Employer Advice

Debt_Free_Chick

Women .... emotions ....hormones .....

You guys need to get a grip

SomeBozo

SomeBozo, did she not offer any explanation on the phone?

It was hard to understand her as she was crying so much. I said "We will talk it through on Monday".

What's your gut reaction? To get rid? or to keep?

Gut reaction is to keep her.

But I can't (and when I mean "I" I mean me and my company) really support her through a crisis at home.

If its work, I will sort it one way or the other.

But if its outside work, I can't and won't help. I am very strict and about people at work leaving their work at the door at 5pm and picking it up at 9am the next day. Likewise I need that commitment about home issues. I dont mean to sound callous but I have survived 6 years with this ethos. Work is work. Home is home and never the twain should meet. I announced last week that each employee will get a £1000 gift card for a store of their choice and Xmas party in London at hotel all paid. I value my employees greatly, but I can only help with their work issues.

We are flat out busy at the moment, lots of companies are are busting at the lip for our services and need a flat out sleek 100% operation going.

I am going to the office tommorrow (London!) and have booked a 9am "chat" with her.

Will report back.....

Bozo

Kavanne

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Women .... emotions ....hormones .....

You guys need to get a grip

That is no reason to miss work and go to asda shopping instead.....

If you had bad PMT you would be curled up at home not going out to have lunch with colleagues.

SomeBozo

but the Xmas party shows that the boundary does have a kink or 2 in it

Interesting. This has never occurred to me. Nor as it ever been mentioned to me by others, people I pay a lot of money to to tell me those things! Will have to think about that one.

I've argued the point a long way here. I don't know what is going on, less real idea than you Bozo, so I am not holding to this strongly, more of a sounding board for one particular outlook.

Thanks, thats all I wanted from the thread.

Bozo

Lil2002

Just wondering, is it possible that there is an issue between the woman and her line manager? OP makes it seem a very reasonable place to work, are there issues with taking a late day off that made her claim sickness?

Might be worthwhile to check on this. However, if there is no excuse/reason, I do think there should be some kind of disciplinary action taken.

SomeBozo

Kavanne wrote: »

That is no reason to miss work and go to asda shopping instead.....

If you had bad PMT you would be curled up at home not going out to have lunch with colleagues.

Argh. PMT and ladies.

Don't get me wrong, I have a wife, mother and sisters, but I don't remember it being an excuse for being off work?!

Bozo

SomeBozo

Just wondering, is it possible that there is an issue between the woman and her line manager?

If it is, its a surprise to me and her line manager. Her line manager or me can only deal with a problem that we know about. The employee has a responsibility to speak up (to someone, anyone!) is there is a problem. All my staff know this.

OP makes it seem a very reasonable place to work, are there issues with taking a late day off that made her claim sickness?

I have no issue with this, and the status of her absence (paid leave, unpaid leave, sick leave etc) is no longer important to me. Whats important to me is having one of my staff at work, doing work and being happy with work.

IE Having no distractions from things I can't influence.

Might be worthwhile to check on this. However, if there is no excuse/reason, I do think there should be some kind of disciplinary action taken.

Thanks, I feel I need the full story before I go further with that.

And by the sounds of it I might need a lady present with me?

Bozo

Kavanne

SomeBozo wrote: »

Argh. PMT and ladies.

Don't get me wrong, I have a wife, mother and sisters, but I don't remember it being an excuse for being off work?!

Bozo

For some people it can be, but clearly not the case for your employee.

vegankris

SomeBozo wrote: »

Argh. PMT and ladies.

Don't get me wrong, I have a wife, mother and sisters, but I don't remember it being an excuse for being off work?!

Bozo

Severity of PMT varies between individuals- some (lucky !!!!!es:p) feel no effect at all while at the opposite end of the spectrum, others feel suicidal, and in many cases are misdiagnosed with depression.

Back on topic though, I think the best thing for the OP to do is to try to be as approachable as possible and give the employee an oppurtunity to explain why she took time off, ask if she is having any trouble in other areas of her life or finding it stressful to cope at work- if she's been a good employee up until now after 4 years service I'd be inclined to believe she had a good reason and wasn't just taking a skive.

My gut feeling reading this is that perhaps she needed a few "mental health days" at the last minute for the sake of her sanity, for whatever unknown reason, and her OH encouraged her to take time off and said he'd call in for her.

Obviously if she's unable to give a reason then you're left with no choice but to give her a warning.

CFC

There are a number of oddities in this situation which point to poor judgement and unusual behaviour by the employee concerned.

1) Taking a prolonged sickie
2) arranging to meet for lunch with people from work.

Somebozo, I do feel that your policy re 'keep non-work issues out of work' is rather harsh. People are not robots. Do you feel that this policy may tend to prevent your employees telling their line managers of issues out of work which have an impact on their ability to attend work? (Eg is it culturally 'not OK' to ask for time off to deal with a personal issue, especially at short notice, or for reduced hours for a short period?) Is there real pressure on people to attend work when they don't actually feel very well, but are not actually bed-bound - I ask because I thought it extraordinary that after such a very short absence flowers were being arranged.

Of course one can expect that personal problems do not detract from performance at work, but they may have an impact on attendance.

I think you cannot make any decisions about the way forward until you and this lady have had an utterly frank conversation.