbally, then put everything that needs to be said as a supervisor in writing. Generate appropriate perception. Example: "John. Your hurting. But, please don't confuse friendship from your obligations to xyz company. You have done thus and such, which is not acceptable behavior to the company and needs to change. There's just no way out of that. As a friend I' m here for you, and as a supervisor I'm going to do what needs to be done to prevent you from failing here. Now, let me see some smoke. You can do it."

Answer 5

As much as you may regret having to do it, you must begin to distance yourself from having personal relationships with your employees. I learned this the hard way.

One of my employees was going through some very difficult times with her husband and because of the tension in the home her children began to "act up." So, I very much sympathized with her and excused it when she was late to work and became less focused on her tasks. She gradually got worse about being tardy and slacked off more on her tasks, even though her home situation improved.

I tried hinting to her about the problem but when that was to no avail, I finally had to have a serious talk with her. "But I thought you were my friend!" she wailed.

I tried to be as kind to her as I could and explained that it was my duty to look out for the interests of the organization I worked for. I also told her that others were observing her lack of diligence and that she was making it difficult for me to recommend her for a promotion.

Things went better after that but our feelings toward each other were never the same. The next time, you would do well to be cordial and warm with your employees but find your close friends outside of the workplace.