This is an unusual situation. The group I work with on a daily basis is being asked to meet with a mediator because of an informal grievance from another co-worker.
I am a female age 54 with four years in my current position. The others in the group are four men, ages ranging from 52 to 58 with 25 to 35 years (each) in their positions; one is our supervisor. The complainant is a female age 31 with 6 years in her position.
We have asked for something in writing to determine what accusations will be discussed, but have only been told that this will be an informal meeting with a local counselor as a mediator.
We are dealing with a younger woman who fits the description in your article: "Time to Return to Workplace Accountability." She exhibits "victim mentality" because she is the type of worker who hurries through an assignment. We find numerous mistakes in her work, and she doesn't like getting her work back to correct.
She doesn't listen when you talk to her. Our supervisor will specifically tell her NOT to do something and two hours later, he will find that she did exactly what he told her not to do. She has had several vehicle accidents with company equipment and caused several thousands of dollars in repair costs. The more reckless she behaves on the job, the less respect she receives from our group and the less we want to help her, or work with her. It is a sad situation. Other employees in other shops have said they do not like to work with her on projects and others have said they "will not" work with her.
I have tried very hard to be tactful and to redirect her to our supervisor and let him handle her assignments. Lately, I have given her assignments to our supervisor to show him the quality of her work and asked him to return it to her for corrections. I think he should know the quality work she is producing.
"Spoiled brat" was a confirming phrase in your article and I appreciated hearing it from someone with a professional opinion.
The men in our group have more work-related contact with the complainant than I have, and I can assure you there is no sexual harassment to be considered. She is doing what is typically a "man's job" and has been given MORE than adequate training and consideration to her career goals. Silver spoon would be a close fit to her situation.
Sounds like I am resentful, but, truthfully I am not. When I applied for my job four years ago, I was asked if I had any career goals and I answered that I really didn't. I was moving to a new position with better pay and benefits and that was satisfactory for my personal advancement. I'm not a ladder climber and definitely not competing with the young lady.
I have been researching some helpful HR documents and bad apple articles for encouragement. I hope the meeting will not turn sour and agreements can be made. I believe the generation gap is our worst enemy with older men with a vast amount of work experience and a younger woman who does not think and jeopardizes the work of the entire group. After six years of trying to teach her the job they have given up and I don't blame them.
Our meeting is less than one week away and I hope you will be able to use this scenario to help others. Thank you for considering the details. I would appreciate your thoughts and advice if you can reply.
Answer:
If the mediator is skilled, he or she will be able to get to the bottom of the situation. From your standpoint, it appears the employee hasn’t learned the job and/or is careless and irresponsible. From the employee’s perspective, she (possibly) feels harassed.
Let’s assume you are right about her poor performance and sloppy work. The missing piece is the employee’s manager. Why is she still there if her quality is so poor and no one wants to work with her? She should have been on a performance plan years ago.
If this is a case of her boss being overly cautious about confronting her because she is younger and female, than he has contributed to the resentment the team feels for her. Instead of coddling her by mediating a “team agreement” to accept her, he would be wiser to take steps to give her clear standards and hold her to them—regardless of how old she is.
Joan Lloyd is an executive coach, management consultant, facilitator and professional trainer/speaker. Email your question to Joan at info@joanlloyd.com. Joan Lloyd & Associates, (800) 348-1944, Visit www.JoanLloyd.com © Joan Lloyd & Associates, Inc.
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