new job, new staff that is never around

[Anonymous]

We are an all-remote company. This is nothing new to me. I've worked remotely for most of my career.

In my new role, however, I've inherited a staff person that is available - maybe - one hour each week for live conversation. Cannot commit to that hour, but "maybe, can most likely make it on a regular basis at that time but on odd weeks it might now work." It took me 3 tries to get to that answer.

They were hired on the understanding of regularly occurring meetings during their manager's working hours. The original manager is no longer with the company, so I am their new manager.

How on earth am I to train and manage such a person if they can never talk in real time? I will spend > half my days writing up instructions and giving feedback vs just having actual conversations and getting things done.

He is in an entry-level position and the previous manager very rarely had him do any work. I have found little evidence of him actually doing anything. And the minimal work produced seems to have garnered oddly extreme praise. He is not experienced enough to do what I have asked so far, which means that because he is not available I have had to redo it all myself which takes longer than just doing it myself from the get-go.

Is this an HR-level conversation? Other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Document and get rid of this dead weight. He either has a second fulltime job or is pissing away his days gaming, getting high, or watching netflix. Establish deadlines and expectations in writing.

[Anonymous]

This is a conversation you have with your expectations. You give this person a long lead and they are clearly running with it. Job market is tight, so surely someone with this level of competency needs more guidance, which clearly they are trying to avoid. Would suggest writing an email that states your expectations about when they are available, how often the two of you will meet, schedule a regular meeting time weekly, if you are editing their work, add two standing meetings to the schedule. Make sure you also find out what they do and don't like about the job. Find what you can give them to do that they would like to help them be part of the culture you are setting up. Ultimately it will become pretty clear whether they want the job or they don't want the job and it is time to use the information you collect and document on regular meetings (if they show up) on what they are and are not capable of doing - and meet with HR with that information. Would suggest a meeting with HR earlier to find out what documentation they would want, if this person is not looking like they are competent to do their job.

[Anonymous]

Have a preliminary conversation with HR. Ask them if there are any special circumstances? Ask what job performance (or lack of it) documentation that they would want to see?

[Anonymous]

Try to find out if this person was getting special treatment for some reason first--CEO's relative, etc. Because it seems odd that they were highly praised and yet never seem to work.

[Anonymous]

If you are this person's direct manager, this is what I would do:

1. I would loop HR in immediately as they can help you dot your 'i's and cross your 't's.

2. Set very clear expectations for the work this person should be doing. Ideally, use the actual job description / contract that was signed as that typically outlines their responsibilities.

3. Reorient your attitude as best as possible to someone who actually wants this person to succeed. Assume that no one has cared enough to teach him how to succeed and that it's your job as his manager to help him out. Frame the conversation from that perspective.

4. Document every thing he does to fail at this, in writing. (HR should be able to guide you here.)

The job market is in your favor right now. An eager, qualified person is ready to take this person's place.

[Anonymous]

Def start with speaking w HR

[Anonymous]

He has another job. No question. In this economy, you get rid of him and hire someone who wants to work WITH you and make your life easier. And I say this as a former plaintiff’s-side employment lawyer.

[Anonymous]

Before bringing in HR, directly communicate to the person verbally one-on-one that this does not meet your expectations. (Just want to make sure that step has happened.) If they don't give you an available window for you to do this, you schedule a time; if they don't show up, they missed a meeting which you'll note. If you've communicated via verbal meeting, and they don't bend, then certainly go somewhere else. Agree that they either have other job or are of the opinion (many are) that written communication can replace all verbal communication. And overall agree with this point - "Reorient your attitude as best as possible to someone who actually wants this person to succeed. Assume that no one has cared enough to teach him how to succeed and that it's your job as his manager to help him out. Frame the conversation from that perspective."

[Anonymous]

You write them up and then fire them.

How did you make it to manager?

#1 rule of remote slacking is to always be available, and slack during downtime.

[Anonymous]

Best case scenario: the employee never had any direction before and they don't know what to do and are floundering; you give them direction and goals to succeed. You need to have a meeting. Or as others said, could be a second job, nepo hire, etc.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't do anything before talking to my boss in this situation. You're new - there might be internal politics that you're not in the loop on. So start there. "Hey Boss, wanted to check in on Larlo. I've struggling a bit with him - he doesn't appear to have the skills to complete XYZ and it's difficult to even get a meeting scheduled with him. Is there any history or back story here that I should know about?"

Assuming you get some version of "no" or "yeah, Larlo's a tough one" then I'd say "Okay. I'm going to work with him and see if we can get him on track, starting with a required weekly 1:1 meeting, getting him up to speed so he can complete X independently, and going from there."

After I talked to my boss, then I'd feel comfortable setting a firmer line with Larlo. "Hi Larlo - we're going to need to have a reliable weekly 1:1 meeting, unless you are taking PTO or it's a company holiday. What exactly are the possible conflicts with the time we discussed?" Do not take "well, we'll see" for an answer.

Then you jump in as manager. Take things slow, but start with baseline expectations (response time < 2 hrs during standard office hours, weekly 1:1, tasks getting completed) and go from there.

Document, document, document. Every missed meeting, every non-responded to slack, every task blown off. Be flexible and helpful as far as learning curve, but expect improvement and effort. Maybe he'll adjust and improve!

After a month or so, if there hasn't been some real improvement, then you go back to your Boss "Update on Larlo - I have not seen much improvement. He has blown off half our scheduled meetings with no warning, he's missed every deadline I've set for him, and is work is slapdash and unsatisfactory. What are the next steps on addressing his performance? I think it may be time to talk to HR about a PIP."

And then you go from there, through the company channels as recommended.

[Anonymous]

He's overemployed. There's a whole Reddit filled with these people with 2 or 3 or 4 jobs.

https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed/