Another Day In the Neighborhood

Supervisor took an action. Union grieved. Welcome to another day in the neighborhood.

Bottom line - what if you are faced with a relatively minor issue in the big scheme of things but are just not comfortable. Maybe it's not all about your comfort. Ok, let's think about that.  You are tooling along, taking the bumps as they come, varying off course and either getting back or changing it, doing what you can to be consistent. Interpretation is grey, however, it is further clarified by day to day actions and doing what's right.

An employee does something wrong. A supervisor speak with him or her. Puts them on notice. The employee does it again and the supervisor can take action. That action can range from choosing to do nothing at all to counseling on up to discipline. The "what" of what the employee did wrong can alter this greatly but what if the "what" was a number of relatively minor instances over a six-month period. What if the instances were all the same, i.e. AWOLs, unplanned sick leave, customer complaints, or poor workmanship?

Time goes on, the instances pile up and the supervisor keeps notes. One day, the supervisor has had enough and takes an action. He counsels the employee. Union grieves. How do you advise? It depends. Are you comfortable with the supervisor's action?

In this instance, I would not be. Why? The supervisor should have spoken with the employee along the way and put him on notice sooner. The employee never had an opportunity to improve.

You advise the supervisor. Supervisor does not hear. Welcome to another day in the neighborhood.

Comments

[Chuck]

I have a friend who was recently fired flat out with no warning. The reason given was "lack of urgency." His most recent review was entirely positive...

Needless to say, he was ticked and sought legal action to the degree it was possible.

Good post.

[Wally Bock]

If what you've noticed (coming late, e.g.) continues you say, "I've noticed that you've come to our staff meeting late twice in the last week. I've mentioned that to you and told you it is unacceptable. If you continue, I will need to document your behavior and there will be consequences." That will work for most of those who missed the intent of your informal corrections.

But if the person continues with unacceptable behavior, you don't keep notes so you can play "gotcha." You counsel, you document, and, depending on what your options are you may discipline."

Even the unwilling don't like to get caught out. Making a clear transition from noticing and commenting to noticing and documenting helps you keep the ship upright and head off grievances or, at least, win your share.

[Lisa]

Wally, you nailed it with the "gotcha" comment. That is exactly what bothers me about these situations - the gotcha component.

Chuck, see, it is the gotcha component that drives people mad. It is with utter disrespect and disregard that people proceed like that. Nice blog name - catchy!

HR Wench, oh some days I am about that close!

[Chuck]

I've experienced a little of that first-hand. "Gotcha" describes it perfectly.

Glad you like the blog name. It tends to come off as overly sarcastic, but it stands out in a crowd.

Actually, my site was down for close to 3 hours today, so if you missed a chance to visit, drop by and share some HR perspective when you get a chance.