I have a team member that will leave at 5:00 pm every day, even when situations call for more work to be done afterwards. He works very hard when he's there, never comes in late, and he's a salaried employee. He is valuable to the project, but he also causes heartache when he refuses to stay a little late for a task that needs to be addressed right then. I've been asked by several members of the team to replace him. He knows his skills are vital to the project, and he uses it against the team and the company. His skills won't easily be replaced if I let him go, but he does just as much damage and he does good at times. I've tried talking to him, but he refuses to listen. Is there a good way to handle this situation? Saving Changes...
For me this person seems to be the expert at hand for a dedicated skillset missing elsewhere within your team structure. Furthermore, I understand that the overall working attitude is mostly disliked by the other team members.
This seems to be the perfect match for outsourcing the task.
Propose to the person that there is no need to be a team player with the others, if this is desired by you and/or the person.
Or try to communicate that for you it is ok if the person stays outside the circle of actively involved team members, but the perosn needs to work on the relationship with the other team members. E.g. giving colleagues the understanding why the person needs to leave at a regular schedule and why it is important to do this steadily.
Bottom line: the person is not the Alpha Person for an emergency (hopefully you have other team members for this) but the person seems to be a dedicated expert, willing to support colleagues in the team based on the skillset. Saving Changes...
Of course NO . Why he has to work after 5 , if he come on time like you mention ????
If you already now that he leave at 5 , why you don´t planning ahead ??
Talk with that person and make some flexible schedule . Talk, talk talk, talk , there seems to be a gap in communication between you..
BR Saving Changes...
Drake SettsuProject Manager / BloggerHi, United States
This team member needs to be open an tell you why he will not be available after 5pm.
If it is for family reasons then that explains a lot. Ask if it is only temporary or a permanent schedule. Saving Changes...
SANTIAGO SANCHEZArchitect - PM Consultant - BIM Director Bogota, Colombia
Hi Bruce,
Communication is the KEY.
Tthink about communication inside of the company and inside the project team members too. Maybe there is a gap and you have to find it out. why don’t planned the “extra” works ahead and set up each member to that, knowing in advance their strengths, abilitéis and schedule constrains?
Seems to me that either you as the PM don’t have much power in this structure or your influence is weak.
From the very start, were your expectations clearly communicated to your team? What role do you play and who does your team report to?
If you carry less power and the team reports to someone else for final say in things, then you need to somehow control what’s yours and improve your power of influence to lead. Sounds like this situation has unraveled from one individual and now the morale is nearly gone and there’s a negative atmosphere amongst the team. By them even coming to you continuously to drop this guy, says a lot about how you’ve managed them and influenced them as a whole. Right now they probably don’t respect your leadership much behind closed doors.
If in your shoes no matter what my exact power role would be, what’s in my control is mine and I need to own that. You need to step back and look at your very approach from the beginning in how you communicated expectations along with what boundaries you may or may not have set. How was your influence then? Was it high? How was the morale of the team in the start of the project? Has the demands of the project slowly deteriorated the environment and team attitudes? How have you handled any stress in front of the team? Have you celebrated any small success with words of encouragement or shown appreciation? Have you clarified this particular team members reasons for leaving at 5 on the dot? Has he communicated that to you at all and how did that initial conversation end?
Although you are the PM, whether you have full power or less within the organizational structure your job is to lead and influence above all. Delegating and control comes with the role, but in order to be effective you must first lead. The environment in which you work and the attitudes in that environment can heavily effect how the projects flow.
I would do some self reflection, gain a clear understanding about your personal approach and the above questions, set aside time with this man and revisit that conversation. Get to the root of the why and take it from there. If this member is a valuable asset, I would not let him go so easily as he can be a major part to his roles success. This may take some compromise and thinking outside of the box to fill in the gap of his absence during pressing times. Who can step in part time and is that a viable option for you? Can his work be replicated at the degree he’s delivering by another body who is willing to stay longer? Would you cut your nose to despite your face if he’s replaced and have the project suffer? Saving Changes...
Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten AssociatesNew Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Replacing him might not be the best approach given what you said so I would:
1- Approach the emplooyee and talk to him in person. 2- As a PM, I would want to know why he refuses to stay late and what could motivate him to stay late when need be.
Your soft skills and influence plays a big factor in resolving this situation. Saving Changes...
Dinah YoungProject Manager / Software Asset Manager| Prince William CountySpringfield, Va, United States
I agree with Sergio, Andrew and Sante. He has his reason's for keeping a tight schedule. He may have communicated this when first hired. Is it in his legal job description that he will be required to work overtime? If not, then there is not much to be done. It is truthfully none of your business what his reasons are. It is not your job to validate his reasons for working specific hours. If it is causing controversy in the team then it is your job to address the controversy. Don't just address is with him, address it with everyone. Look at different ways to handle the situation. Say issues always seem to come up a 5 pm. Can you adjust someone else's schedule so that they come in a half an hour later and stay until 5:30? Are others working later because they are not being as efficient throughout the day? Is he accomplishing his work? Is the reason work needs to be done in the evening because he did not finish or because someone else did not finish in time for him to complete his tasks? Are the deadlines realistic? Does that one task need to be done tonight or is first thing tomorrow actually OK? This may not be "his" problem, but the entire team's problem. Saving Changes...
"I've tried talking to him, but he refuses to listen"
Did you talk with him, or at him?
Do you have an HR department? If you do, talk to HR to see if they think there is a performance problem. If there is, they can give you advice for how to act that will reduce the likelihood that you will get yourself, and possibly your company, in legal trouble.
At least where I have worked in the US, being salaried does not mean that the company owns you. I've also heard of companies getting sued for making salaried employees work overtime without overtime pay. For me, it has meant that if I work long hours across one or more days, I can generally take some comp time without it counting against PTO. Saving Changes...
John DuncanRetired| RetiredLebanon, Tn, United States
Bruce, I see you've gotten a lot of input here already... It's difficult to comment without knowing more about the situation. My feeling on this echoes a lot of what you already heard.
Is the team getting attention for firefighting, instead of preventing fires?
Is this a regular need? If so, should there be an on-call rotation, or a shifted schedule to address these "after hours" needs?
Does it really have to be resolved right then? Or can it truly wait until tomorrow?
If this is a "planned" need, then some pre-planning for resource coverage could be done. Volunteers, rotations, etc.
If this is not a planned need, then why is it happening, and is there a way to minimize it?
I think you get the idea. :-)
What's that old saying --- Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. Perhaps this is how the person feels...
Or it could be like an old situation I was in a few years back. I put in over 200 hours of overtime over a 2-3 month period, and a few weeks later I was out for a day while my air conditioner at home was being repaired. I was told to take a vacation day to cover that. Guess how I felt about putting in any overtime after that! Saving Changes...
Honestly I don't like this attitude. If an employee does his job well in the normal working works you can't force him to work overtime. He is not a slave and probably it may be illegal to force someone to work overtime. Is this how some project manager really deliver projects on time and on budget by making the life of the team members miserable?
Also I don't this it is appropriate for the PM to be allowed to ask employees to work overtime this is the responsibility of line managers and higher managers but even they can't break the law.
I have worked overtime for many times but nobody forced me to do this, I did it either because I really liked the work on the project or I was sympathetic with other colleagues that stayed longer.
If an employee is willing to work long hours is a matter of luck for the employer. Usually people that really enjoy their work their colleagues and the working environment would work overtimes and would do it on their own will. Apart from that forcing employees to work overtime under threat is inhumane and illegal. Saving Changes...
Community Champion
