Employee always has a conflict when they need to travel or present

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She may be afraid to fly.

Ha! She flies at least 2x a month to visit her family in another state. She loves to travel and goes on at least four international trips a year. She was really risk adverse about COVID, so I thought it could be related to that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The employee is playing you. How can it be that she is a good performer, does not need an accommodation, yet consistently can’t present on a scheduled date. OP, it’s a form of quiet quitting. Who knows what’s really up, but this won’t stop until you call her on it. Get HR involved. I have been in federal employment for 20 years, and federal employees are presently the most entitled and insufferable that I’ve ever experienced. Everyone is daring managers to not give them telework, not understand their home life, and to fire them. Do it. Bust her a$$.

I'm known for being a good manager. I have fired people before and I am one of the managers who is typically on the panels for new supervisors. I have been a supervisor for 10 years. I appreciate your advice. I do think she is playing me. I try to be accomodating after the pandemic. I do have people on my team with incredible anxiety returning to the workplace when we did last spring. I don't really understand "quite quitting". Is it where you basically skirt your job responsibilities and ghost your essential job functions? I do agree with you about people being entitled. We work in a hybrid environment. We have super flexible schedules and benefits such as compressed work schedules and maxi flex. You can come into the office the days you choose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She may be afraid to fly.

Quit making excuses for this sorry sack of sh*t employee. If a professional truly has this problem and can’t address it directly, they are in no way a good performer.

I think you are right. I'm the OP. I didn't know what "quiet quitting" was until I Googled it, but this is what I think may be happening. This employee is smart and really good at her job, but she has been super entitled and is one of the biggest complainers about our hybrid work schedule. Mind you, before the pandemic, our agency did not have telework as a benefit to employees. So we didn't have telework until the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was this employee. I was doing multiple rounds of IVF and having repeat miscarriages. I had no control over the timing of procedures and I was terrified to travel because the first miscarriage happened on a work trip and I was so scared it would happen again.

I was the only woman on an all-male team and people assumed I had no plans to have children. It was the kind of office environment where sharing I was trying to get pregnant could have cost me promotions - something I didn’t want to risk if I might never have a successful pregnancy. And as you might imagine, I didn’t want an accommodation for this reason either.

I flew under the radar as long as I could, finally had a baby and then left because yes as expected it impacted my promotion opportunities.

Just to give you some insight into an employee side of things…

Thanks for sharing this. I'm sorry that you were in such a horrible situation when you were going through medical challenges and had to leave because of discrimination. I too had reproductive health challenges and I suffered from PPA really horribly after my second and third children. I am also one of the only women managers in my department, so I get it. Not to be discriminatory, but this employee is in her mid50s and no longer having children (has school aged kids). I get that it could be something else, so I'm trying to be empathetic, while still being fair and equitable. I hope you found a job that supports you as a whole person and doesn't just see you as an employee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She may be afraid to fly.

Quit making excuses for this sorry sack of sh*t employee. If a professional truly has this problem and can’t address it directly, they are in no way a good performer.

I think you are right. I'm the OP. I didn't know what "quiet quitting" was until I Googled it, but this is what I think may be happening. This employee is smart and really good at her job, but she has been super entitled and is one of the biggest complainers about our hybrid work schedule. Mind you, before the pandemic, our agency did not have telework as a benefit to employees. So we didn't have telework until the pandemic.

If she is so good at her job, she knows if you fire her you will be worse off. I don’t understand why you aren’t doing virtual presentations. Does she oppose that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And I know people are being rude here but I do have an intense fear of flying - I cry the whole time and just have panic attacks over and over. I have to take medication but it doesn’t help. Just ask her honestly what is going on.

I get this--we offer some of our team the ability to take the train or drive who have a fear of flying or anxiety about COVID and the pandemic. My sister has to take anti anxiety meds to fly and my closest friend couldn't be in my wedding since it was in DC and he is terrified of flying (it's not a reasonable drive). But this wouldn't be a job someone who dislikes traveling would take. Traveling is 25% of the job. This employee enjoys traveling. She travels frequently by plane out of state and internationally.

[Anonymous]

Op do you understand how underpaid Federal workers are — your next hire is going to be subpar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is travel part of the position description? Or are you trying to send people off to stupid conferences to make yourself look important? In the zoom era, most travel isn’t necessary, and of it’s not part of the PD, you shouldn’t be trying to make her do it. Most agency HQ jobs don’t actually require travel - it’s a choice by the management level. You will lose what sounds like a smart employee this way.

We work with a lot of communities that don't have high speed internet (rural, indigenous). It's also culturally inappropriate with some of the commuities we work with to meet by Zoom unless needed. We try to minimize costs by using technolgy but honestly we have people who do not have access to high speed internet or other connectivity issues. In some of the cultures we work with, it is really important to meet face-to-face and visit the community. I hope that makes sense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My HR wants me to send her a memo about leave restriction for unscheduled leave. I think that is a little excessive. She has no performance issues and I see this as a conduct thing. However, she is placing me in a bad position as another team member has to present and many times, I have presented for her. Most people on my team enjoy traveling, so that is not as big a deal. What would you do?

I don't know how you could possibly think this isn't a performance issue. She's not doing her job, and others are forced to pock up the slack, including her supervisor. That's the definition of a performance issue. And if it's legit, there's no reason to not seek an accommodation - that's the whole point of an accommodation.

You should involve HR.

Thanks. I agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My HR wants me to send her a memo about leave restriction for unscheduled leave. I think that is a little excessive. She has no performance issues and I see this as a conduct thing. However, she is placing me in a bad position as another team member has to present and many times, I have presented for her. Most people on my team enjoy traveling, so that is not as big a deal. What would you do?

I don't know how you could possibly think this isn't a performance issue. She's not doing her job, and others are forced to pock up the slack, including her supervisor. That's the definition of a performance issue. And if it's legit, there's no reason to not seek an accommodation - that's the whole point of an accommodation.

You should involve HR.

It seems hard to imagine someone saying an absence was “life or death” without it being a significant thing unless the employee is really wacky in which case you’d probably know that already. If she’s otherwise a levelheaded seeming person it dies sound like there’s something significant going on / the person mentioning IVF might be on to something.

Is she absent other times that don’t correspond with needing to present or travel? If not…that’s a little weird it it’s more than 2-3 times and only on those occasions. If she’s just been out a lot in general, could you limit her role on some of these things for a while - especially travel, since it sounds like others would be happy to do it, but it’s hard to sub someone in at the last moment.

OP here. I hate to comment on someone's mental health, but this employee can be a bit dramatic. Once she was upset that we were asked to provide pictures for Zoom conference. Yet she is very active on social media. She often balks about providing her bio for conferences and speaking sessions, yet she is constantly bragging about her past experiences in the private sector and high profile boss on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar issue OP. I have an employee who just completed an innovative and successful project. I would like her to present on it internally and at our trade conferences. However, she doesn't have the confidence and declines to do it. It would make our program and our unit look good, yes, and also the project should be replicated to help others in the field. She's otherwise excellent and I hate to overstress her. Most would love to fly to a cool city to have their work recognized. Not this person. It's a conundrum. I will be providing her with smaller scale presentation opportunities and coaching for her staff development - this is my approach.

Thanks for providing a tangible, step by step alternative. What do you say as far as her declining the opportunities? From a performance and conduct standpoint and her own professional development? This person is not lacking in confidence, but maybe they do suffer from anxiety? This sounds like the situation I'm in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op do you understand how underpaid Federal workers are — your next hire is going to be subpar.

Her current employee is subpar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stage fright?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now you know how teachers feel.

Yes, my DH is a teacher too.

[Anonymous]

A few PPs have recommended asking her what is going on. Proceed with caution when interacting with this employee. I would not talk to her about anything regarding her health. Focus solely on the performance issues.

She refuses to get RA, yet keeps citing private health issues as a reason job cannot be performed. Do not let her bait you into an EEO complaint.