Archived What to do about this one team member........

[Alaska 5000]

Hey guys! I'm an Electronics Team Leader who needs advice on what to do about one of my team members. First things first I should give a little background.

Electronics at my store is pretty much ignored. My stl doesn't care about it at all, pretty much letting mobile run the show and schedules all our productive and positive team members around food. Electronics gets 3-4 team members who can barely work pulls and are decent at guest service. My ETL-SF while very nice is very young, very new, and aloof. I can't really count on her for advice or help, but she does provide support and listens to whatever i need. The electronics team lead before my held no one accountable. She let them pretty much stand and hang out with mobile. When I came in their was no expectations, no routines.

So that gets to my team member in question. He gets schedules about 32 hours a week in electronics solely based on the fact we don't have enough team members trained and available to cover electronics without giving him that many hours. From the moment I have seen him he has required constant attention and baby sitting. His can barely work pulls, always leaving random carts around and pulls unfinished. His zone is rough and hardly what I call acceptable. I can not give him any projects without spending 20 minutes explaining what to do and then follow up 4 times before it is accomplished. I have caught and addressed to him several projects left unfinished or completely ignored. On top of that his attendance is awful. Consistently late about 20-25 minutes, never calls. He calls in consistantely too and on high traffic times like Black Friday weekend. He is just a treat.

So 3 months I'm I am at a point where I can put him on a CCA for attendance. We have had plenty of conversations about his lateness and his 2 questionable call ins over the Black Friday weekend put it over the edge. I've also been working to starting a cca for performance and documenting all my follow up conversations with him. The problem is it's been extremely hard as no other leaders hold any expectations up in electronics because my stl has shown he doesn't care about it.

The problem just came today when I was informed by hr the team member called the hotline to complain about one of our LODs. The team member is middle eastern and is claiming we are being racist towards him because of his religion and race. I can 100% guarantee this is not true and have questioned the leaders he had accuesed. They assure me they had never expressed anything racial towards him and only were holding him accountable for his actions.

So now ETL-HR, the leaders in question and myself are having a meeting with the team member and I don't know where to go. HR and the LODs are nervous to move foward with any performance issues due to his claims. Which frustrates me because he is getting away with doing the bare minimum pretty much full time. Does anyone have any advice for me?!!!!!!

 

[Yetive]

This is why you carefully document all of your conversations. I find it strange that you are all meeting with this team member. Keep to the facts when/if discussing any performance/attendance issues. If you keep copies of coachings, you might want to bring them. Also, print the attendance record of the TM. In terms of the future, you may want to partner with your HRBP. I have found this to be helpful.

 

[TTGOz]

I say if the issue really is his work ethic, be honest with him. If he continues to claim racism then whatever, but he should be warned he's facing discipline if anything else pops up. Just be straight, honest with him, and state the facts. You guys are all his boss, speak your mind but do so professionally. Apologize if he still feels that way during the meeting that you're all discriminating against him, and then explain why you're there on the given day you guys meet.

In the end, he's making the store technically less profitable and that's an issue especially if he's only a seasonal.

 

[wiredharpoon]

As long as everything you say is valid and you have additional coachings on team members that don't pull their slack keep on going the way you are. During the meeting I would ask him if there are any issues with co-workers he has noticed and follow up with them. A few weeks later after the follow up ask them again if the issues are still present. I've found that most times team members feel like they are singled out because there are other people getting away with things as well. If not than there is no case for him whatsoever.

 

[SrTLall]

You said you have 4 TMs you can barely work pulls, so I assume the other 3 are fairly useless as well. Just be sure you are holding all TMs to a higher standard, not just that one guy. Several TMs have called the hotline on me in an effort to reduce my pressure on them to improve. But, as long as you are fair and consistent, TMs can call the hotline all they want and it doesn't matter.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

Well, if a person isnt right for the job after many attempts of improvement than that is simply put. You can't allow your workcenter to be destroyed so, I say try to move him elsewhere for a while. He has an issue with performance so maybe move him to an area that will help improve his performance. Electronics requires a certain amount of independence and responsibility and is not typically a good workcenter for a problem TM with attendence and performance issues. Id try to move him to a more simple position like reg salesfloor, (working pulls). Also, granting him so many hours per week may be sending the message that its ok what he's been doing. Hours are earned around here, ya know? Drop him to 15 per week, salesfloor working pulls. I know spot doesnt like to fire people but stores do, so just lower the amount of time hes at the store and workcenter, maybe he'll get the hint and improve. (Highly unlikely) Usually people dont change but its important that we try to help them help themselves help us. Good luck.

 

[HRZone]

You said you have 4 TMs you can barely work pulls, so I assume the other 3 are fairly useless as well. Just be sure you are holding all TMs to a higher standard, not just that one guy. Several TMs have called the hotline on me in an effort to reduce my pressure on them to improve. But, as long as you are fair and consistent, TMs can call the hotline all they want and it doesn't matter.

This is true hotline calls are rerouted to the store. Only if nothing improves does corporate come down and crack a whip.

 

[HRZone]

just lower the amount of time hes at the store and workcenter, maybe he'll get the hint and improve. (Highly unlikely) Usually people dont change but its important that we try to help them help themselves help us. Good luck.

this right here. We had a low performing ETM.TL dropped her hours to 10 a week and cross trained another HLTM. She ended up quitting.

 

[redandkhaki]

If you were going to put him on a ca for his attendance he couldn't claim racism because it's clear he's been late or called out. assuming you've coached all other TMs with attendance issues.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Attendance & lateness, is not a race. Then, they will complain about the pay & other stuff. Hr has everything you need to do a ca.
Since they have called the hotline, they will have provide events where they had a race issues. Then, the question will be asked, who did they contact in hr or mgt about it, prior to calling hotline.
Spot will get them.

 

[buxboy]

I feel like the electronics TL at my store could have made this exact post... we have someone eerily similar lmao.

 

[ClearanceMaster]

Hire or crosstrain more team members. consistently bump his hours down while documenting poor performance. once he drops down to a few hours a week he will most likely quit anyway so you won't have to worry about performancing him. and if he doesnt, you have a paper trail that proves it wasn't about his race.

 

[Coqui]

Usually when a bad egg is being performanced and they notice it, that's when they claim they are being harassed/discriminated. It happened to me with a problematic TM in my workcenter but as long as you're fair with the entire team and holding them to the same expectations as the bad egg, they can cry wolf all they want and it won't matter.