- Original Poster
- #1
Hi all,
First, I apologise if this sounds like a basic question with an obvious answer. I unfortunately have inheritated this situation and would like any advice or outside opinions that may be of help.
I work for a very small company, we have 9 employees in-house with a few external contractors. We have no HR manager.
We're looking to slowly hire so we can use external contractors less and bring all work in-house (mostly writing and proof reading). For us this would streamline working processes. Last year, we hired someone to replace one of the contractors. The idea being we'd use both for some time so there would be some overlap, with the expectation that the new hire would be able to take on the work quite easily for the type of role and level we were advertising for.
I didn't initiate the hire, but was involved in the interviewing and from my point of view the person we hired was not suitable for the role. However a colleague at the time disagreed and the director agreed to hire them.
Since hiring, the quality of their work has been passable, but I've still prefered using the contractors where possible. The new hire has been useful, but has not lived up to the role they were supposed to fill.
Almost 18 months later, the director has said they want to bring everything in house, but by doing so it has highlighted how the new hire cannot live up to the quality of the previous contractor.
The colleague that chose to hire this person has now left, leaving me to deal with it. The first six months of this year, I held informal meetings around their performance and that they need to improve and told them how to do so. I also kept it open and asked if there is anything I could do to help. These meetings became more and more formal with me going through individual pages they had written and highlighting errors and giving regular feedback.
It has now got to the point where my director has initiated formal proceedings. We explained the situation and said a verbal warning would be given if improvements weren't seen in a two week period. We gave them two weeks of intensive feedback daily and hired a new, freelance external proof reader to check their work to keep things fair. They too agreed the work was not good.
After two weeks we sent the external party their latest work which was met with the feedback that they hadn't improved much. My director decided to give the formal verbal warning.
The hire then asked for a meeting with the director, I was present too, where they disputed everything. They said we are asking them to improve too quickly which was unfair and they didn't agree with the external feedback as they could see the same mistakes made by our previous contractor.
Personally I am not looking for them to leave. I'd rather they improved to the level we need them to be because I have already invested a lot of time in them. It seems as though they just aren't capable of working to deadlines and don't have the skills needed to create the quality we require, which based on their previous roles, is what I thought from the interview.
I agree this has gone on too long and really I don't think they should have passed their initial probation, let alone get that far in the first place. However like I said, only now have I been really involved in the situation and so I am left clearing things up.
My director is keen to push on and issue a written warning but I don't think the situation will improve. I don't think they will all of a sudden create work at the quality we require.
In case it is worth mentioning; they are regularly late, at least a few times a month by up to an hour and have a very sour view to the company, talking about the director when they're not around and generally not being a team player.
So I am looking for any advice or outside opinion to help the situation. I would be greatful for anything as I feel it is going to be up to me to solve. Personally I believe they will need constant feedback daily for each and every piece of work they create, but due to our size and my other commitments, I cannot provide this.
First, I apologise if this sounds like a basic question with an obvious answer. I unfortunately have inheritated this situation and would like any advice or outside opinions that may be of help.
I work for a very small company, we have 9 employees in-house with a few external contractors. We have no HR manager.
We're looking to slowly hire so we can use external contractors less and bring all work in-house (mostly writing and proof reading). For us this would streamline working processes. Last year, we hired someone to replace one of the contractors. The idea being we'd use both for some time so there would be some overlap, with the expectation that the new hire would be able to take on the work quite easily for the type of role and level we were advertising for.
I didn't initiate the hire, but was involved in the interviewing and from my point of view the person we hired was not suitable for the role. However a colleague at the time disagreed and the director agreed to hire them.
Since hiring, the quality of their work has been passable, but I've still prefered using the contractors where possible. The new hire has been useful, but has not lived up to the role they were supposed to fill.
Almost 18 months later, the director has said they want to bring everything in house, but by doing so it has highlighted how the new hire cannot live up to the quality of the previous contractor.
The colleague that chose to hire this person has now left, leaving me to deal with it. The first six months of this year, I held informal meetings around their performance and that they need to improve and told them how to do so. I also kept it open and asked if there is anything I could do to help. These meetings became more and more formal with me going through individual pages they had written and highlighting errors and giving regular feedback.
It has now got to the point where my director has initiated formal proceedings. We explained the situation and said a verbal warning would be given if improvements weren't seen in a two week period. We gave them two weeks of intensive feedback daily and hired a new, freelance external proof reader to check their work to keep things fair. They too agreed the work was not good.
After two weeks we sent the external party their latest work which was met with the feedback that they hadn't improved much. My director decided to give the formal verbal warning.
The hire then asked for a meeting with the director, I was present too, where they disputed everything. They said we are asking them to improve too quickly which was unfair and they didn't agree with the external feedback as they could see the same mistakes made by our previous contractor.
Personally I am not looking for them to leave. I'd rather they improved to the level we need them to be because I have already invested a lot of time in them. It seems as though they just aren't capable of working to deadlines and don't have the skills needed to create the quality we require, which based on their previous roles, is what I thought from the interview.
I agree this has gone on too long and really I don't think they should have passed their initial probation, let alone get that far in the first place. However like I said, only now have I been really involved in the situation and so I am left clearing things up.
My director is keen to push on and issue a written warning but I don't think the situation will improve. I don't think they will all of a sudden create work at the quality we require.
In case it is worth mentioning; they are regularly late, at least a few times a month by up to an hour and have a very sour view to the company, talking about the director when they're not around and generally not being a team player.
So I am looking for any advice or outside opinion to help the situation. I would be greatful for anything as I feel it is going to be up to me to solve. Personally I believe they will need constant feedback daily for each and every piece of work they create, but due to our size and my other commitments, I cannot provide this.
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