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[quote=Anonymous]Started a new job last year in which I supervise a group of about 35 people, mostly women. One of them -- call her Valerie -- is mid 50s, less well-educated than most, and in a support staff position. She can be nice enough and competent enough, but people complain constantly that she is brusque to the point of rudeness and so difficult to deal with that most people just ignore her (which means more work for the other support staff, to whom they go instead). She has, accordingly to staff who have complained to me, occasionally said things like, "what are you, an idiot?" when someone can't figure out how to do something. And when asked to do something she does not want to do, she tends to just say, "Oh I'm too busy."

At the moment everyone gripes about her behind her back, but no one ever seems to confront her directly. And usually people don't come to me directly: it's more like, Person A comes to me and says, "Person B told me that Valerie was really mean to Person C." 
Valerie's direct supervisor, who reports to me, says she has informally counseled Valerie about being nice and Valerie always promises to be nicer.

We work in a place where it is nearly impossible to get rid of poor performers: literally no one is ever fired, due to institutional HR rules.

Any advice about how to handle this? Part of me want to read Valerie the riot act and tell her everyone thinks she rude and she needs to cut it out; another part of me wants to tell my other staff to act like grown ups and just deal with her themselves: it's not like she is sexually harassing anyone or stealing, she's just kind of bitchy.

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