Reply With QuoteAt this stage, you don't have grounds for a dismissal. Were the calls documented in any way?
We run a business and employ 17 staff. We have had a few problems in the last week or two with certain members (one of which handed in their notice on Friday) of staff. We decided to run a mystery shopper exercise whilst away from the business for the day and discovered that our General Assistant was deflecting customer calls and telling them they could not book with us directly but should go to our website or those of our booking agents.
In my mind this is pure laziness at best but more disconcertingly it is costing us money. We have noticed a decline in bookings since two members of staff developed a relationship and we do believe that rather than doing their work they are messing about with each other and our business is possibly suffering as a result. We work in hospitality by the way.
So my question is what can I do about it? Do I have grounds to dismiss? Would a mystery shopper call (we actually made two separate enquiries and all results were the same) count as entrapment? The member in question has been with us for four years and to now has a generally good track record.
Cheers
At this stage, you don't have grounds for a dismissal. Were the calls documented in any way?
Invest in some good legal advice. It will be money well spent and much cheaper in the long run.
This.Originally Posted by Josh B
You will need to accumulate comprehensive evidence before taking action, but taking some proper advice beforehand will make sure you stay within the rules for your own protection.
We use an HR company who have proved useful before now so we will run it by them. I just wanted to see what the opinion on here was and the by product of course was venting my spleen. We can just hope that now one half has gone the other will!
Have you thought about discussing the situation with them? Obviously their behaviour is not acceptable, and if it were me I would be keen to find out why they felt it was.
Perhaps it would be simpler to tell them what you know and suggest they would benefit from retraining.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Easy! Join the FSB or Federation of Small Business. With 17 staff members It will cost you about £300pa and amongst other benefits you get free legal advice with insurance. As long as you follow their advice they will cover legal bills if you lose an employment tribunal. And it covers you personally not just your business.
A no brainer for anyone who owns a small business. Btw other than being a member I have no affiliation with FSB.
www.fsb.co.uk
As Eddie says, a good carpeting would be the first step, based on your mystery shopper exercise. It also provides you with an opportunity to issue a first official warning.
This, give them chance to correct their ways and run another mystery shopper exercise in 6 weeks / 3 months. If they're still not performing then look to take things further.
What about a hidden camera?
That way, if they are getting it on whilst they're supposed to be working, you can post the footage on here.
Thanks everyone. We are members of the FSB already and they are another avenue we will explore. As I said we will take advice proper today but I wondered where to go with it in the first instance. We have cameras installed and access to them via mobile and other stuff so we can see when nothing much is being done. My first instinct with this is to follow Eddie's idea and tell her what she did, that we know she did it and suggest retraining (preferably in another field!!!)
Sack em, if you pay more peanuts than my boss, i'll work for you.
It's a bit of a commute for you!
Absolutely this. You performed the mystery caller exercise for a reason, it worked, you discovered some deficiencies in your operation. Tell the person concerned where they were going wrong, what they need to do to improve and give them the chance to do so. Document everything in a written review after a formal interview, give them a period of time to improve and if they don't, move them on, downgrade them or start thinking about dismissal, you will have evidence of underperformance by then.
+1! If you sack them and it went to a Tribunal you would need to be able to show that they knew they had done wrong and that you had given them the oppertunity to improve.
I'd be closer to home
One thing you can certainly do, if you havnt already, is make it absolutely clear in writing what you expect of your staff, what their duties are and how they are to deal with specific queries relating to your business.
Many businesses get caught out nowadays at Tribunerals because they havnt set out proper job and employee descriptions of what they expect and what is considered acceptable and unnaceptable. The MD says "its obvious" and the staff members representative says "you didnt show them and tell them what you expected them to do"
Officially, there is no longer such a thing as "common sense" - you have to make it clear to employees when engaging them exactly what you expect them to do and not do.
It might serve as the warning shot across the bows and a wake up call if you review all staff contracts and get them to sign acknowledgement of a clearly detailed staff handbook which spells out the companies requirements and expected standards of practice for employees.
Like all ready confirmed elsewhere here we to out source an HR company, Citation.
I had the same last week with one of our office staff. Call into them, procedure confirmed, informally performance review Friday and today his like a new bloke and back to his old self. Some times a kick up the arse is all they need.
Do you carry out appraisals?? I do every six months and it dentures issues quick or if there is a blimp you have a relative point to revert back to.
Good Luck
Pitch
I always employ staff on an initial six month and then annual contract, if there are problems the contract is not renewed and I don't have any legal issues.
Performance management... the right way to go on this situations...
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