compassion fatigue

Nicki

Notmyrealname wrote: »

How long has she been employed by you? If it is coming up to 11 months and 3 weeks you need to make a decision quickly because once she gets to 12 months then it is far harder to sack her. Before 12 months, including notice period, you can dismiss her without reason.

Personally I'd get shut.

She has been employed for more than a year and has employment rights, hence why I am asking for advice on how to legally manage this situation.

Evilm

Nicki wrote: »

She did not travel anywhere for the dead grandparent. The 3 days were to grieve at home. Her parents travelled to the country for the funeral but she didn't and never had any intention of doing so.

She has used all of her annual leave already. She actually requested to take it all in one block of 5 weeks at the beginning of the holiday year for a long trip abroad.

These two items already tell me that this person isn't ready to be an employee and has unrealistic expectations.

I appreciate that people grieve at different rates but I've just lost a closer/as close member of my family and I took one day off to grieve at home. I will take one more day off for the funeral.

I'm not saying I'm brilliant right now as I'm not but I respect that its my job to be at work. And for me personally being at home doing very little isn't going to do me any good.

Taking all the holidays in one block normally wouldn't be allowed - and is short sighted for the reasons you stated.

I agree that its best to set up a formal set of policies rather than lecture at this point but I'd be looking to crack down on abuse of this sort of stuff in the future.

EDIT: Do make sure that she is aware that if she leaves before the end of the holiday year she will have those days she's already taken deducted from her final salary. I can see this going badly if she isn't made fully aware of that!

Nicki

Holiday year runs from May to May and she took the block of time last summer. So if she walked tomorrow, most of the time would have accrued anyway. But thanks. I had made that stipulation clear at the time she requested it, when she's already been employed about a year. Would not have considered letting a new employee do it.

KiKi

I'd introduce a new policy. Explain how it will work. As from this point, both she and you have to comply with this policy.

It would usually state that an investigation / disciplinary would take place if there are more than (for eg) 5 periods of sickness in any 12 month period / 3 in 6 months / 2 in four months etc. And if you issue a warning after the first time, then any further non-compliance may mean a written warning.

You do not have to pay for - nor even allow - compassionate leave, although it would be good practice to do so for close family. If she doesn't turn up to work under those circumstances it could be considered gross misconduct.

As she's only working 18 hours per week, around her uni time, I think she has it very very good, esp with what you're paying her. She's taking the pee, IMO. Telling her there is a new policy may shock her a bit into realising she can't carry on with these sorts of expectations.

KiKi

Savvy_Sue

You might want to incorporate annual leave policies into this as well: personally I would have suggested that she took - say - 3 weeks' paid leave at the start of the year and the rest as unpaid.

So saying that annual leave may never be taken in blocks of more than eg 3 weeks would reduce the possibility of that happening again, although she may feel that it was a 'once in a lifetime' thing which she wouldn't expect to repeat.

Do you think there's a chance that she's thinking "well, they managed without me for 5 weeks, my help isn't that important to them"?

You do seem to be coming at this in the right way, and I do hope she gets the message!

gibson123

Nicki wrote: »

Holiday year runs from May to May and she took the block of time last summer. So if she walked tomorrow, most of the time would have accrued anyway. But thanks. I had made that stipulation clear at the time she requested it, when she's already been employed about a year. Would not have considered letting a new employee do it.

This could be the crux of the problem, taken all her leave at the beginning of her employment and not having any left when she really needs it. Sounds like she under-estimated her ability to work and study and is either making herself sick, tired or just needs time out from her duties and responsibilities. It does sound like she has a lot on in her life in general.

poet123

gibson123 wrote: »

This could be the crux of the problem, taken all her leave at the beginning of her employment and not having any left when she really needs it. Sounds like she under-estimated her ability to work and study and is either making herself sick, tired or just needs time out from her duties and responsibilities. It does sound like she has a lot on in her life in general.

I think that is a really good point. As adults in work we know that taking all our leave in a block means that when we are low, tired and really in need of a duvet day we have burned our boats, so generally we don't do it. Someone of her age has yet to come to this realisation or no problem, live for today, if I need a day off thinks I 'll throw a sickie!! That could well be the issue.

Nicki

Hmm. Except that she gets paid time off when we are away on holiday as a family in addition to her own paid holiday time. So she had about 10 days off at Christmas because we were away, she had one day sick mid January and her 2 week sick period fell at the end of January, beginning of February. The first compassionate leave was end March and the last one yesterday. So its not really the case that she hasn't had any break from work at all since last summer.

kingfisherblue

You do not have to allow the annual leave that she requests - I certainly wouldn't allow five weeks in one block, especially at the start of the holiday year when none had been accrued.

You can also require her to save a certain amount of holidays and instruct that they are taken at a time specified by you. So for example, at the community centre where I volunteer, we usually close between Christmas and New Year. The staff are made aware of this early in the holiday year and are required to save some of their annual leave to cover their time off work when the centre is closed.

You may wish to have an Annual Leave Policy to reflect your wishes, whether you choose to continue as you are or should you decide to change things.

Regarding absenteeism, do you keep a log sheet of every absence? I would have columns for date of first absence, date of return, back to work interview completed date, and a running total of days absent out of X days worked so far. If shifts are variable in length, you might want to note how long the shifts are for each absence.

This can show regular absences such as Mondays or Fridays (which would give her long weekends). In a back to work interview, you can then ask if there is a particular problem that means she is frequently off on such and such a day.

You should also make her aware that if you are asked for a reference, her absence record will be mentioned.

KiKi

I would not be giving her paid time off when you're off. That can come from her AL entitlement. You are allowed to control when that leave is; you don't have to give her any more.

Really, she's only working 18 hours, and she's working for a VERY good wage considering her age and what she's doing (I'm assuming she's not a mature student). Her full time salary must come to something in the low £30k.

I'm not surprised she's taking all this time off - because I can see from her perspective that she prob thinks this is great, getting so much paid leave in addition to her AL which is offered to her! It makes you a very nice employer, but makes it easy for her to exploit it.

KiKi