How to deal with difficult staff???????

Question

I work as a supervisor in charge of a small team. A new girl recently joined the team who is not pulling her weight at all. She is very slow in everything she does & if i tell her to go quicker she answers me back. She is very rude & has an excuse for everything. My manager is aware that she is completely useless & has witnessed it herself although wont get rid of her as we are desperate for staff.
I have tried the soft approach and run through everything in really simple terms but she claims to forget everything i tell her so I have to go over the same things day after day.
Its really frustrating. I have tried the harder approach and told her she needs to proove herself in order to keep the job although nothing seems to work. If I speak to her about her performance she ends up in tears. Im at the end of my tether & she is increasing my workload.
In all my years as a supervisor I have never met anyone so lazy, rude & akward! really not sure what to try next. Any ideas???????

Answer 1

Maybe you could sit with her and ask her how she is feeling, if there are any probelms she wishes to discuss. Maybe there is something or someone bothering her.

The fact she bursts into tears when you ask her to buck her ideas up shows to me something is wrong. Set her some goals, and ask if there is anything you can do to help her. There may be things she doesn't understand but is too afraid to ask.

Give her a sense of purpose. Give her a specific job, make her feel useful and wanted. Maybe then she will take pride in her work and repsect you more.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi

I had a similar issue once and when that person came in at three in the afternoon smelling of whisky off he went!!!

The fact that she is answering back and is very rude is demonstrating that she has no respect for you or the organisation, and can be a serious moral issue for the rest of the team.

Make sure that you following your organisations HR procedure, document every conversation and issues that arise which, and also list a number of key action plans that this employee needs to achieve within a reasonable time limit and set performance plans. If she is being rude then this could be deemed as inappropriate behaviour by HR and cause for instant dismissal but check. All of this can be used as evidence for any dismissal but you must make sure that you follow procedure otherwise there will be an issue of unlawful dismissal.

Is there an underlying issue as to why she can not concentrate on her work or do her job? If you have access to an occupational health see if you can refer her to them for extra support, I know that this seems a strange statement to make but if you can demonstrate that you have done everything you can to help her with no sucess she can not really argue being sacked.

You need to evaluate if it is worth having a person that will cause other good working staff to leave due to her working attitude.

Also check her references to see if they are accurate

Most organisations have probationary period which you can end her employment if she is not suitable to the task.

Answer 3

Sounds like she is past the point of coaching/training. It is time for you to start documenting all of this, in preparation for her termination. Try different learning techniques (does she need to work off of a list, does she need to be mirrored with some else for training, is she a visual learner vs. verbal, healthy competition). If you truly feel like you have given her the tools that she needs to succeed, it is time to cut your losses. Put things in writing, keep good notes, get signatures, don't forget to add a termination clause. Of course you want to partner with you supervisor, especially if you do not have the authority to do "corrective counseling". Perhaps armed with all of this your supervisor will have no choice but to react. Understaffed, are you kidding, have you seen unemployment statistics lately, there are plenty of good people out there! I would also work on surfacing quality candidates to replace her, so that your boss knows you are succession planning. Try meeting with whoever handles HR. Nothing is worse than being stuck with someone because you don't have the documentation that you need to term them. When your boss finally gets a Clue you will already have everything you need to term. (Remeber it's always CYA). Who knows she may get the point, that her job is at stake and straighten out. Either way you win! You get to keep her, she receives good consistent training and coaching from you, or you lose what sounds like a very unproductive employee. Good Luck!

Answer 4

Wow, she sounds like a real piece of work. I have ran across a few of those types before. Well since she isn't responding to you talking to her, I would hire someone else, even if its just for part time to help out with the load. Then if she didn't pick up and do her work then, I would fire her and make the part time a full time employee. I know that might sound silly, but that's what I would do. Or at least I would mention the idea to my manager to see if I could get approval. Or you could even hire a temp through an agency, that way you wouldn't have to worry with a ton of paperwork. Good Luck.

Answer 5

Cut your losses and get rid, is she still on a probationary period? She will cause damage and cost you more money in the long-term.

In the meantime, have a 1-2-1 with her, friendly chat etc, find out what makes her tick, her interests and what she would like to do in the future etc you may find a way around your issues, she may even tell you something she is not happy with and why she is so unproductive, you could get alot out of a meeting with her if you ask the right questions and talk to her on her level.

Answer 6

Doesn't she have a probationary period? Can't you let her go if she's not living up to her duties by the end of that period? Why are you fighting with her? My ideas are either to provide her with actual training - a couple of days (with books) that explains what she is expected to do. If she doesn't improve, let her go. Or just let her go. You supervise a business team, not a friendship team. If she can't pull her weight, she doesn't belong there. Period.

Answer 7

I would take her down the capability/competency route i.e assessing whether she is actuall capable of doing her job.

Start with a formal meeting with her, write to her first and explain why you want the meeting, hold meeting and ensure it is minuted, raise all your concerns and inform her it will be kept on her file.
Issue a letter of concern, telling her that if their is not a increase in her performance she will face a dicsiplinary.
If nothing improves hold a dicsiplinary hearing and issue a written warning.
Continue down this route until you are able to terminate her employment.

Answer 8

i know how you feel, we have somebody at work just like her. if not worse in some ways, but i suggest, you be upfront, genuine and honest. Sit down with her and have a one-to-one discussion. I often find a failure in communication with more Senior staff is often the problem, I'm not saying you're not communicating with her but you need to do it on a on-to-one basis, and make sure she doesn't know that you're rushed, and get management involved, because if it's affecting you, then they need to know about it, you need to talk to them. You all need to sit down and try to resolve this, if that doesn't work, sack her, (i know it's mean) but it isn't fair on everybody else you employ.

Answer 9

you cannot possibly put up with this awkward person,I feel that your Manager is definately not doing her job. Surely you must have a written warning ruling put this into action its the only way for it and tell your Manager she must listen to you as both of you are not doing your jobs.You because of your Manager. Good Luck.

Answer 10

Poor you! Well it isn't fair to you or the other staff. You have to be firm on this one and give her an evaluation of her work. A written warning that she is not meeting the high standards of the company listing reasons. if she doesn't pull her weight after that, then she clearly doesn't care and you need to give her the shove!

Hang in there!