Tips on dealing with employee who constantly has issues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

What company is this dumb? Bonus to RTO rather than actual value. Are you an office realty companyv

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

What company is this dumb? Bonus to RTO rather than actual value. Are you an office realty companyv

Bonus for two days in after one year, bonus for RTO - split it in half if you have to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Employees are, you know, human.

Yep, and they only have to be working around 40 hours a week out of 168. Take your car to the shop on your own time or use your vacation day for an emergency.

You are a real problem solver eh?
Also you might want to make it clear to your employees that they are only required to work 40 hours. The issue with many managers is they throw around 40-hour work weeks when it behooves them in discussions like this knowing full well that the job requires 40+. Vacation time must be approved ahead of time for most organizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Employees are, you know, human.

Oh please. This guy is just working the system. I bet his performance is sub par too.

+1

We had the same employee and it was all around toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our policy. 2 days per week in office. 2 week pay periods. You need to have 4 in-office days each pay period. If you have fewer than 4 in-office days, each day missed being in-person is charged against the employee's PTO. We will make an allowance if you were scheduled to come in on the last day of the pay period and had a conflict, in which case you are expected to be in the office either first or second day of the next pay period in exchange. Employees are allowed up to 40 hours advanced leave (e.g. up to 40 hours if your balance is zero, which will be offset when leave is awarded for the next pay period). If you hit -40 and still need leave, your day will be assigned as leave without pay.

As the supervisor, I will note and modify time sheets, as necessary to comply. There are some people who just work the first four days of the pay period in the office and then stay home the other 6 days. That's fine with me. Employees are expected to behave like adults and follow the rules set for everyone. We try to give leeway and allowance where we can, but do not allow people to completely abuse the rules. You don't get to just choose not to follow the rules (which some people flagrantly do).

You understand that if you change their time card from WFH to PTO after they have worked the hours that is wage theft.

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Employees are, you know, human.

Yep, and they only have to be working around 40 hours a week out of 168. Take your car to the shop on your own time or use your vacation day for an emergency.

You are a real problem solver eh?
Also you might want to make it clear to your employees that they are only required to work 40 hours. The issue with many managers is they throw around 40-hour work weeks when it behooves them in discussions like this knowing full well that the job requires 40+. Vacation time must be approved ahead of time for most organizations.

DP here. I have rented a car to get to work, after my car was hit and run badly at work and required extensive repair. No rental coverage. Rental out of pocket for two months. It was expensive, but I wanted to keep my job.

[Anonymous]

OP has not returned. Probably the RTO trolll

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that OP isn’t sure these are real. If they are, then as season of life PP posted, grace should be given. But unless OP is willing to outright ask for proof which indicates lack of trust, the best she can do is require them to take leave and/or make up the in office day. If it’s real, she’ll find out. If it’s not, the inconvenience of having to come in anyway, and or run through leave, should fix the behavior.

Though not always.

Also, OP, at the 4 month check in or whatever, you can gently say “I’ve noticed a pattern of calling out sick / having issues only on your in office days. Is everything ok. Do you need to change your schedule to be able to meet your in office and general work obligations.” See what they say.

I think this is good advice. Bring it up with your employee so they know that you are on to them. You want to let them know you are the authority and you've noticed a pattern. But if the in-person days are not really necessary for the work or team function and it's just an arbitrary rule figure out if you actually care if they are in the office or if you just want to make sure you are not being disrespected/taken advantage of. There are two different issues at play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our policy. 2 days per week in office. 2 week pay periods. You need to have 4 in-office days each pay period. If you have fewer than 4 in-office days, each day missed being in-person is charged against the employee's PTO. We will make an allowance if you were scheduled to come in on the last day of the pay period and had a conflict, in which case you are expected to be in the office either first or second day of the next pay period in exchange. Employees are allowed up to 40 hours advanced leave (e.g. up to 40 hours if your balance is zero, which will be offset when leave is awarded for the next pay period). If you hit -40 and still need leave, your day will be assigned as leave without pay.

As the supervisor, I will note and modify time sheets, as necessary to comply. There are some people who just work the first four days of the pay period in the office and then stay home the other 6 days. That's fine with me. Employees are expected to behave like adults and follow the rules set for everyone. We try to give leeway and allowance where we can, but do not allow people to completely abuse the rules. You don't get to just choose not to follow the rules (which some people flagrantly do).

You understand that if you change their time card from WFH to PTO after they have worked the hours that is wage theft.

No, it is not. These are exempt salaried employees. They are not eligible for overtime. It is only a question of whether the time is paid for by their primary billing code or their PTO code. If you are not in the office the minimum number of days (and four days per time period is not really unreasonable), then you take PTO for one of those days. If you choose to work on a day you have taken PTO, that's allowed. But you will take one of your days of paid leave if you choose not to come in the minimum number of days in the office.

The alternative, to taking PTO is to voluntarily schedule a substitute day in the office like an adult. You say that you will be in X day instead of today to make up the day that you are staying home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Employees are, you know, human.

Yep, and they only have to be working around 40 hours a week out of 168. Take your car to the shop on your own time or use your vacation day for an emergency.

You are a real problem solver eh?
Also you might want to make it clear to your employees that they are only required to work 40 hours. The issue with many managers is they throw around 40-hour work weeks when it behooves them in discussions like this knowing full well that the job requires 40+. Vacation time must be approved ahead of time for most organizations.

DP here. I have rented a car to get to work, after my car was hit and run badly at work and required extensive repair. No rental coverage. Rental out of pocket for two months. It was expensive, but I wanted to keep my job.

Im the PP and we've been renting a car for 3 weeks as both of our cars are in the shop. And that means we are a one-car family right now. What I continue to say is that crap happens and to give people some grace but put them on notice. Employee retention is important and if she wasnt doing her job well, then she would be fired for cause anyways.
It is just the filppant people who always have answers that involve quick turnarounds or lots of cash or these magical dealers that give loaner cars. If a car is broken down, taking it to the shop on my own time doesnt solve the problem of work getting done. It also doesnt mean a shop will take your car. We had to wait 4 days to drop one of ours off because they are so busy. Cars right now - between interest rates on loans, prices of used cars, repair prices, repair timelines, lack of staffed auto shops, and jacked up rental prices- are a capitalist circle jerk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our policy. 2 days per week in office. 2 week pay periods. You need to have 4 in-office days each pay period. If you have fewer than 4 in-office days, each day missed being in-person is charged against the employee's PTO. We will make an allowance if you were scheduled to come in on the last day of the pay period and had a conflict, in which case you are expected to be in the office either first or second day of the next pay period in exchange. Employees are allowed up to 40 hours advanced leave (e.g. up to 40 hours if your balance is zero, which will be offset when leave is awarded for the next pay period). If you hit -40 and still need leave, your day will be assigned as leave without pay.

As the supervisor, I will note and modify time sheets, as necessary to comply. There are some people who just work the first four days of the pay period in the office and then stay home the other 6 days. That's fine with me. Employees are expected to behave like adults and follow the rules set for everyone. We try to give leeway and allowance where we can, but do not allow people to completely abuse the rules. You don't get to just choose not to follow the rules (which some people flagrantly do).

You understand that if you change their time card from WFH to PTO after they have worked the hours that is wage theft.

No, it is not. These are exempt salaried employees. They are not eligible for overtime. It is only a question of whether the time is paid for by their primary billing code or their PTO code. If you are not in the office the minimum number of days (and four days per time period is not really unreasonable), then you take PTO for one of those days. If you choose to work on a day you have taken PTO, that's allowed. But you will take one of your days of paid leave if you choose not to come in the minimum number of days in the office.

The alternative, to taking PTO is to voluntarily schedule a substitute day in the office like an adult. You say that you will be in X day instead of today to make up the day that you are staying home.

You need to talk to your companies lawyer. Changing someone’s time card from paying to leave is wage theft. Whose policy is this, make them do it so you avoid jail time

[Anonymous]

I have an employee like this and some of it is cultural. She is older, but it is an entry level job. It is always something with her. Her adult son needs to borrow her car. Her niece needs someone to watch the baby. She needs to take her mom to get a prescription at lunch time and it somehow turns into a 2 hour errand.

As best I can tell, she is the only person in her family with a “professional” job. Her siblings and adult children all seem to have hourly jobs like being a gas station cashier where if you don’t show up for your shift you don’t get paid and probably get fired. Since our jobs are largely work from home and allow some flexibility like occasionally taking a long lunch for an appointment, her family seems to view her as the most responsible and successful and call her for every possible issue. They also don’t understand what she does since she’s “just looking at a laptop” and assume she’s 100% always available. They seem to live adjacent to poverty and there is a lot more drama that comes with that - which I picked up on because I grew up in a rural area and am familiar with the patterns. Her husband was military and I don’t think anyone she knows has an office job that is not customer service related.

I struggled at first to talk to her about setting boundaries because I didn’t know how to explain that the frequency and duration of her absences were in excess of the flexibility others in the team have to go to the dentist or a parent-teacher conference. What I settled on was coaching her to schedule her appointments for the very beginning or end of the day and to minimize the mid-day breaks because they seem to lead to mistakes in her work and inefficiency. I also told her that we understand things come up as emergencies, but she needs to have a backup plan.

In the case of the employee you describe, I would tell them to check their car the night before if needed. They should borrow or rent a car, ask for a ride, or take an Uber if they don’t have their car. If they are only in the office one day a week, they need to have a back up plan for childcare that day.

[Anonymous]

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?

[Anonymous]

In the olden days you just fired them. For any reason.