Tips on dealing with employee who constantly has issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she says she’s sick, then she’s taking sick leave. She’s not WFH.

If she says her kid is sick, she’s taking family sick leave. She’s not WFH.

If she says her car is in the shop, she’s taking personal/annual leave. She’s not working from home.

I’d double check the employee handbook about requiring a doctor’s note. There has to be something there about a supervisor requiring one after a certain number of absences.

Are you posting from 2018? People WFH now when they are sick but still capable of working -- the runny nose, the sneezing, the coughing from your cubicle but still working -- now you do that from home and don't spread germs.

Kid being sick, depends on the age. If they are 8 or older, most rules are they can be home alone, so you are staying home just in case they get work but they are on their own for the day you work.

For the car, they take leave for the time they are dropping off the car, but then can WFH just like the other 90% of their schedule

Nope. If they’re too sick to come in, they’re not working from home. OP asked how to deal with it. The employee doesn’t get to decide they’re not sick enough to WFH or that their kid doesn’t need tending to. OP is looking for ways to not get taken advantage of. This is how to do it.

This is a ridiculous attitude. If you are any amount of sick, do not come in and infect me with your sickness. If much rather you WFH so I don’t have to pick up your slack if you’re capable of working.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

I am on my last straw with these people.

Two weeks ago I literally went ballistic on one of these people.

They push the envelope and in end a soft boss will get fired just cause they want to Netflix and chill in rainy days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am on my last straw with these people.

Two weeks ago I literally went ballistic on one of these people.

They push the envelope and in end a soft boss will get fired just cause they want to Netflix and chill in rainy days

WFH is still working. People watching Netflix are not working and a manager who doesn’t figure that out shouldn’t be in charge.

Face time is not performance metrics.

Especially not 8 out 60 days RTO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly would let it go, focus on their actual work not BS RTO metrics, unless you are being held to the fire by your management

This. Is their work good?

[Anonymous]

I would just like to ask that you give some people grace. You can't imagine the sheer amount of stuff my DH and I have been dealing with over the few weeks and honestly, it has been years of this type of cyclical shi5 storm.

We muddle through and show up as much as we can, but it feels like something crops up every time we get a breather. Cars, animal, kid, our own health issues, parent issues. Even with things as direct as get your car repaired- repairs are more expensive and parts are delayed due to the auto worker's strike. Taking our kid to the doctor requires a sick day visit that can only be made after 930am- you literally have to call after 930 and take what they give you. Even WAH gets disrupted with that setup.
I made my dental and endocrinologist appointments 6 months ago for 11-10 so that I wouldn't have to take leave. The admin at the dental office scheduled it for 10-11 mistakenly and the endocrinologist is out of office for a conference that week. Had to reschedule both appointments. This is the uncomplicated stuff that should be easy and direct, and it is anything but lately.

If the person is meeting their deliverables and working at home just assume it is a season. Let them know that they need to make an effort and that you need to see improvement in this issue.

[Anonymous]

Wait, now your kid, car, health and animal problem is MY problem? Nope. It’s a job requirement to show up in person on day X. Agree or quit.

[Anonymous]

I had this issue with a new staff with all his appointments.

I now get my oil change dealer near work, my eye doctor I use near my office, have dentist and doctor with early appointments. My dentist opens at 730am. My Dr. 7 am. I use minute clinic at CVS near work.

I worked 25 years prior job that was a 90 minute commute. So much less stress doing things by office

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly would let it go, focus on their actual work not BS RTO metrics, unless you are being held to the fire by your management

Agree with this. If the point of being in the office is for your team to gave fave time punishing them by having them go in when no one is there isn’t achieving anything.

People have lives outside of work - kids get sick, people have accidents.

You sound like an insufferable eager beaver who wants to assert that you’re the boss. Please resist the temptation. Focus on whether this person is doing a good job in their job and cut them some slack. If you don’t they’ll move on to a different job.

[Anonymous]

If the in office days are genuinely important, there’s no WFH option and they need to take leave if they need to miss one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she says she’s sick, then she’s taking sick leave. She’s not WFH.

If she says her kid is sick, she’s taking family sick leave. She’s not WFH.

If she says her car is in the shop, she’s taking personal/annual leave. She’s not working from home.

I’d double check the employee handbook about requiring a doctor’s note. There has to be something there about a supervisor requiring one after a certain number of absences.

This is not the norm anymore. Treat your employee like an adult. The added stress that you’re going to cause by doing this is going to lead to burnout and productivity loss. It’s not worth it - for you or for them. And if they work effectively remotely 86% of the time why would you make them take a sick day for a kid’s doctors appointment.

You’re going to have a lot of turnover and then you’ll be mumbling about job hopping but it will have all been preventable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would just like to ask that you give some people grace. You can't imagine the sheer amount of stuff my DH and I have been dealing with over the few weeks and honestly, it has been years of this type of cyclical shi5 storm.

We muddle through and show up as much as we can, but it feels like something crops up every time we get a breather. Cars, animal, kid, our own health issues, parent issues. Even with things as direct as get your car repaired- repairs are more expensive and parts are delayed due to the auto worker's strike. Taking our kid to the doctor requires a sick day visit that can only be made after 930am- you literally have to call after 930 and take what they give you. Even WAH gets disrupted with that setup.
I made my dental and endocrinologist appointments 6 months ago for 11-10 so that I wouldn't have to take leave. The admin at the dental office scheduled it for 10-11 mistakenly and the endocrinologist is out of office for a conference that week. Had to reschedule both appointments. This is the uncomplicated stuff that should be easy and direct, and it is anything but lately.

If the person is meeting their deliverables and working at home just assume it is a season. Let them know that they need to make an effort and that you need to see improvement in this issue.

Holy Excuses Batman. Even the auto workers strike thrown in. Well played.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would follow up and say the days are expected so either make them or what other days will you be coming in.

What amazes me the most is that I haven't hired anyone new since Covid. All the people worked full time in the office before Covid and now the commute is too long or juggling drop off of the kids is too hard. And this is 2 days a week in office of their choosing! Bonus will be wake up time for them. HQ has said bonus for those who make it in 2 days a week -- none for the others.

[Anonymous]

We've been told to deal with it two ways:
-On our official "in office" day, you either need to be on annual leave or sick leave if you aren't in the office. Telework is not allowed. You're expected to schedule doctors appts for a different day. Ours is just 2 days a month.

-We're expected to be in the office 2 days a week. We don't care what days you make them. If you have car trouble monday, then you come into the office on a different day.

-We are supposed to send them an email every time a violation happens to help show a pattern. If there is a pattern, HR gets involved. In your case, if someone violated it 5/8 times and only came into the office 3/8 times, that's a pattern. HR then would send them a notice. If it happened again, PIP would follow.