A key employee from my team made a significant error which had company-wide impact. She identified it early, owned up to it and without any fuss we put together a plan to rectify the error. All fine. No-one so much as raised an eyebrow because errors happen and this one was easily fixed.
That is until it all got too much for her and instead of working steadily to correct this error she decided the best solution would be to run away from it.
She started by asking for, and then demanding, four weeks annual leave RIGHT NOW. I turned this down on the basis that the error needed to be fixed and we are in the middle of pay review. She could, however, have annual leave starting 1 April.
So she takes sick leave. Her doctor has given her all of this week off to be reviewed on Monday. She now tells me that her doctor thinks she needs another three weeks off. And so that she doesn't have to pay for any of this she's put in a workers compensation claim.
I can neither confirm or deny the rumour that I am extremely disappointed in the very gullible doctor.
I can count. She wanted four weeks leave. Now she wants four weeks sick leave, paid for by the company. Apparently the company has caused her stress. Apparently the error she made has nothing to do with it.
I'm being deliberately obtuse about the nature of the error but I will say that it was a calculation error and the fix for such an error is squarely within the expected skills of this employee's role. I understand the feeling of wanting to run from a mistake but actually doing so is a step too far.
In the meantime the rest of my team and I have been beavering away to fix this error, in addition to our normal tasks. It hasn't been easy for sure but do you know what - we've managed to turn a negative into a positive and if only my 'sick' employee had stuck with it she'd be sharing in the glow the whole team has post-fix.
Meanwhile I've turned to crochet-as-therapy to try to stave off the extreme feelings of disappointment I have in those who cannot accept responsibility for themselves and and need to look for someone or something to blame. No-one cared about the error but we all care that she dumped us with the error and ran.
I can count. She wanted four weeks leave. Now she wants four weeks sick leave, paid for by the company. Apparently the company has caused her stress. Apparently the error she made has nothing to do with it.
I'm being deliberately obtuse about the nature of the error but I will say that it was a calculation error and the fix for such an error is squarely within the expected skills of this employee's role. I understand the feeling of wanting to run from a mistake but actually doing so is a step too far.
In the meantime the rest of my team and I have been beavering away to fix this error, in addition to our normal tasks. It hasn't been easy for sure but do you know what - we've managed to turn a negative into a positive and if only my 'sick' employee had stuck with it she'd be sharing in the glow the whole team has post-fix.
Meanwhile I've turned to crochet-as-therapy to try to stave off the extreme feelings of disappointment I have in those who cannot accept responsibility for themselves and and need to look for someone or something to blame. No-one cared about the error but we all care that she dumped us with the error and ran.
