AboutEd Parr Expertise How to organize employees, how to stop infighting, how to handle problem employees, more. I have 25+ yrs. of experience managing within a variety of industries and labor environments. I have managed from 50 to 1,000 staff on projects with P&L responsibility ranging from $100K to $30MIL. I currently serve as the Managing Director of a Software Development Technology Ctr. for a
professional services consulting firm. I enjoy helping people, especially supervisors and managers, evolve in their careers.
Experience Over 15 years of senior management experience including: systems development, technical help desks, customer service, back-office operations, branch administration and regulatory compliance. Responsibilities have been as large as 1,000 professionals delivering projects with P&L as high as $30 million and assets totaling more than $10 billion. Customer interaction has ranged from client CEOs to customer service reps.
Greatest accomplishment: Helping employees become the best they can be.
Expert: Ed Parr Date: 6/4/2008 Subject: cheating co worker
Question There are three of us in the department where I work. I've been here over 30 years, A has been here 15 and B has been here 7 years. A has a habit of cheating on his time card. He doesn't punch out when leaving the building and has been gone several times up to 2 hours. We get a 30 minute lunch hour. The managers say they can't do anything because no one actually saw him leave and saw him come back. We just know how long he was gone. This is fraud and he should be disciplined, but nothing ever happens. This creates friction between us, since he denies wrong doing and yet continues to do it. He also often claims he didn't get a lunch break when he actually does, and gets paid the extra half hour for that as well.
Answer Dear Linda,
Thank you for your question. I am going to give you the same answer I gave to my darling wife this week, and I hope it gives you the relief it gave her.
I understand that this is an unjust situation. I agree with you that it is unethical and unfair for one employee to get more benefits from an employer than another employee. But here's the bottomline. You are NOT this employee's manager. Consequently, you do not have responsibility for watching over him/her and ensuring he/she does the right thing. The only situation that requires you to speak up about this behavior is IF your work is adversely impacted by this employee’s problem behavior. If your work is unaffected by this employee’s compliance with the rules, then you have no responsibility for it.
Now, if your work is not getting done because this employee is not doing something for you that is necessary, then you must bring it to his/her attention. If he ignores your requests to do what he needs to do to help you, then you must document in writing his behaviors that are adversely impacting your work. You must be specific as to time and place and the exact problem behavior. You must submit this document to your manager.
It is your manager's job to oversee this employee's behavior on the job. If he/she chooses to ignore it, then that is his/her prerogative as the manager. I don't agree that this behavior should be ignored, and you don't either. But if you manager makes that decision, then you must live with it.
Okay, here's the relief part. When you stop focusing on others in the workplace, you will be able to focus better on your work. This should make you more efficient and happier because you no longer are taking responsibility for others' behaviors. You are expending emotional and physical energy only for your work and your future. This should give you some significant relief knowing that you no longer have to be the manager and not be paid for it.
Again, if your work is being negatively affected, you must confront the employee first. If he/she refuses to change, then document it for your manager's decision.
Linda, I hope this response helps you resolve this challenge. Of course, feel free to email me follow-up questions. Please do rate me on AllExperts and give me your feedback if this response helped you. Your positive feedback helps sell my service to others who just read the first few lines of my questioners’ comments. (Translation: Please say nice things about me because this is all that visitors read on this site :-). Also, your candid feedback will help me advise others more effectively.
