Unsure how to handle this situation

[Bb1979]

In my company we identified the need for an electronic filing clerk back in 2015 and employed a lady to work 4 hours per day Mon-Friday. I am her direct line manager and we became friends even outside of work. I suspected that she was not laden down with work but whenever I asked her about volume, she would state she was snowed under and show me the hundreds of emails in her dedicated inbox. About a year ago, she said she needed more hours at work and asked my opinion. I said that I thought we were at full capacity and that I myself would like more hours but don’t want to “steal time” from the company by twiddling my thumbs. She went to the directors and asked to increase her hours and one director tasked me with the job of creating more work for her. I asked around everyone to ensure we were fulfilling their admin needs and everybody assured me that we were. I said to the employee that I would have to report my findings to the director and unfortunately I don’t think we can extend her hours given the lack of work. My boss came up with an idea of a job she could do not related to admin and her working day was increased by 1 1/2 hours. This work never materialised.
I went on holiday and came back to see she had moved next to me. Since she moved there, I witnessed continuous mobile phone use. I knew she was partial to using it but she couldn’t get to five minutes without going on it. I pulled her in about the phone use but I noticed that she disappear to the loos and take her bag with her. I don’t work Mondays and on Mondays will sit and scroll and get her phone out the minute I leave my desk. I witnessed her stare a lot a word document for an hour. I told her we needed exact figures of incoming emails and devised a way of seeing how many she had. When she was off sick, she had 600 in her inbox. With the help of a colleague we cleared them at roughly 100 emails per hour. I now know that she receives an average of 150 emails per day which is 2 hours work max.
I’ve tried to speak about the volume of work and how it worries me presenting it to management but she looks at me blankly and says she’s busy so there’s no problem. I watch her now just PRETEND to work and I don’t know how best to deal with it. I backed away from outside of work and our relationship is now totally contained to the office.I confided in a director off the record and he is at a loss too. We don’t have a HR department (small company) and use a consultancy firm. I don’t have access to firm and would have to formally raise my issues with this girl and I don’t know how they will all react. I asked her to log the time she spends on tasks and she completely makes things up or spends 45 minutes creating a folder. She knows she doesn’t have enough work and when given suggestions of organising the library, she says she will do it but doesn’t.
Can anybody offer any suggestions in how I should resolve this? Steps to take etc.
Thanks

 

[tony84]

I dont mean to be rude but you need to be firmer and put a size 9 up her and explain she is there to work not check her phone.

If she can not be trusted to stay off her phone - no phones on the desk and they must be on silent (not vibrate).
No taking the P with toilet breaks. If she can not stick to that, you can only go on toilet breaks on your break.

Why not offer to sit with her for the day, so you can see what she is and is not doing. Then when (assuming you do see productivity ramp up) you can then reduce her hours.

To be honest, I would be inclined on getting rid. If you have an employee their job is to reduce your work load. If you are having to do more work because of her or stress about her, she is not earning her wage.

 

[barryo]

The only way to deal with this type of problem is through a properly conducted disciplinary process. The risks in not doing that can be huge.

The principle reason for initiating an ordinary (i.e. not for gross misconduct) disciplinary process is to seek improvement in performance. The process can only be fair and be seen to be fair if it's conducted systematically. From your questions and uncertainty it seems clear that you're not confident in doing this yourself, so because of the risks involved I would recommend that you pass it up to your director(s).

You mentioned that you have a consultancy whose remit, presumably, includes advising/assisting with disciplinary procedures. Make them earn their money by getting them involved at the earliest stage. If they're any good they will want to get involved before things are done which might be regretted later.

Whatever you do, don't enter a process with an idea in your mind to "get rid." Pre-judging outcomes of disciplinary processes is one of the main reasons why people lose Industrial Tribunals.

 

[Bb1979]

Thanks for your reply. Re the phone issue, she does now keep it in her bag but my spies tell me the second I leave my desk or am off, she spends the whole time on her phone.
I was thinking about workshadowing her to see how she fills in her gaps of time. She can’t stare at the screen if I’m there watching her work.

I’m new to managing and also work for a company of directors who are excellent at their chosen profession but HR is a mess.

 

[Bb1979]

Thank you Barryo.
I do think you’re right and I need to escalate this to a director. As mentioned before, they’re not too hot on HR and I think they are scared of discpline and dismissal as they have no formal processes.
I’m hesitant as it’s my first managerial role and I need a lot of guidance.

 

[Mr D]

Perhaps get them to put together, with help from those who know how to do it, a formal process for discipline and dismissal?

 

[barryo]

A good start point for you would be to get ACAS to send you some of their literature. I think you can order from their website.

As you're new to management, don't be tempted to do what "seems right." Get good advice and follow it.

You can PM me if you want specific questions answered or if you'd like to chat it through on the phone.

 

[MBE2017]

Since so much of her work revolves around the computer, would it not be a simple enough task to monitor it? Number of key depressions, number of emails dealt with etc should be easy enough to show if she is sat around doing little.