Tough situation, but not that unusual. My suggestion would be to tell the employee that you’d be happy to talk about her performance and her salary with her but that you will not talk about another employee’s performance or salary with her. That is confidential information between you and each individual employee. You might also mention that there are many variables that go into determining a person’s salary/hourly wage and that it is not her place to try to pin you down on that personal information for comparison reasons. I would also suggest that you remind this employee where you’d like to see their energy going towards in the workplace and where it need not go. Lastly, I might make a general statement at one of your upcoming staff meetings about the value you place on cooperation, teamwork, and positive synergy amongst the department. You might even consider a teambuilding as well in order to put more focus on the working relationships and less on individual comparisons.

Should other employees begin to get caught up in the benefit/wages comparison game, then you will need to address it in an upcoming staff meeting and lay down the law in terms of your expectations around such discussions and comparisons. If people get that that is “not cool” to go down that road, they will stop, especially if eventual consequences result. Sorry I could be sweeter.

I appreciate your tolerance and understanding that you’ve exhibited with your employees and their tendency to exaggerate the truth and blow stories out of proportion. This behavior could very well be a tendency of their socio-economic backgrounds, their cultural background, or even a byproduct of your corporate culture for that matter. Truth is, it really doesn’t matter. In fact, you probably want to stay away from making any assumptions or assertions as to “why” many or most of your seasonal employees are the way they are. There are many variables that make people/employees the way they are, and any attempt to narrow it down to one or two factors could be seen as insensitive and limiting.

I do have a suggestion or two for you however. First, make attempts to get to know your employees as individuals. This way you can develop unique relationships with each one and they with you. I know that that is easier said than done, but it will actually increase you influence with them, let alone your relationship.

Second, be clear on where and when to draw the line on any conversations, discussions, or explanations that impede productivity. Once job performance is at stake, you will need to be prepared to step in and bring the conversation(s) down to a factual and realistic level. If job performance is never really a factor in these situations, then I’d let it go.

Lastly, you may want to share with the whole group your management style/philosophy and core values. It is important for employees to know how someone is going to manage them and the philosophy behind it. You probably should share this every year, since your employees are seasonal. But back to my point, let them know up front the value you place on clear, precise and honest communication. Make sure the know that your expectation is that they communicate that way when it comes to any work-related issue, discussion, or passing on information with one-another. By doing this, you’ve essentially given yourself permission to address any communication-related issue that doesn’t promote clear, precise and honest communication.

In the future, you will also want to share some of your communication expectations during the interview phase so that potential employees can assess if that works for them. This also allows you the opportunity to weed out any potential employees that would struggle with your communication expectations.

All this “up-front” work really saves you headaches down the road and is worth the effort on your part. In summary: 1) keep doing what you are doing; 2) know when to draw the line; 3) remember, it is about communication, not about socio-economic status, etc.; 4) get to know your people as individuals, and 5) share your management philosophy and core values whenever possible. I hope this helps a bit.

Thanks for writing.

Using second-hand information to confront an employee is not the best way to address such an issue. Did the employee who reported the other employee to you first attempt to confront the employee him/herself before coming to you? If not, why not? Would that same employee be willing to bring the issue up to the other employee with you present in the room? And were either of these options discussed with the complaining employee who brought the issue to you? I mention both of these points because you want to make sure that you don’t create a “parent-child” dynamic with your staff where employees readily complain about each other to you instead of to each other.

Another point: The problem with using information that you’ve “heard” around the office is that you begin to create an environment of distrust between your own employees. Most employees being confronted with such information would likely want to know who was the one who passed that information on to you. My guess is that they would have their own version of the story that they’d want to tell you. They would also become more suspicious of their fellow employees knowing that someone had gone to you. Is that the kind of work environment that you want? I’m guess not. Hence, you are better off sharing your own personal apprehensions about their ability to know the fine line around guest fraternization and ask that they pay particular attention to maintaining a professional distance when it comes to guests. Make sure you both have the same understanding of the policy and the consequences. Explain again why that is so important to you and to the company. If you are still suspicious of this person after a few weeks, then do your own checking into the situation. Since you’ve already had the one-on-one about this issue, you now can gather information from multiple sources and use that information to build your case for whatever actions you might take.

Cheryl, I hope you can see the potential problem with using second-hand information with the initial confrontation with this employee. As you can see, there is a difference between an employee complaining to you about another employee and you seeking out information from multiple souces in order to address an issue that you have already discussed with a particular employee. I hope I’ve given you some things to think about. I’d be happy to hear more from you on this situation.

You said Brenda doesn’t appear committed to work anymore and mention a couple of ways she inappropriately occupies her time recently at work. It sounds like this is a change from Brenda’s past work behaviors, performance and level of productivity. After all, she has worked with you for five years. Are you ready to loose the knowledge and experience Brenda brings to the job? Take time to evaluate your options. Have you explored what may be contributing to the problem and whether the present situation can be turned around? You mention your real estate listings are down. Have you considered how the change in volume impacts Brenda’s job responsibilities and work priorities? Is Brenda getting through her day-to-day work and then looking for ways to occupy her time or, are personal priorities resulting in her neglecting her work? Try discussing your observations and expectations with Brenda. Consider jointly brainstorming ways she could contribute to helping build up the real estate listing inventory. Be sure Brenda is aware of your concerns regarding her work habits and identify a performance plan to support immediate and sustained changes. Remind Brenda of your company’s policies regarding use of the business computer, personal cell phones and electronic devices while at work. Let Brenda know what she can expect from you as well. In a changing work environment it is especially important to communicate with and keep employees informed of current and anticipated future business developments so focus remains on achieving business objectives.

If, after considering your options and making a thoughtful and informed business decision, you believe termination is necessary in the end, write to me again.

Hopefully you’ve put the same question to your human resources manager as well. If you haven’t done that, then that is what you need to do. It is not my place to circumvent a process that most likely is already in place within your company. Of course I’m speaking about the employee disciplinary process.

All supervisors need to be clear on what they can and cannot do with regards to disciplinary procedures. This is especially important to know before taking any action. But the responsibility doesn’t stop there. Employees should not be left in the dark either on the consequences for inappropriate or disruptive behavior. And I’m talking about more than simply passing out employee handbooks to all employees. More needs to be done.

I’m a firm believer that no employee should ever be surprised by any kind of disciplinary action or performance review for that matter. Should that ever be the case, I can usually predict that there are some communication issues, or lack there of, between the supervisor and his or her employees that are contributing to whatever the problematic situation is. In those cases, the supervisor/manager needs to shoulder some of the blame. But I haven’t answered your question yet, have I?

I think that you were okay to send your employees home, but probably overstepped your boundaries by limiting the consequences to being fired should their behavior persist. Had you said that there would be further disciplinary action taken, up to and including termination, you would have been better off. In these types of disciplinary situations, try not to define a specific outcome, but instead a range of outcomes. When you are too specific, you essentially lock yourself into an action that may or may not be appropriate. Plus, since your comment may not have been sanctioned by your organization, the last thing you want to do is narrow down what the consequences will be.

So here is my long-awaited answer to your question. I suggest you get together with your human resources manager and your immediate supervisor and discuss the situation, what you’ve done thus far and what you think needs to happen. Then come up with an agreed-upon plan that you know they will both support. This is a critical first step.

Then, meet with the two employees, either separately or together, and share the plan from your previous meeting. Help them understand the reasons behind the performance expectations and how you will support them in achieving those expectations. Once the expectations are completely understood, ask for a commitment from each of them to move forward. Help them understand that they have control over the consequences of their behavior and that you’d much prefer to shower them with praise than to pull them through this process again.

Hope this helped.

The fact that your employee now has a child may or may not be contributing to her recent job performance decline. I would not make that assumption given that there are a multitude of factors that could impact one’s motivation level and job performance. You are better off just sticking to the performance measures that are not being met.

Meet with this employee in a place where you can have a private and uninterrupted conversation (preferable over a cup of coffee somewhere away from the office, if possible).

Make the conversation upbeat by acknowledging her for the work she has done and continues to do for the company. Be specific and use examples if possible—it just makes for better feedback.

Once you’ve done that, tell her that you’ve noticed a recent drop in her performance levels. Ask if everything is okay. See if there is anything she needs from you that could help support her in getting her performance back on track. Such an approach demonstrates a compassion for the individual while reinforcing the need to maintain a particular performance standard. It also provides you with feedback that may help in determining how best to coach this employee.

When you’ve come to an agreed upon strategy for moving forward, thank the employee again for meeting with you and set a time to check-in with each other before leaving.