The Case of the Unproductive Employee
As the Director of Student Programs and Engagement, you are responsible for supervising six other employees . It's your second year on the job and you're feeling more and more comfortable with the responsibilities you've been given . You were blessed to have a pretty strong team to supervise and you all get along pretty well . The only weak spot in the team is your coordinator for Intramurals, Kimiko .
Kimiko has a great attitude and genuinely loves the work she does, but there are some things she just doesn't seem to "get ." She is regularly late with her monthly reports, she oftentimes loses receipts for the supplies that she buys, she's not usually on time for meetings, and on more than one occasion you've needed to confront her lack of professional boundaries with student employees . She is always apologetic when you talk to her about these things and she promises to change, but there hasn't been much improvement in the last year .
Things have gotten to the point that you feel it is time to "let Kimiko go" and find a new Coordinator . When you speak to your supervisor about her, he disagrees with you and says it's your job as Kimiko's supervisor to help her grow in these areas . When you try to explain all the work you've done investing in her, it becomes apparent that you're probably not going to win this discussion .
This is your first major discussion with your supervisor on evaluating talent and you want him to have confidence in your ability to supervise well . If you help Kimiko improve, it may make your evaluation of her seem premature and wrong . On the other hand, if you don't help Kimiko get better, you're going to be stuck with her problematic behavior for at least another year .
> What would you do?
I have kind of been in a situation like this, I was an employee at Pioneer and there was a girl who wasn't doing her job correctly and she supervisor knew it and continuously told her that she needed to improve and she didn't so when the supervisor talked to the big bosses, the big bosses disagreed and didn't believe the supervisor. So I would tell Kimiko one more time that she would need to improve her act and do her job better and let her know that I had talked to my boss about her actions and that her job could very well be in jeopardy, and if she didn't decide to improve her act, I would go back to my boss with proof of how bad she was doing with her job and insist that we let her go and get someone new.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would keep on trying to help her if I'm being evaluated on my talent. Since I've already talked to her about it, she is aware of the problem and then also sees that you are the better person trying to help her out. There are tons of people in the world that are just sort of like Kimiko. Late, unorganized, but the sweetest person ever. That's just their personality. But you can help them be more organized and on time. Maybe send her some texts and reminders. I know it would feel like your doing her job, but if your supervisor didn't let you let her go then thats what you'll have to do.
ReplyDeleteI would just keep trying to help her. Yeah you would be stuck with her for another year, but you would be helping her. You are the one that choose to have that job so you need to do your job. Part of your job is helping the people that you supervise so you need to help Kimiko. She may be late and slack, but you don't really know her that well. Outside of work she could be the best person ever. You just need to be understanding and help since you picked to be a supervisor, don't give up on her yet. That is how people get down. You need to push her and help her to succeed, just like people did to you for you to become a supervisor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Morgan. I've seen this in the fields more than once. It's usually with the first or second year workers who are not as accustomed to the job, so they don't do as good of a job. The supervisors always tell them to come back and pick missed tassles, and sometimes they improve, other times not. I guess if I was in charge, I'd play it by ear. Obviously this Kimiko girl has been there a while and she's been confronted about it before so there's really no reason for her to not be doing the job right by now. It's not fair for the rest of the team to suffer because of her bad job. And, as a supervisor, I'd be just that- a supervisor. It isn't myyyy job to make her do anything. She'd just have to start listening, and if she didn't, I'd tell the head hancho again and make it very clear that Kimiko is weakening the team and the company.
ReplyDeleteI would just keep doing everything you can to help her. Even though you have to be with her for another year, you're still helping somebody in need. She might not come off as the perfect person, but you can't just judge a book by a cover. She might be late but that doesn't define her as a person. You just have to relate and understand her point of view of this, and keep helping her until she's successful.
ReplyDeleteSeeing how either way Kimiko will not be let go when you want her to, you need to do the right thing and work with her to become a better employee. You don't want to deal with her making mistakes for another year because that could backfire on you also. So help her become a better employee and that will make you look good. The fact that you may be wrong is petty and should not influence whether or not you work with her on improving.
ReplyDeleteIf you are being evaluated on how you deal with this problem, and how well you help Kimiko to improve I would keep trying to help her. Even though it sounds like a new coordinator is necessary I would just let her know that you're going to give her another chance. Put a time frame on it, like if she doesn't improve in the areas she needs to by a certain date, they're going to have to let her go. But first I would work hard to help her succeed at her job because nobody wants to be 'let go.' Especially if she really likes the job.
ReplyDeleteI would tell her all the things going on and that she needs to make a change and she needs to find someone else can take the care of what is needed done she is in charge and she needs to step it up and kick some butts.
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