Work Ethic - What is wrong with people? (work from home, wage, interest)
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Plus all of his questions to me have to do with vacations, additional time off, etc., I feel like telling him, right now I would just concentrate on getting to work on time, every day.
He is young, so hopefully he will learn, otherwise he's going to have a very hard time getting and keeping a job.
I have had a number of employees like this over the years. People like this always complain that the workplace does not take their needs into consideration.
This complaint is somewhat true. A business has established hours of operation and policies for sick leave and vacation. If an employee cannot make their life work within these restrictions, then I am not interested in their personal needs, and they generally have three options:
A) make their needs fit into established policy
B) look for a new job
C) hang around until I fire you.
These problem employees find this attitude shocking. After being fired a few times I hope that they learn.
#1 - Yes, be on time, and KNOW where you are going. That's not that hard. It's especially not that hard the 2nd day or 3rd day. Really struggling with the getting lost more than once part...BUT>>>>
#2 - Is there something else happening that the new guy didn't mention in the onboarding process? If yes, then that's still on him. He should have worked that out with the manager before he started. Maybe he has a sick child at home, but doesn't want to tell someone. That's the wrong approach. Maybe he needed to drop the kids at school. Again, if that is known and agreed to by the HM, then totally fine.
#3 - Who is saying that he is tardy by 60-90minutes? Is it the manager, or other employees that just get there sooner?
If the manager isn't getting from this newbie what he thought he was getting, then he probably* needs to go. The * is only because once in a while someone is brought in for reasons that won't make sense to everyone (possibly even their manager), perhaps this guy has a unique skill that the company wants to exploit for a future project so they aren't worried about what he does.
I've seen odder things happen and been bitter in that it looked like they were a giant slacker - when in fact they were doing exactly what someone higher up really wanted. We just couldn't see it at the time. Heck, I saw one guy do basically nothing for quite a while. Turns out, the company wasn't really in need of his skills per se, but wanted to keep him from a competitor. So, he got paid to come in and "consult" the rest of us when it suited him (couple days a week).
And I will add that if the new guy is working under a "different deal" than everyone else, that simply needs to be explained to his team. Not the exact deal, but a quick, "he's not working our standard hours per management."
Also, maybe he's really only been 30 minutes late based on the terms he hired in under. But, if the rest of the team doesn't know he's "special" then they will just get mad.
I actually did this myself in several jobs. I'm not a morning person by nature (having kids fixes that btw), so it was always hard to arrive by 7:00, so I'd be a couple minutes late pretty regularly. Eventually, I just got with my boss and I come in a little later. For one job, there was a lady that wanted to come in at 5:30 and leave by 3:00pm. We just worked out some duties. She took care of the stuff in the early AM, and I'd come in and work from 10-6:30pm (or later).
Another job, most people started at 7:30, I started at 8:00. Boss just told everyone that's the plan and it worked just fine. It also worked better for my main client.
Anyway, I just find it hard to believe someone is THAT inept for this type of job. I want to to believe there is more to the story. If not - whoever hired the guy seriously needs to look at their process and judgement. It's on them as much as it's on the newbie.
Sorry, just have to rant. So... A new employee started his first day at work a few days ago. Day 1, he is an hour late. I overhear a phone call... He's lost. My manager proceeds to try and figure out where he might be and help with directions... No worries, it happens.
Day 2... An hour and a half late... I hear a phone call and guess what, he's lost. Manager is less amused this time around.
Day 3... I'm sitting here at my desk, an hour late again and no sign of the guy... Waiting to hear the phone ring.
Yeah, I know that I should just mind my own business; however, this is just sad and embarrassing for a brand new employee to do this. I'm seriously perplexed. Am I alone in that I drive to the work site BEFORE I start work for the first time to know where I'm suppose to be? What ever happened to showing up early to ensure you have some time to work things out in case you do get lost? Plus, it's 2015. Where's the GPS?
I'll end my rant. Bad work ethic and lack of professionalism really just bothers me. I don't get it. Oh, and this isn't a minimum wage role with a teenager. This is a late 40-something guy likely hired making lower 6-figures for an IT engineering role. *facepalm*
Anyone else witness something like this in a professional role?
Facepalm HR. Obviously the guy shouldn't have been hired.
For years I used to show up late for work 1 hour to 90 minutes tardy. Thing is, I'm 3X more productive than my colleagues so my lateness was tolerated. When i got a manager that enforced employees being on time I slowed down my production to LESS than my colleagues. You got to look at the whole picture.
Agreed! My job didn't require relieving anyone or dealing with customers and I was super productive...and I also always made the time up the same day.
That may be true, but I'm assuming your schedule was accepted or agreed upon. We're not talking flexibility in schedule, we are talking about day 1, 2, 3 of starting a brand new job.
I can say with 100% confidence this wasn't a "special agreement" as the hiring manager has been the one to receive the "Gosh I'm sorry, I am late but its because I got lost!" phone calls. :P
I have had a number of employees like this over the years. People like this always complain that the workplace does not take their needs into consideration.
This complaint is somewhat true. A business has established hours of operation and policies for sick leave and vacation. If an employee cannot make their life work within these restrictions, then I am not interested in their personal needs, and they generally have three options:
A) make their needs fit into established policy
B) look for a new job
C) hang around until I fire you.
These problem employees find this attitude shocking. After being fired a few times I hope that they learn.
Exactly. He knew about one of the issues prior to even interviewing for the job, how he thought he could make it all work, I don't know. He seems to have more nerve than smart. Less than 3 months and all he wanted to know about was vacations and extra days off. Had trouble following simple company policies, and he lied about why he was late a few times. Always came clean eventually, but even admitted to lying.
And if/when a potential employer calls for a reference, we use a 3rd party company, they will confirm dates worked, nothing else. Even if they are asked is the employee eligible to be rehired, they do not give an answer.
As I said he is quite young (although I had a f/t job at his age and managed to work without any of this drama, so not sure it's age related, as much as maturity related.
We might have taken some of his needs into consideration, but you have to prove yourself first! We have an employee here or there who might need some extra time off, but they have proven themselves. Hell, I had 2 instances where I needed a day or two off (once for the stomach flu and the other for a dislocated shoulder), my boss in both instances said to take the whole week off (each time), I didn't, but she knew if I was needing time off, it was for a legitimate reason.
Three letters: G P S. Seriously, most smart phones have a GPS app. This is not making a good impression on anyone!!
I don't really believe that the OPs coworker got lost. You can cover a lot of ground in an hour, and getting lost generally only delays you for 20 minutes or so.
Sure, there are exceptions, but unless the OP works in a place that is particularly hard to find, an hour is unreasonable.
#1 - Yes, be on time, and KNOW where you are going. That's not that hard. It's especially not that hard the 2nd day or 3rd day. Really struggling with the getting lost more than once part...BUT>>>>
#2 - Is there something else happening that the new guy didn't mention in the onboarding process? If yes, then that's still on him. He should have worked that out with the manager before he started. Maybe he has a sick child at home, but doesn't want to tell someone. That's the wrong approach. Maybe he needed to drop the kids at school. Again, if that is known and agreed to by the HM, then totally fine.
#3 - Who is saying that he is tardy by 60-90minutes? Is it the manager, or other employees that just get there sooner?
If the manager isn't getting from this newbie what he thought he was getting, then he probably* needs to go. The * is only because once in a while someone is brought in for reasons that won't make sense to everyone (possibly even their manager), perhaps this guy has a unique skill that the company wants to exploit for a future project so they aren't worried about what he does.
I've seen odder things happen and been bitter in that it looked like they were a giant slacker - when in fact they were doing exactly what someone higher up really wanted. We just couldn't see it at the time. Heck, I saw one guy do basically nothing for quite a while. Turns out, the company wasn't really in need of his skills per se, but wanted to keep him from a competitor. So, he got paid to come in and "consult" the rest of us when it suited him (couple days a week).
And I will add that if the new guy is working under a "different deal" than everyone else, that simply needs to be explained to his team. Not the exact deal, but a quick, "he's not working our standard hours per management."
Also, maybe he's really only been 30 minutes late based on the terms he hired in under. But, if the rest of the team doesn't know he's "special" then they will just get mad.
I actually did this myself in several jobs. I'm not a morning person by nature (having kids fixes that btw), so it was always hard to arrive by 7:00, so I'd be a couple minutes late pretty regularly. Eventually, I just got with my boss and I come in a little later. For one job, there was a lady that wanted to come in at 5:30 and leave by 3:00pm. We just worked out some duties. She took care of the stuff in the early AM, and I'd come in and work from 10-6:30pm (or later).
Another job, most people started at 7:30, I started at 8:00. Boss just told everyone that's the plan and it worked just fine. It also worked better for my main client.
Anyway, I just find it hard to believe someone is THAT inept for this type of job. I want to to believe there is more to the story. If not - whoever hired the guy seriously needs to look at their process and judgement. It's on them as much as it's on the newbie.
And maybe if his mother had been a man she would have been his father.
The OP said they new guy is getting lost on his way to work and is calling in, so this isn't about flex time.
Bottom line, you start a new job you need to be on time. You have to be a "problem free" employee in the beginning. Now if someone ran a red light and hit him, that is something out of his control.
Dropping kids off at school? You figure something out before accepting a new position.
Heck, if I was interviewing in an area I wasn't familiar with I would do what I called a "dry run", go a day or two before, find out where the parking structure was, how far was it from the building, etc.
I did that in in the 90s when I interviewed for a position at a major university(which I got), sure they sent a letter with a map, but I wasn't familiar with the campus. I went the day before and I was glad I did, it took off the stress of getting lost or a missing the left hand turn(that wasn't well marked) and going on a whirlwind tour of the campus when I needed to be in a certain place.
The parking structure I was told to park in wasn't as close as it looked on the map either.
I was very glad I did that, it takes some of the stress off an already stressful situation.
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