How to Handle Unreliable Employees

If you are saying things like “I just can’t rely on [insert employee name]”, you have an unreliable employee.

By tolerating unreliable behaviour, you are effectively asking your other staff to do their own work plus a portion of the unreliable staff member’s work. Over time, the stress and fatigue they experience will affect their productivity. In turn, this could lead to other problems in your business.

What makes an employee unreliable?

Unreliable employees tend to fall into 2 groups – those who have been unreliable from the start and good performers who are now unreliable.

1. Unreliable from the start

Initially you may have blamed unreliable behaviour on youth, being new to the organisation or any of the excuses the unreliable employee may have given you. However, you now realise it’s more than that.

Your inaction will communicate you are happy to accept unreliable behavior so you need to act promptly. Talk to the unreliable worker. Be specific about what they are doing and how it needs to change. In addition, try to uncover the reason for their unreliability. Things to look for are:

• The wrong position for their skillset or personality
• A lack of training so they don’t have the knowledge to perform the job well
• Interpersonal issues with other members of the team
• Problems at home or with their health
• Lifestyle issues such as mid-week partying or addictions

2. Formerly good workers who are now unreliable

When formerly productive and reliable workers change, you need to uncover what has caused the change. Things to look for are:

• A lack of challenge or boredom in their current role. If you value your employee, look for ways to advance their skill set otherwise you will lose them.

• A dispute with other team members or their supervisor. This needs to be resolved quickly before more staff become involved.

• Being the target of workplace bullying or other inappropriate actions. Again, this needs to be resolved quickly for both moral and legal reasons.

• Family problems distracting the employee from their work. In this case, find ways to support them at work and help them find support services to assist them outside of work hours.

• Health issues or addictions that may be affecting their ability to work efficiently. In this situation, always seek advice from experienced HR experts before attempting to handle this type of personnel problem.

Whatever the reason, never ignore the behaviour of an unreliable worker. By doing so, you are asking your other staff to do more than their fair share of work.

End2End Business Solutions offers business owners a range of support services to help them deal with unreliable staff members. To discover if End2End can help you, call 02 8977 4002.

Unreliable Employees - The Domino Effect

While you might be willing to tolerate an unreliable employee, there is actually a domino effect on the rest of your staff. Whether you mean to or not, by ignoring the problem, you are asking your most reliable, high performing staff to carry the extra workload of your unreliable worker.

In effect, you’re punishing your good performers and rewarding your unreliable one.

If you allow the problem to continue for too long, it will take its toll on everyone. As a result, you risk losing your best staff because they feel you are taking advantage of them.

If left unchecked, you also risk staff burn-out as your reliable staff carry the responsibility of achieving their own KPIs as well as a portion of the unreliable employee’s workload.

How to recognise an unreliable employee?

The symptoms of an unreliable employee include:

• Absenteeism
• Frequently missed deadlines
• Habitually arriving late for work
• Inconsistent work quality
• Regularly making simple mistakes
• Repeating the same mistakes after follow-up training
• Failure to follow instructions
• Frequently missing team meetings or appointments with clients

Of course, no employee is perfect but if these symptoms become frequent or even predictable, you need to take action before they start to affect your whole team.

Implement an action plan

If you have an employee exhibiting any of the above symptoms, you need to address the situation promptly. Start with explaining what behavior needs to be changed and how.

Next, put together a performance management system that you both agree on. It should include the behavior and goals you expect the unreliable worker to achieve. Be very specific about the timeframes and outcomes you require.

If you are uncertain about how to manage an unreliable employee or would like expert advice, speak to the team at End2End Business Solutions. They have a range of services that may be suitable for your business.

Don’t wait until your unreliable employee is affecting the productivity of your whole team. Call End2End Business Solutions today on 02 8977 4002.

Save Costs by Perfecting your Recruiting Processes

Perfecting your recruiting process can save you money in many different ways. As the adage goes, time equals money, by streamlining your recruitment process you can save yourself a lot of wasted time and therefore money. Getting your hiring right will save money on training staff that are not going to work out in the long run.

By perfecting your recruitment process, you will get the right person for the job in a shorter amount of time so you’ll stop losing money as a result of having an unfilled position.
Here are some tips for perfecting the recruitment process;

• Develop and prioritize the main requirements needed from the position and the special qualifications and experience you seek in a candidate.
• Develop the job description for the position you are seeking and determine job interview questions in advance.
• Spread word of mouth information within your industry about the position you are looking to fill.
• Screen resumes and applications against the established criteria and qualifications.
• Give candidates a copy of the job requirements to review
• Plan a meeting with the individuals involved in the recruitment process .Have everyone agree on the qualities you are looking for in a candidate.
• Check references. Perform appropriate background checks that include employment references, employment history, education, criminal records, credit history and drug testing.
• Create a documented, systematic hiring process.
• Develop the largest pool of qualified candidates possible. Do this by utilising every tool available to you, Facebook, Twitter etc.
• Train supervisors to give clear direction and expectations, provide feedback and show commitment to staff success.
• Once you have defined the qualities and skills you would most like in a candidate, devise interview questions that allow your applicant to demonstrate that they have the desired skills.
• The use of behaviourally based interview questions can be useful to pinpoint the people you want in your organisation.
• Identify characteristics of your best employees and then develop interview questions to identify these qualities.
• When replacing an position it can be useful to review the role and decide if there are any changes required or certain tasks or roles that were performed by the previous employee that do not need to be performed by the new one.

The people who work in your organisation are, after all, key to its success - so investing in the process is also an investment in the business