In the absence of a Slough House
You may have come across a manager who is desperate to get rid of a member of their team but there is no legitimate reason for doing so. You can’t move them to another team because their reputation is such no one will have them. You can’t reorganise a whole department just to make them redundant. The answer in one organisation is to transfer them to a small off site team of general misfits, odd balls and malcontents run by a disgraced senior manager. And forget about them.
Wouldn’t life be so much easier if such a facility were available to HR. However this is Slough House a fictional resource run by MI5 for spies who the agency doesn’t want and has no use for (officially) but can’t dismiss. ( Slow Horses Apple t.v.)
Maybe you have come across this situation where the manager is desperate to get rid of someone on their team. The manager complains they are ,” difficult “ , lazy, have a poor attitude to work, cynical, a negative influence. The rest of the team don’t like them. They rub everyone up the wrong way and seem to enjoy it. However they are capable and competent when they put their mind to it. They may be lazy but their attendance record and punctuality is faultless. There are no grounds for disciplinary action let alone dismissal. They have been in the same post for years much to the frustration of this and their previous managers. They don’t want more “interesting work” . They have made it clear they have no intention of leaving, would not agree to a redeployment even if another manager would have them and they have no desire to be seconded or sent on a full time management course. They even managed to dodge the bullet in the last reorganisation.
Dealing with difficult individuals is part of the managers role but they looked to HR to find a solution. The solution they want is to get rid of the individual but the fact that some one is unpopular with the rest of the team and is difficult to manage is not grounds for dismissal. The advice usually consists of keeping detailed records so any criticisms can be specific not general. Try giving them more responsibility and more interesting tasks to see if that re motivates them to use the experience and skill they have in a positive way. See if they would be interested in a secondment outside the organisation which might give them a new perspective and a desire to do something different. I have know such individuals be sent on a full time one year MBA in the hope they won’t come back or at least give there manager a break. And some organisations would simply tell the individual they were no longer a good fit and risk an unfair dismissal complaint knowing legal would support a financial package to avoid going to a hearing.
In most cases the manager comes to accept there is no quick or easy solution. They may express their frustration to HR but what they mustn’t do is open themselves up to a grievance complaint from the individual. I have experienced of when a manager’s frustration gets the better of them and they say something inappropriate to the individual or to the team about the individual. The result being HR up hold the grievance and managing the individual becomes that much harder.
Sometimes there are no satisfactory or happy endings.
Blair Mcpherson former Director author and blogger www.blairmcpherson.co.uk
