Tips on dealing with employee who constantly has issues?

[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.

I never said professional job or benefits. You want to work less, you take the consequences, which usually means giving up your benefits. But I know a number of professionals who work 30 hour weeks. They usually take a big hit in pay and lose benefits. The ones that I know are ones that are married who get benefits through their spouse's employment.

[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.

I know!!! I would be THRILLED to take a 25% pay cut and work 30 hours per week-as would LITERALLY every single working mother that I know. This is simply not an option. Those jobs do not exist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I know!!! I would be THRILLED to take a 25% pay cut and work 30 hours per week-as would LITERALLY every single working mother that I know. This is simply not an option. Those jobs do not exist.

Yeah PP, you really put your foot in your mouth here. I do actually know a couple people who've done this while their kids were young but I'm not sure how they convinced their employers; I think it was something like being considered on leave without pay 20% of the time for an indefinite length.