now what do I say?

Question

Yesturday I had a meeting with an employee of mine in the resort where I am Operations Manager, about her need to improve. It is now approaching her 90 days and I pointed out a couple incidents where she did not get the job done and I had to pick up her slcak the next morning. In this business we can make mistakes or miss things because then the guests are the one lose. So I made it clear that there weret hings that she needed to work on. I asked her if she had anything to say and if she felt she needed more training and she said everything was fine and did not argue to anything in her defense. She was very monotone about it all. The this morning I came to work and again there were things that were not done. What do I do now? My boss tells me we need to give every opportunity to succeed, but how many more chances? I am frusterated at this point and everyone eles is to. I dont have the tactics to apporach her yet. What should I tell her?, Do I need to meet with her again?

Answer 1

As a manager, I'm sure you are aware of the time and effort one must invest in all new employees. You want that employee to succeed because, let's be honest, it makes your job much easier when they do! Hopefully, you have invested almost 90 days into the training of this employee. Why not invest a little more, just to make sure you didn't leave out something that the employee might just be missing. Maybe run through the employee's responsibilities with her once again, literally showing her what is expected. Maybe the tasks you found that weren't done were completed before you spoke to the employee, or maybe she just doesn't understand that she is responsible for completing them. Either way, additional training is a small price to pay in order to develop a responsible employee. You mention that she is lacking in a "couple" of areas. If that is all, it really sounds as if she could benefit from additional instruction. Give her another chance and see where it goes. If she continues to neglect her duties, you have every right to terminate her employment even after the initial 90 days is up.

Answer 2

Clearly she is not motivated & there is talk of management not in unison with employees. This is the question you need to answer. Tell her you will meet with her on Friday or Sunday of next week after reviewing her work standards for the week. And that if anything stands out you will then ask her for her suggestions on how she can solve her inadequacies. She will at that point have 30 days to make the necessary improvements you & her have penciled out on paper, which you both will sign. It will be your Contract for Improvement Standards. In the meantime you will write down every complaint & shortcoming that anyone notices. She will now feel like she is part of the solution as she will be the one who is creating her own work standards as they fit within your Company Guidelines. If she fails to meet her own guidelines within your structure, she will no longer be considered employable.

The main thing is give her a chance to make those improvments. I work for both an employer & for myself & I can attest that there are times throughout my life when no matter the consequences I have found it difficult to shine as the Companies best employee. And find out what it is about our management or management style that is partially causing this lack of motivation, if this is indeed part of the problem. Also is there a wall where employees can hang or mount new photos of family? Activiites? Holiday gathrings? To some this apsect of their lives accompanying them to work can make a world of difference.

I know that profit & marketing can take center stage, but without really happy employees your qwest may be a hard fought battle.

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Answer 3

Managing people is not fun. It sounds like both yourself and your orgnaization are pretty fair minded. As long as you made it clear which actions needed improvement and you gave a timeframe to see these measurable improvements (which you did both), then at 90 days you may need to tell her that her probationary period is up and you have not seen the neccessary improvements stipulated earlier. You even offered additional training which was not accepted. So either she doesn't understand her responsibilties or she just fails to meet her responsibilties. Do you feel perhaps that she still doesn't know what is required of her? If not, then you can consult with your boss/mentor and then probably let her go. Is there a company policy in place regarding probationary periods or wrtten reviews?

Its not easy. You sound like a compassionate manager (you may be thinking about her loss of income, if there are issues you are unaware of....), but if all things were presented to her fairly and she failed to meet her commitment, then you need to do what you need to do. Good luck

Answer 4

You seem to be confused because of your boss saying "give every opportunity to succeed". How about talking the situation over with your boss, based on the fact that her 90 days is coming up? He want to "get it right" at that 90 day limit, so that people are either let go or retained based on their performance, he does not want to keep people beyond the 90 days if they are not working out. Confirm this with your boss.

Answer 5

If she was on a 90 day probation period and things are not working out and she does not appear to be motivated, it seems like it is time for her to move on, or perhaps try her in a different position where she might succeed more. If she isn't trying, not putting forth effort, and you have made it clear, it is time for her to move on to some other job that may be better for her. It may have to be in another company. It seems as though you have already gave her ample opportunity. That is the hard part of your job. I will be praying for you.

Answer 6

Explain to her that she has been warned. One more infraction might mean termination. Ask her if she takes her job seriously. Her monotone indifference tells me she doesn't care. Then stick to your guns. If you feel she is not going to improve, then speak to your superior about letter her go. If you are the manager, then you need to manage your department. Just like her, if you don't do your job, you might be the one terminated. And honey, use the spell check. You are in a management position, yet all the mistakes in your text are very high-schoolish. Take charge! Remember, you are their manager, not their friend. You should be the one in control. Good luck!

Answer 7

Talk to her again, point out the specifics about how she hasn't improved, and ask her why it is so. If you get a flat, vague, lame and uniterested response, fire her - she clearly doesn't care enough to put in some effort, and might end up better off when you fire her and she maybe finds a job she'll enjoy better.Then again, if it is due to a personal crisis of sorts, offer help or whatever.

Answer 8

Yes, meet with her again and tell her there will be consequences if she slacks off more.

But if she does pick up her act reward her in a way. Offer her lunch or a coffee or something nice.

Too much more slacking off and I suggest you ask her to resign and hire someone more productive. There's nothing worse than being dissatisfied with a resort. Many people holiday to such places and if they get a bad vibe/service they're not likely to return there.

Answer 9

Did you just critisize, or did you praise her on what she's doing right, too?
Everyone responds to praise a lot better than critism. Praise her daily for something she did well and point out improvements only weekly or less.

Answer 10

this is a situation that you will need to discuss with your boss, before it comes back as your fault. talk to him, tell her u warned her and have corrected her, but u will have to compose your anger and temper before that.
relax, things will work out. u do not need to bail her out nymore.
all the best.