Case Study †Problem Employee

We often hear round the employers that get int treat employees healthy but you know, it sometimes works the other way as well. I had a call from a gentleman who was at his wits end as to what he could do with an employee that he has had on his payroll now for 5 years. This employee is running the entire show Hes a bully and the employer is to the point that he is actually afraid of him non in a bodily sense but in the sense that hes afraid to stand up to him because oh no heaven forbid he may quitThe employer has completely lost control of this fellow because he never had the courage to set any boundaries or expectations from the start and his leadership has been extremely inconsistent. So, how did this happen, you may call for? The background The business owner has a small restaurant. He and his wife and brother-in-law opened the restaurant nigh 7 years ago.The business started to grow and he brought in the employee in question to succor them out. At first, the employee was really good and the owner gave him more and more responsibilities, to the point that he felt fairly golden in leaving him to open up on occasion and actually assist with the business decisions, etcetera The business continued to grow and he hired a few more people, mostly go time, to work during lunch and dinner times.After a few more employees were hired, the original employee (well call him Joe), started to attest some less than desirable behaviours by coming in late opening the doors and then deep down 15 minutes, he would go out back to prolong a smoke break (virtually leaving the business open without any wholeness inside, which the owner found out by coming in a checkmate of mornings right after Joe and finding the place empty) talking on his cell phone right in front of customers (putting the customers on ignore while he chatted away on the phone) and when the owner tried to come up to with him, Joe just held his hand up right in the owners face shutting him dow n.On occasion, when Joe decided hed made copious tips for the night he would just leave an second sometimes two hours before his shift actually ended To heck with the schedule hed had enoughtoo badso sad. Oh and he didnt like the owners wife so he told the owner to keep her out of the restaurant and he did It has now gotten to the point (according to the employer) that Joe comes and goes as he pleases and in fact, he has told the employer that he rout outt do anything approximately it because hed have to pay him to terminate him.The employer, unfortunately, does not know his rights in this case and he has let it go on for so long now that he is getting treated this way by all of his employees. The standard has been set The saddest part of all is that the employee tells the employer what he give and allow not do and the employer has no one else that can step into this fellows shoes because everyone else is part time and does not have the homogeneous level of restaurant business experience. At to the lowest degree, thats what the owner believes at this time.So how did we go about finding a solution to this problem when up to this point in time nothing was enter?Case Study Problem Employee Part 2 Published November 1, 2010 The first thing we recommended to this employer was to take a good look at his current employees and consider which ones he could provide more training and schooling to so that if this problem employee did walk out he could still manage his business.We alike advised him that allowing others to break their skills would not only increase his ability to provide a better quality business for his customers, it would also provide learning opportunities for his employees that would encourage them to stay. The next thing we did for this employer was to give him information around the basic business standards act that he needed. He was allowing an employee to tell him what was required by law, and in fact most of what he was being told was inaccurate.Ignorance is definitely not bliss for a business owner who employs others. We gave him fact sheets with the main areas that he should make himself familiar with so that it was easy to understand and didnt have a lot of unfamiliar language to interpret. The next thing we recommended is that he considers doing is allowing us to develop an employee handbook and some basic policies that would help him in communicating to his employees moving forward.We recommended that he have a staff meeting prior to the crook of the handbook to allow the employees to have some input or suggestions. We offered to provide support at the staff meeting if he wished but certainly this is something that he could do on his own as well. We offered to invest the handbook to the employees with him so that we could respond to any questions and he didnt have to feel concerned about how to respond (particularly because he believes the problem employee is going to challenge the implementatio n of a handbook and policies).We next suggested that he implement a performance vigilance system that aligned with the handbook and policies and we will assist him by means of coaching sessions as to how he can manage the process. While this is a lot of work for him and it will not be an overnight solution he has unfortunately allowed his employee to gain control of his business and not in a good way. Due to the fact that he has not managed the whole relationship well and it has deteriorated to this stage, it will be a long process to repair the damage.The good thing is that he did look to help and he will learn how to retain employees by the provision of learning opportunities he will have some standards of operation and behavioural expectations and he will have a performance management system to ensure a more fair and just working environment. Last, but not least we are also going to provide some culture coaching sessions so he can develop a strong and healthy workplace that fits within his mission and values. As this project is not yet complete, we will report back on occasion to let you know how we move through the recommended processes.