ee "messed up"

judy matt · January 2004

I need help with an employee that made a gross error. This person has been with us in the capacity as a mental health technician for approx. 4 years or more. Always done a decent job, met expectations, nothing more, sometimes less. Maintained status quo, sort of. Anyway..we are a mental health facility and are always needing patients needless to say. The other night we received an intake call and this individual took the call, but was busy and could not find the appropriate licensed personnel to speak to the caller. This individual told the caller that there was no one available to take the call and could they call back in a few minutes! This is a grave mistake. We not only lost the possible patient, but looked foolish to the person we had been marketing for patients! My boss, one of the owners of the facility wants this individual either fired or suspended for a couple of weeks. The administrator of this facility does not feel as strong about it and argues that the punishment does not fit the offense. Our policy is not specific, and could never be, on every type of error or bad judgement call ees make. I need some help and advice from my friends! As usual, thanks mucho.

Judy

Leslie · January 2004

Do you not have progressive discipline for unsatisfactory work quality? A policy and procedure that talks about discipline due to severity? You state the employee, "met expectations, nothing more, sometimes less." When it was less, was it addressed? If not, I don't think your term would stand up for UI. I would think at the very least you need to get the ball rolling on this person.

hrbanker · January 2004

Did the employee know the proper procedure for taking a call when no marketing person was available? ...Do you train employees on taking name & number and following up?

What's your normal discipline procedure? Have you disciplined this employee in the past?

If the employee wasn't trained on how to handle these calls, termination or two weeks suspension seems harsh for a lack of judgement based on inexperience.

SMace · January 2004

Where was the person that should have been available to take the call? Should they not be disciplined also? I think there is other motivation that you or we don't know for this harsh reaction to a mistake. I would counsel and keep my ears peeled.

Don D · January 2004

All that aside, I can't imagine calling a 'Help Hotline' and being asked could I call back later. Sounds like a Saturday Nite Live scene to me. What are your procedures and why did the employee not have an alternative course of action? If he/she made this grave error, was there something that was procedural that was to automatically have been done? What would you have done and was this communicated to the intake worker? Are you manning your lines with people who fly by the seat of their britches?

System · January 2004

That's a major error, though not belonging totally to your employee. Definitely counsel her and document. Then find out who else should be held accountable; either the facility for its lack of training or the licensed personnel who should have been available.

sonny · January 2004

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-21-04 AT 08:24AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Along Don's line there was a Letterman (I think) top ten ways you know you are going to have a bad day.. One was you show up to work and the 60 minutes crew is there, another was you call a suicide hotline and are put on hold! At least in that scenerio it was put on hold vs, call back later.d'oh! I am hoping this person wasn't in crisis. Others have alluded to it, but I think there needs to be more investigation or maybe you can tell us a few more of the facts.

Regardless of your line of work, this was extremely poor customer service. Even if the ee had gotten the persons # and offered to have someone call her right back, it would have been better.

Does this person normally take intake calls? Had they been trained? Do you have protocols in place? Why was she so busy..just routine or was she dealing with a crisis? I'll ask again.. where were the licensed personnel that the ee couldn't find? Need a few more facts before I could jump in on level of discipline, but think there should be some action.

I agree you can't have a policy for every scenerio, but we had one real basic rule. All clients at all times shall be treated with dignity and respect. I would think a MHT with 4 years experience. .even if this wasn't their normal job. .should have known this wasn't appropriate.

Let us know how it turns out.

Whatever · January 2004

> This is a grave mistake. We not only
>lost the possible patient, but looked foolish to
>the person we had been marketing for patients!
>
I agree with the what the others wrote. However, it appears your facility is giving medical care a bad name. Your statements indicates that the primary concern is image and getting patients and NOT PROVIDING help. If the employee was not trained to properly answer the telephone, I don't see how they can be punished for an oversight by management.

JM in ATL · January 2004

I'm sure your facility strives to provide the best services it possibly can at all times. Unfortunately this person mis-represented your facility at a crucial time. While this is unthinkable to you and to the management of the facility, your employee may have not acted in a gross manner. (As far as we all know).

Introduce this situation to management as an opportunity to train this employee properly and anyone else who may happen to be required to answer the phone. Even if it is not their primary responsibility.

We all try to market our company and our services as being able to provide the best there is out there b/c we truly believe that. When one person single handedly destroys that image to one crucial prospect, I can understand why management would want to terminate. This was probably a rash decsion made out of frustration, but if you use this as an opportunity to correct ill behaviours you will be building a well educated and knowledgeable staff.

Good Luck and let us know how it goes.

marc · January 2004

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 01-21-04 AT 09:36AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Hi Judy,

As you can see by the responses, there is plenty of finger pointing that can be done in this situation. Delivery of patient care is your service and as you pointed out, and that starts with the intake of a patient.

If your staff does not have a buy-in to excellent patient care, from start to finish, then the rest of your mission (including producing a profitable bottom line) is doomed.

This is an opportunity to do a bottoms up review of your training and the commitment your shop has to the philosophy of patient care that your owners should demand. What is that philosophy? Does every staff person have a working knowledge of its content? Has everyone bought into what your company is trying to achieve.

It is a no-brainer to single out this EE, but there is probably a bigger picture to examine. This is more likely a symptom of the problem rather than the problem.

It is time to cure the company as well as the patients.

Good luck.

judy matt · January 2004

Thanks to all of you for your informative answers on my ee messed up question. It does seem as though all of the employees need counseling to buy into the whole client services thing we are trying so desperately to portray to the community in which we serve. Having said that, ours is one of the best patient care facilities in the area. I'm thinking the problem lies in the fact that our ees became lazy during our recent low census and did not want to work hard again. I am going to recommend education for all of the staff, including the licensed personnel, and a dicipline action for the tech that messed up. I'm not sure how long, but I'm thinking a couple of days suspension w/o pay should get her attention. Again, thanks to you for your help. I just love this forum.

Judy

ee "messed up"

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