Tips on dealing with employee who constantly has issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone in my office is supposed to be in person every Tuesday since the beginning of 2023, I have one employee who has made it in just over half of the Tuesdays. Sick, car trouble, plumber coming, etc. Her performance review is about to be a shockingly negative experience for her and I will be surprised if we keep her into 2024. Our senior leadership is so fed up with people ignoring RTO they are happy to hire new ones instead.

I would have a hard conversation with your employee about attendance, it’s not good for the entire office.

Good luck hiring new people with draconian RTO

Is one day a week in the office draconian RTO? Really?

Are you OP? Anyways Draconian is looking for punitive action for missing an RTO day. Things come up. Lots of people are sick this time of year. Maybe your employee is lying, but eventually they will run out of cars to run into deers.

They aren’t just saying “won’t come in” they have a reasonable reason. It’s been 3 months. I would focus on actual work and deliverables not calling them a liar.

She is a liar. My old boss got sick of people like this. He started rule of key person and 4 or more inches or snow predicted they can come in night before check in to hotel next door on company prepaid account, dinner, drinks at bar breakfast all paid for.

Two slackers called out due to snow, I did not check weather report, I feel asleep early before snow, I thought weather forecaster wrong, my favorite how would I know it is snowing where boss said so you live in a house with no windows? These people are con artists.

I honestly think my old boss built in a no excuse situation to box these slackers in

So anti parent policies. Hotel for snow?

You do know kids can come to a hotel!

So they come to work with you? Or stay at hotel while you go to work?

The multiple job troll who originally posted that doesn't think mothers should work, so no issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a person who does work for me and she also does work for a friend. She always has some excuse to change days. My friend grumbles but lets her change, so she is constantly at the mercy of which day she will work. When the person does it to me, I say fine, don't come until the next week, which means she goes a week without pay. As a result, she always comes to me on the designated day.

All to say that people take advantage if you let them.

Your cleaner lol. Do you work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

Do you personally only go in once a week?

No, I usually go in 3-4 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

How about this. Work a 30 hour week and get a 25% pay cut. You will be making the same hourly rate for your salary and you work less. I know employers who have tried to do this and virtually no one wanted to take the pay cut. What the employees want is to keep the same salary but work less. That's not happening.

So, you can prioritize your work-life balance all you want, but you do so on your dime, not on the company dime. Most of us are working in at-will employment states. You are welcome to go and seek out a lower paying job with better hours any time. But note that most people don't want to take pay cuts, so they'll complain about how much they work rather than go and fine a 30 hour per week job that pays less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

Have you ever managed anyone? Do you know how hard it is to get the work done when your employees are hard to reach during the work day and really don’t care about their work? I also care about my family but it’s not so hard to actually travel to my office on occasion to do my job, that’s why they pay me. I often wonder if they people on the jobs forum who advocate for laziness are the same people on the money forum who are complaining that they can’t make enough to buy a house, feels like there is a strong correlation.

[Anonymous]

My Company to my shock grew a pair of balls. We have a set day off each week for WFH

This week on a zoom meeting he called out three VPs on excess WFH and told these three no more WFH period. In addition if leave early, come in late run out for errands need CEO and Head of HR pre approval and permission in writing.

He then called out the three VPs with best attendance and CEO announced he and Head of HR no more WFH as employees obviously need oversight.

I love it. Party like it is 1999.

Although sad people can’t behave like adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

How about this. Work a 30 hour week and get a 25% pay cut. You will be making the same hourly rate for your salary and you work less. I know employers who have tried to do this and virtually no one wanted to take the pay cut. What the employees want is to keep the same salary but work less. That's not happening.

So, you can prioritize your work-life balance all you want, but you do so on your dime, not on the company dime. Most of us are working in at-will employment states. You are welcome to go and seek out a lower paying job with better hours any time. But note that most people don't want to take pay cuts, so they'll complain about how much they work rather than go and fine a 30 hour per week job that pays less.

You are making stuff up. It’s almost impossible to get a 30 hour part time professional job with benefits — that is discussed on this forum ALL THE TIME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

Have you ever managed anyone? Do you know how hard it is to get the work done when your employees are hard to reach during the work day and really don’t care about their work? I also care about my family but it’s not so hard to actually travel to my office on occasion to do my job, that’s why they pay me. I often wonder if they people on the jobs forum who advocate for laziness are the same people on the money forum who are complaining that they can’t make enough to buy a house, feels like there is a strong correlation.

I work remotely but am reachable by phone every moment except when I’m in the bathroom (and sometimes do text from there). People can be in the office and not respond to, be hidden away at the cafe or loo, so you have a different problem.

I do manage people, and we provide work phones and have a 15 minute response to any phone call in their performance plane (so they have a documented expectation and penalty if unreachable).

As for people not caring, I’m sure that’s a pay problem — no one works for free so if they are unmotivated it’s likely because it’s lackluster comp for a meaningless BS job. Either bolster the meaning of the mission of the work or pay more if you want them to “care”. You only care because your bonus is on the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Company to my shock grew a pair of balls. We have a set day off each week for WFH

This week on a zoom meeting he called out three VPs on excess WFH and told these three no more WFH period. In addition if leave early, come in late run out for errands need CEO and Head of HR pre approval and permission in writing.

He then called out the three VPs with best attendance and CEO announced he and Head of HR no more WFH as employees obviously need oversight.

I love it. Party like it is 1999.

Although sad people can’t behave like adults.

Best attendance awards?

Do you work at an elementary schooll?

Why not measure actual performance on the job, not where you place your butts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are the kids? I’ve got a 4 year old who seems to be a constant harbinger of disease. Not sure if the pandemic messed up her immune development or what, but these last two years in preschool have been brutal. Even catching less than half of what she’s brought home has led to my sickest year to date.

Broadly agree with others that you should focus on productivity. Trust me, I personally would much rather be at the office than home sick yet again. If in office matters, have him or her try to make it up. I do.

It’s self evident in office doesn’t matter

8 in office days out if 60!

I disagree. I manage a team of 15 people in a department of 110 and we all worked remote 80% pre-pandemic. We didn’t do all the video calls and Zoom happy hours and other goody stuff because we assumed we knew how to work from home already. Except we would go into the office 1 day a week. Life happens, kids get sick, people have planned PTO. People probably ended up coming in 3x a month.

Fast forward 9-12 months and things started falling apart. People complain they feel disconnected and not engaged on HR surveys - yet all the free lunch, fancy coffee, and happy hours in the world won’t bring them back to the office face to face to build connections. Personally I think once a week is the sweet spot, but even one day a month makes a huge difference in personal interactions and feeling engaged with your work.

You are blaming WFH and less RTO on people’s disengagement, when many surveys have shown people are more stressed in general and less satisfied about work overall, regardless of how they work. It’s likely people on your team are dealing with new realities (perhaps seeing how badly their schools are doing for kids, maybe they moved some place with new challenges) and value your work less because of a evaluation when faced with their own mortality.

I’m a manager of 75 employees and I also blame WFH for our disengagement. It’s been a huge hit to productivity and any feeling of engagement to our work or workplace, according to multiple surveys of our employees over the last few years. I would bring people back a few days a week if I could, right now we limp along with 1 day a week in the office.

God you clueless middle managers.

People are disengaged from work because we have changed our value system. We no longer sacrifice so much on the alter of work because we see how disposable we are. We value time with family more, and to live better and make better choices, and not grind and die without joy. It has nothing to do with WFH and fake work comradarie — we know we are a team not a family and can be cut any time and you really don’t give a fig about any of your reports except how it impacts your bonus. Making everyone dredge into work won’t return us to the same world where we driven by fear and ambition to chase success above family, because we know it won’t be there in the end but family will be.

How about this. Work a 30 hour week and get a 25% pay cut. You will be making the same hourly rate for your salary and you work less. I know employers who have tried to do this and virtually no one wanted to take the pay cut. What the employees want is to keep the same salary but work less. That's not happening.

So, you can prioritize your work-life balance all you want, but you do so on your dime, not on the company dime. Most of us are working in at-will employment states. You are welcome to go and seek out a lower paying job with better hours any time. But note that most people don't want to take pay cuts, so they'll complain about how much they work rather than go and fine a 30 hour per week job that pays less.

You are making stuff up. It’s almost impossible to get a 30 hour part time professional job with benefits — that is discussed on this forum ALL THE TIME.

True, it’s almost impossible. Employers don’t want to pay you for full time benefits to work 75% of the time as a professional remotely. They’re so very mean and life is sad and unfair. You could start your own business and set your own hours but that would be hard and take a lot of work.

[Anonymous]

You literally complained that employees should be taking part time roles rather than campaigning work life balance, and now you back track when we point out that isn’t a thing.

Are you off your meds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Company to my shock grew a pair of balls. We have a set day off each week for WFH

This week on a zoom meeting he called out three VPs on excess WFH and told these three no more WFH period. In addition if leave early, come in late run out for errands need CEO and Head of HR pre approval and permission in writing.

He then called out the three VPs with best attendance and CEO announced he and Head of HR no more WFH as employees obviously need oversight.

I love it. Party like it is 1999.

Although sad people can’t behave like adults.

Was this J1 or J2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Company to my shock grew a pair of balls. We have a set day off each week for WFH

This week on a zoom meeting he called out three VPs on excess WFH and told these three no more WFH period. In addition if leave early, come in late run out for errands need CEO and Head of HR pre approval and permission in writing.

He then called out the three VPs with best attendance and CEO announced he and Head of HR no more WFH as employees obviously need oversight.

I love it. Party like it is 1999.

Although sad people can’t behave like adults.

Ahh it’s the work from home troll who has terrible grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Company to my shock grew a pair of balls. We have a set day off each week for WFH

This week on a zoom meeting he called out three VPs on excess WFH and told these three no more WFH period. In addition if leave early, come in late run out for errands need CEO and Head of HR pre approval and permission in writing.

He then called out the three VPs with best attendance and CEO announced he and Head of HR no more WFH as employees obviously need oversight.

I love it. Party like it is 1999.

Although sad people can’t behave like adults.

I'd be gone.