For the first time in my career I became involved in the process of written warnings. A few months after Little Miss Fun joined my team, a new position was created & an employee (Russian in nationality & culture - let's call him Mr. Hyde) was transferred from his current role (which was made redundant) to the new role. Prior to this transfer, despite his reputation for being odd, he was always very nice to me. However, once I became his manager, his attitude towards me changed. He became argumentative & refused to complete any of the major projects I assigned him ("It wasn't interesting to me." What the?!)
It became clear that he was not right for the role for the following reasons:
- His skill set did not match the skill set required for the new role.
- He was neither flexible nor receptive in considering other research methodologies or analysis tools than what he was familiar with already.
- He opted for personal convenience at the expense of data/analysis integrity.
- He did not respect my position as his manager.
I found out later that a sexual harrassment complaint was lodged against him by another employee. One time when I tried to discuss what problems he had with the role, etc. he responded by banging his hands on his head repeatedly. And when I looked at his face, it was the face of a man constipated - constipated & angry! He also made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to other employees. It culminated in a meeting with Mr. Odd, Mr. Forgetful (my boss) & Little Miss Helpful (HR manager) & myself where we detailed what the issues with his performance were & outlined the process of this 1st & final warning. He decided to resign rather than comply with the conditions of his 'parole.'
He also took this opportunity to badmouth me in the meeting, "I've been here 7 years & have built wonderful relationships with people. Clare has only been here less than a year. When I'm gone the truth will come out about what Clare is really like....Clare manipulated me into not doing my work!" (What the?!) I was gutted. When Mr. Forgetful & I left the meeting so Little Miss Helpful could go through the resignation process with Mr. Hyde, I shuffled out of the room completely demoralised. I looked to Mr. Forgetful for any words of encouragement or comfort to lift my spirits, to validate my self-worth as a manager, as a human being. He hit me with: "Well, that's the end of that," rubbed his hands together (with glee?) & strode off confidently. Does nothing faze the man?
Mr. Hyde was physically gone from the office 2 days later - after making copies & printouts of his work, & then summarily deleting all his files & emails (despite Little Miss Helpful instructing him not to). Good thing I had IT sureptitiously copy all his files without his knowledge before he could delete/change anything.
Last I heard was that he was trying to get a job at the company his old boss (who was made redundant) was now working for. I hope he gets it. I feel terrible that this happened - & just before Christmas! I begged Mr. Forgetful to either have Mr. Hyde transferred to another department or if he had to leave, send him off with a redundancy payout (7 years would afford him quite a healthy sum). But Mr. Forgetful didn't want to lose the extra resource in the team. As penance, I purchased Mr. Hyde's farewell gift & made sure his farewell card was signed by everyone on the floor (even from the people who didn't know him!).
Image originally uploaded by Dunechaser.
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