On 8/9/06, estherschindler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > What do you do: > 1. Fire her. She's not contributing to the team, and is dragging away > your energy. > 2. Have a heart-to-heart conversation with her about her declining > standards. Even though you know she'll cry, and even though you've had > similar conversations and they didn't work for long. > 3. Sigh, and continue on with life. Not everyone who works for you can > be the best. > 4. Call the HR department. Let THEM deal with her. > 5. Something else. What?
I'll pick (5). Point out (in whichever way would be appropriate) that the fact that her hampster died, her sugardaddy left her, her karma isn't right, and the cumulative effect, isn't really helping the department (I wouldn't be accepting the gifts proffered to start with by the way), and that if she doesn't start changing her opinion about work in general her position at the company is likely to be reviewed. Sometime soon. > Which of these would affect the above decision? and if so, how? > > * HR Department practices (i.e. the company needs a smoking gun to > prove incompetance) Initially it's the line manager (or maybe even peers) who should be pointing this out. HR should generally be the last resort. > * Gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. (i.e. it would look bad to > fire the only/other woman in the office) Rubbish. If a bloke did the same thing they'd get the same treatment! > * Cost of replacement (i.e. it would cost twice as much to bring in > someone new with equal experience) Global view... they're already costing the company in lost productivity. Hiring new staff would be cheaper, given the scenario. > * Employee versus contractor status Personally I've worked with more loyal contractors than staff! (may be unusual though) > * Political favoritism: the VP likes Claire The VP can have Claire. I just don't want her on my team. > For those who would choose to fire Claire: what exactly would you say, > after "Please come into my office. And close the door"? I'd have the 'chat' first to indicate to her that her current behaviour is unacceptable and give her a chance. > In other words: assuming that none of us likes to fire an employee, we > at least want some guidance about how to go about it. Those of us on > the receiving end often feel that we didn't get the whole story, too. > What do you leave out? > > So write out the first paragraph of how you'd break the news to her. "Claire - it's clear to both of us that your contributions to the department are (sporadically,) if not brilliant, are a bit lacking. In particular on project i, project j, and project k, you failed to <whatever>. It's clear that you were inspirational on project x, y and z, but while these highs on the last three projects benifited the company, the fact that these were exceptions is causing a problem with your collegues. While I understand that you have personal problems like <hampster, au pair, shopping> have intruded on your ability to contribute to your department, it seems like these things are affecting your work with us to a disproportionate degree..... etc. Any use? -- PJH Into motorcycles? Need parts? Try www.gissit.com to contact lots of motorcycle breakers - free to use (UK based at the moment) To unsubscribe, send a blank message to <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/c-prog/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
