Manager Problems

slewis · January 2002

I have a manager, who is in training and she is very rude to staff, not sharing her notes, or even helping her Customer Service Reps with questions. They have gotten to the point that they don't even ask her anything any longer. She has taken several days off within her first 90 days of employment, even though they have been pre-approved and pre-scheduled it is just way too much time. The only thing keeping us from throwing in the towel on this one is that she is very sneaky and seems that if we go about this the wrong way we will be asking for trouble. Her daughter works here also and we have had problems with her as well. The clients have mixed feelings about her one day she will be doing a great job and the next day she will not follow up or complete assigned tasks. I really need to get rid of this person, but do I have enough to go on?

TheCol · January 2002

Florida - it's easy. Just say "Everyone who works here, have a seat. Not, you, Miss, remain standing!" Employment at Will. Any state, if rudeness is in violation of company policy "Team Player", "Work Well With Others", in the job description, then she's history. Your caution will be to document what you have observed, get a couple of statements for record from co-workers, "I really can't work with that woman.", and show her the door. If she falls within a protected category, race, color, creeed, age, your documentation as here is more important. If she is still within the 90-day probation period of most states' unemployment compensation rules, then her anticipated unemployment claim won't count against you.

sonny · January 2002

In the meantime, if it is "way too much time", tell the supervisor to quit approving it

System · January 2002

Attorney John Phillips addressed this type of situation in our Ten Danger Zones training videos, [url]http://www.hrhero.com/videos.shtml[/url] .

John said it's best to fire a new employee as soon as you realize that it's not working out. The longer you wait, the harder it is to explain to a jury that you really didn't have a hidden motive like discrimination. And, yes, have plenty of documentation of specific incidents of rudeness, etc., with as much detail as you can. Good luck.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Paul in Cannon Beach · March 2002

Good for you to notice early on that this manager is not working out. Has the manager had any feedback on her poor work, absences, etc. If not, you might have a problem. Has the feedback been documented?

If you feel that the manager has been given feedback and opportunities to improve, I definitely recommend moving the person on. Wishful thinking might suggest she could change but if you are seeing this level of problems so early on, any change might even be worse!

One thing I think gets forgotten to often is that lower level employees who have to work with this rude manager are waiting to see what you will do. Allowing a rude manager to stay sends a clear message that you are not committed to a positive, encouraging work environment.

Good luck!

[email]paulknoch@hotmail.com[/email]

rcalabria · April 2002

You need to have written doucumenation on her. You also should have a written policy to back up[ your actions. If you want help with employee manuels let me know. [email]rcalabria@standrewparish.org[/email]

Manager Problems

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