Someone returning to work that I am not sure I can work with anymore - Advice?

whereareyouchess

Have been having a bit of a problem at work and need some fresh perspectives on it from any forumites. I apologize for the length of this, I wanted to try and cover everything.

I work for a County Council as a supervisor/ manager and I have 2 staff that I am responsible for (I will call them Janet and John for the purposes of this post). Mainly we are single staffed but on the 2 busy days of the week we are double staffed with both myself and Janet present. Janet returned to work April 09 after about 10 months off sick, several of the procedures, computer systems and the services we provided had changed and she had to be completely retrained (not a problem). I would often make notes of any issues/ problems she was having so I could raise them with her at supervisory meetings or appraisals and also so I would be able to direct the training towards these issues in order to help her reintegrate to the job. I consider this to be good managerial practice that helps to improve not only customer services but also because better trained staff can cope with the job easier. John had only be working since the beginning of 09 and I had done exactly the same with him as well as with other staff in the past.

After about 2 months Janet had picked up the job quite well, I was making less notes as she was getting more used to things and was having less issues and problems. However, from the end of June 09 her attitude towards me and the job changed dramatically:

Started shouting at me across the room.
Refused to wear her id badge and uniform.
Deleting important emails and work in progress.
Took 1.5hrs to do jobs that should have taken 15mins because she was chatting with friends.
Refused for no reason to do a training course she had agreed to do in her appraisal.
Refused for no reason to do refresher training.
Refused to deal with any customer queries herself and directed them to me.
If I was in the back office doing paperwork and had asked to only be interupted with anything serious I would be interupted every couple of minutes with every little problem.

Several other things as well.

A couple of times I let some of these issues slide after all people are entitled to a bad day every now and again. On other occasions I mentioned them as and when they happened asked for any reasons for them happening and suggested solutions e.g. more training sessions, ways to improve training etc etc. But as they started to happen more often and realizing that nothing else was working I started from mid July 09 to again make notes (a few half sides of A4, each with 3/4 points) with the intention of bringing them up at the next supervisory meeting at the beginning of August 09 in order to discuss them further. On the afternoon of the meeting my line manager arrived to do mine first. Janet walked up to her and said she could not work with me anymore and walked out.

It transpired that Janet had knocked over my private file by accident and that the notes had fallen out. I am not sure whether I believe this as my file although not locked is on the top shelf of a cupboard, lies flat, has nothing else near it, and nothing in the file was out of order. Anyway Janet had taken a photocopy of the notes and then gone off sick with stress because of them. My line manager quickly tried to sort the situation out amicably and I was happy with that and apperently so was Janet at first. However a few weeks later my line manager is contacted by her line manager to ask what is going on. She has been contacted by the head of the County Council who had been contacted by one of his Councillors saying that Janet has been to see him because I was bullying her and keeping a dossier on her. HR are contacted and dates are set up to do a case conference. Case conference goes ahead in October, Janet now says she does not want to work with me again and can I or her be moved to a different job. She also now says she found the notes on a table not in my file and finally that I never spoke to her about any of the issues that I made notes about. At around the same time she has an 'occupational health' interview as she is still off with stress. They say there is no reason why she can't return to work but that she feels nauseous, faint and stressed the day before working with me. She also says that I am quiet, don't speak to her, don't manage very well and am discriminating against her.

It is now almost March 10 and Janet is still off sick. This week they finally sat down and had another meeting designed to get Janet back to work, I was not allowed to attend. She took a Union Rep who backed everything she said which again included moving her or me to another job. Eventually they agreed that it was my fault for not keeping the notes in a locked location (there aren't any provided) and that it was best if she comes back to work with me but with certain limits to MY job. For the first 4 months I can only tell her what needs doing but cannot correct her or tell her when something is wrong. I have to wait until my monthly meeting with my line manager and then she will pass that on to Janet. Janet needs complete retraining having only worked about 3 months in almost 2 years how am I supposed to do that if I can't correct her if she gets something wrong? I have been doing the job of 2 people since August 09 but this is going to make my job even harder as I will have to go around after her making sure she doesn't make any mistakes. My home life has been suffering because of the stress of all this. Also I am not sure that I can work with someone that has gone out of there way to make trouble for me and actually lied about so much.

Any advice/ opinions welcome - thanks for your time.

dmg24

Your problem is not with 'Janet', it is with your management. You need to address the limitations that have been placed on you with them.

Having said that, I would also take the opportunity to look at your own working practices, as you do come across as being a little overzealous. Is there really a need to formally note down everything she did wrong? Perhaps you could adopt a less formal approach?

pinkshoes

Could you not request to be moved?

Did you show them that you also make notes on John, and point out that they were about to be discussed in the appraisal. If you can't make notes on your staff, then how on earth are you supposed to have an appraisal with them???

Sounds like Janet is a oversensitive hypocondriac who has got completely the wrong end of the stick, and wouldn't know a good manager from a bad one! Wish my manager was more like you! Janet would be in tears on a daily basis if she had to put up with my boss!

floss2

Ok, your managers have a duty of care to support you as well as "Janet" through this.

Has any bullying / harassment policy / procedure been followed? Have you followed all your procedures as her line manager? Do you have records of any / all of these informal meetings with her? Have any of those meetings been supported by HR or has any note of dates & meetings been put into her personal file?

With regard to re-training, you need to state, in writing, that the proposed way of working (with which you are completely in agreement) is impractical for your team & their workload for the following reasons...list brief bullet points and try to be as proactive as possible, i.e. maybe "John" can be her buddie to retrain her using your & his notes?

whereareyouchess

Dmg24 - I didn't say I made notes on everything, just on a few specific issues problems that they may be having that I didn't have chance to address then and there. It is not always possible to speak to the person straight away I did do this if it was possible.

dmg24

whereareyouchess wrote: »

Dmg24 - I didn't say I made notes on everything, just on a few specific issues problems that they may be having that I didn't have chance to address then and there. It is not always possible to speak to the person straight away I did do this if it was possible.

I would often make notes of any issues/ problems she was having so I could raise them with her at supervisory meetings or appraisals and also so I would be able to direct the training towards these issues in order to help her reintegrate to the job.

That does not sound like 'a few specific issues' to me!

As I said, whilst you need to address the limitations that have been placed on you, you should also take this as a learning experience. As much as 'Janet' needs to adapt to her working environment, you need to adapt your managerial practices to different situations.

whereareyouchess

dmg24 - Well it was only a few issues and I did only make notes as and when absolutely neccessary. Please feel free to tell me how you would have done it. I know i said often but i meant that as in once a week or once a fortnight often not as in a once a task often.

whereareyouchess

dmg24 - not that i don't appreciate your input, I have looked at my managerial practices since this but can't see how I have done anything differently in the past nor from any of the training courses i have been on have suggested.

whereareyouchess

Floss2 - Good idea thanks will do that. Unfortunately John doesn't want to work with her nor does he want to change his shifts. He is contracted to only do those that he does and does't want to change.

dmg24

I would have addressed each issue there and then, or as soon as possible afterwards. I would do it on an informal basis, not in the context of a meeting. Also, I would ensure that whatever feedback I gave was in a constructive manner, not in a negative way. I would also counter it with positive feedback wherever possible. The only time that issues should be left until a formal meeting is if they have escalated beyond a simple learning/ feedback opportunity.

I am guessing that you are reasonably new to management? You do not learn how to be a good manager from training courses, you do it by learning from feedback and from being flexible and adaptable.

Could you ask your manager for more regular feedback on how you are fulfilling your role?

BOB_A_H

whereareyouchess wrote: »

Have been having a bit of a problem at work and need some fresh perspectives on it from any forumites. I apologize for the length of this, I wanted to try and cover everything.

I work for a County Council as a supervisor/ manager and I have 2 staff that I am responsible for (I will call them Janet and John for the purposes of this post). Mainly we are single staffed but on the 2 busy days of the week we are double staffed with both myself and Janet present. Janet returned to work April 09 after about 10 months off sick, several of the procedures, computer systems and the services we provided had changed and she had to be completely retrained (not a problem). I would often make notes of any issues/ problems she was having so I could raise them with her at supervisory meetings or appraisals and also so I would be able to direct the training towards these issues in order to help her reintegrate to the job. I consider this to be good managerial practice that helps to improve not only customer services but also because better trained staff can cope with the job easier. John had only be working since the beginning of 09 and I had done exactly the same with him as well as with other staff in the past.

After about 2 months Janet had picked up the job quite well, I was making less notes as she was getting more used to things and was having less issues and problems. However, from the end of June 09 her attitude towards me and the job changed dramatically:

Started shouting at me across the room.
Refused to wear her id badge and uniform.
Deleting important emails and work in progress.
Took 1.5hrs to do jobs that should have taken 15mins because she was chatting with friends.
Refused for no reason to do a training course she had agreed to do in her appraisal.
Refused for no reason to do refresher training.
Refused to deal with any customer queries herself and directed them to me.
If I was in the back office doing paperwork and had asked to only be interupted with anything serious I would be interupted every couple of minutes with every little problem.

Several other things as well.

A couple of times I let some of these issues slide after all people are entitled to a bad day every now and again. On other occasions I mentioned them as and when they happened asked for any reasons for them happening and suggested solutions e.g. more training sessions, ways to improve training etc etc. But as they started to happen more often and realizing that nothing else was working I started from mid July 09 to again make notes (a few half sides of A4, each with 3/4 points) with the intention of bringing them up at the next supervisory meeting at the beginning of August 09 in order to discuss them further. On the afternoon of the meeting my line manager arrived to do mine first. Janet walked up to her and said she could not work with me anymore and walked out.

It transpired that Janet had knocked over my private file by accident and that the notes had fallen out. I am not sure whether I believe this as my file although not locked is on the top shelf of a cupboard, lies flat, has nothing else near it, and nothing in the file was out of order. Anyway Janet had taken a photocopy of the notes and then gone off sick with stress because of them. My line manager quickly tried to sort the situation out amicably and I was happy with that and apperently so was Janet at first. However a few weeks later my line manager is contacted by her line manager to ask what is going on. She has been contacted by the head of the County Council who had been contacted by one of his Councillors saying that Janet has been to see him because I was bullying her and keeping a dossier on her. HR are contacted and dates are set up to do a case conference. Case conference goes ahead in October, Janet now says she does not want to work with me again and can I or her be moved to a different job. She also now says she found the notes on a table not in my file and finally that I never spoke to her about any of the issues that I made notes about. At around the same time she has an 'occupational health' interview as she is still off with stress. They say there is no reason why she can't return to work but that she feels nauseous, faint and stressed the day before working with me. She also says that I am quiet, don't speak to her, don't manage very well and am discriminating against her.

It is now almost March 10 and Janet is still off sick. This week they finally sat down and had another meeting designed to get Janet back to work, I was not allowed to attend. She took a Union Rep who backed everything she said which again included moving her or me to another job. Eventually they agreed that it was my fault for not keeping the notes in a locked location (there aren't any provided) and that it was best if she comes back to work with me but with certain limits to MY job. For the first 4 months I can only tell her what needs doing but cannot correct her or tell her when something is wrong. I have to wait until my monthly meeting with my line manager and then she will pass that on to Janet. Janet needs complete retraining having only worked about 3 months in almost 2 years how am I supposed to do that if I can't correct her if she gets something wrong? I have been doing the job of 2 people since August 09 but this is going to make my job even harder as I will have to go around after her making sure she doesn't make any mistakes. My home life has been suffering because of the stress of all this. Also I am not sure that I can work with someone that has gone out of there way to make trouble for me and actually lied about so much.

Any advice/ opinions welcome - thanks for your time.

Sounds like a typical council in the U.K. today. Every second person seems to be a manager of sorts, people using every and any excuse not to do what they actually get paid for. Resolution is overly complex, and all this funded by the private sector!