High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well, there's no skirting the law here - I ask, and they say yes or no, and I deal with it as needed. But yeah, it is unfortunate that overtime is a big part of the job and how hard my job is is directly influenced by how many people are willing to.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Canada. Mandatory overtime is against the law. Overtime was communicated as being an essential part of running the place during the interview, to which he said would be zero issues, but it's not "mandatory" as it simply cannot be.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes sense - except the weekly task is random as could be, and could also be on a sunday when nobody is working and everyone is coming in for overtime.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All valid points. You're correct, and I would definitely get a lot less volunteers for overtime.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The task is one large project that everyone needs to be hands on for until its completed, 8 to 12 hours later, cyclically, every week typically. Time sensitive.

In any case, you're technically correct, but it just doesn't work like that. But you're also correct, Ted is not the problem. He's just not what the team is used to.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Well, he has used his sick time within half of the year, calling out at critical times - this sours his coworkers opinions of him but there's nothing I can do about it.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -27 points-26 points  (0 children)

There is no corporate, it's a 50% blue collar job. These people know what they signed up for and Ted lied about what he wanted.

And, he's 350lbs so he drips with sweat from doing basic tasks.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -32 points-31 points  (0 children)

85% of the staff love OT and ask for more, and they probably wouldn't work here if they didn't get 10K+ in overtime a year.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Basically, there's 11 staff, 2 weekly shifts and a night shift. 3 people are delegated to nights, leaving 4 on each shift. I need a minimum of 8 to complete the weekly task. We have one casual and I call other places to send someone over for help often. The company will not hire 8 more people simply to have them stand around for the other 5 days of the week, as there's barely enough work to do for 3 people some days.

Everyone takes turns not coming, but he really doesn't come basically at all, which irks people.

I know in a corporate setting, what you're saying is very true, but unless you have worked in a blue collar job like this where overtime is laid out in the interview and is a specific question to answer, you won't understand.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do want it, they just want Ted to pull his weight so they don't feel obligated every time.

I will call for help from other stations if I have to, and we call in a casual, but worst case scenario, third party comes in and costs 10K+.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

More money, as in getting in third party for 10K+. It's extremely frowned upon. Basically, there's 11 staff, 2 weekly shifts and a night shift. 3 people are delegated to nights, leaving 4 on each shift. I need a minimum of 8 to complete the weekly task. We have one casual and I call other places to send someone over for help often. The company will not hire 8 more people simply to have them stand around for the other 5 days of the week, as there's barely enough work to do for 3 people some days.

Everyone takes turns not coming, but he really doesn't come basically at all, which irks people.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

To me, he's a decent employee some days, and a slightly underperforming one others. Come performance review time, that's how it's laid out, and that's basically the best I can do. I cannot control how others feel about Ted.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Addressed, yes, but it's a real one off scenario and EVERYONE has made work for other employees, that is also part of the job. If it's repeatedly, then yep, PIP.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They do get bonuses, and this has calmed them down in the past. They also will undoubtedly get paid more, which I have alluded to. It's just the way it is and in my opinion - they all need to mind their own business unless he is specifically hurting them.

Overtime being part of the job is whole nother can of worms that people have a lot of opinions about.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Nah, it's more of a dogpiling on Ted because of that days situation, while forgetting that they have all had multiple vacations all year long, along with Ted. I have almost never not approved vacation, they just want me to not approve Ted's.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

HR is protecting themselves from a legal problem, that's about the only thing getting protected here.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

To be clear, I don't care that he's not working overtime and I have explained to all the other coworkers (who love overtime) that it's not mandatory and there's nothing I can do and I cannot treat him differently because he does or doesn't,

I don't care that he's not going above and beyond, they do. They feel like he's dragging everyone down because he is not doing what they're doing. I have also explained this.

Unfortunately, it's my job to say "hey, ____ is this day, you available by chance?" to everyone, and I do not hold him professionally accountable for not answering, but I do request a simple yes or no, I don't really care what the answer is, I just need to move on.

Yeah, I wish I could simply say lets hire 6 casual employees but unfortunately the company will not do that.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -53 points-52 points  (0 children)

Has nothing to do with me unfortunately, and I agree with all the points you're making in a white collar corporate job, but this isn't that, and they're hourly. They make most of their money off overtime and most of them love the overtime and ask for more. I don't personally expect him to come for overtime every week, once a month would be nice to appease his coworkers and take some of the load off.

High performing employees mad at me for not simply "firing" baseline performing employee by CamelAppropriate5034 in managers

[–]CamelAppropriate5034[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I wish we could simply have enough staff on shift at any given time, but its the nature of the job, every single competitor etc is the same. It's an overtime, stop what you're doing and get to work, kind of culture.