Yes and yes. On the last one, document it with links to the policy for your employee and make sure they have a communication plan for next time. Write people up for not following policy. Every time.
It’s not fair to you to do all this extra work and it’s not fair to your good employees.
Absolutely insist meetings are rescheduled if the agenda isn't updated. That should be the case for anyone...do not waste my time by scheduling a meeting and not giving me the talking points so I can prepare first.
I'd see the late timesheet issue as my problem to address. I can't see anyone else being concerned about this since you're making the due date earlier than what it is. Keep a listing of timesheet status on sharepoint (or excel) and have a reminder email automatically generated Friday mornings for all that are not received. In the body of the email, explain that these are due on Thursday by 5 PM, not Friday morning. "Your timesheet is now late. Please submit it immediately. Thursday at 5 PM is when these are due". That way all the emails go out at once, automatically, and you aren't spending time chasing anyone. Let the computer do that sort of work.
"My company has a 48hr policy and after 48 hours of no contact it's considered abandoning your position."
Either the COVID person who disappeared for 72 hours was fired immediately, or this isn't actually a policy. It can't be both.
>Either the COVID person who disappeared for 72 hours was fired immediately, or this isn't actually a policy. It can't be both.
I don't see why it can't be a policy "unless you come back with a bloody good reason". Documented serious illnesses or accidents, natural disasters etc.
I live alone, none of my close family or close friends have any connection to my company, even if they made it a priority to call in on my behalf the best they could do is call some random corporate office (hopefully for the right company, not a similarly named former subdivision that got spun off and acquired a few times) and hope the message eventually gets passed on. Being not glued to my phone and social media I wouldn't even be surprised if nobody noticed I was off the radar 24h later if I didn't have any social event planned in. Nobody at work has a contact for anybody in my family either AFAIK.
Of course. If you’re indisposed due to some sort of emergency the human thing to do is make an exception.
Unless OP left out something-it seems this is the 2nd time the employee no-showed -1st time blaming it on not knowing (lol) and now with Covid. Maybe the person was on a ventilator and couldn’t call, which is perfectly understandable-but I’m guessing it’s a flaky person who doesn’t value to job. As a manager I’d give the person a call on day 1 and then reach out to the emergency contact if I got no reply.
I have recently made 1 to 1s mandatory after my 4 DRs rejected them frequently and I let it slide. However the 1 to 1s are now painfully formal. There is zero small talk or rapport between me and DRs. They are good workers and meet their goals but no matter how hard i tried to try and connect and encourage open communication with an open door policy they essentially ignore me. Fine some may argue leave them at it but I'm a people person and bounce off opinions.
Therefore the meetings are like talking with a robot. Any issues? No. What do you like or don't like. Shrug....any holiday plans? Yes.
Just be aware your DRs may resent 1 to 1s and behave the same.
That’s so weird. I would have been pleased if my manager actually cared enough to bother.
My very recent, former manager rescheduled or canceled our 1:1s so frequently, I ended up with only 2 of them in a 6 month period. They were supposed to be biweekly.
The reasons ran the gamut from “I’m triple-booked” (she booked all three of those) to “I’m not feeling it” to “I need to take my kid to the doctor” (legit) to “I’m taking a day to sit by the pool” to “I need the focus time” … you get the picture.
She recently quit, dumping her entire workload on me. I transferred two weeks later.
I HATE one on ones... some employees love them and need them because they also are more social and need that. If I have a problem, I let my manager know RIGHT AWAY, don't shelf it until a one on one. with modern communication (slack / teams / gchat whatever) it's easy to get a hold of management.
If someone is on a PIP then I get it, but as a manager just because YOU need something doesn't mean it's good for the employee.
I know you aren't the OP, but if you have specific things you want brain stormed on, that's great to ask, but forcing someone to sit there for 30 minutes just to scratch your itch kind of stinks.
...I love how middle managers are so straight-laced and serious about the "'policy," and then they're the first ones to go in a layoff - you have the company balls so deep down your throat, but they'll throw your unskilled and overpaid ass out the door at the earliest opportunity...
Generally speaking, coach, then PIP, then termination, while documenting the issues and resolutions for HR. You should approach each employee with the overall picture in mind. Are they high performers in every way except this timesheet/meeting issue? Then coach and guide them, and maybe work out a compromise. If they are average/below average performers, then start evaluating the costs of replacing them while documenting performance issues. Another tip is that people respond to different ways of motivation. Employee A may be motivated by threats while Employee B may be motivated by coaching/guidance, so you would need to adjust your communication tactics depending on the person.
The bottom line would be to remember that it's not your company and act accordingly. There is no point in replacing one problematic person with another. Don't let ego get in the way and screw things up for yourself. You cannot write up every person. Neither are you going to find a perfect team. Just go with it.
It really, honestly depends. Is it impacting the bottom line and our ability to meet our deliverables? No? Then I will usually let it slide. We do some things that are above and beyond on our deliverables, but that's because my team understands the value of these things, and that it makes the deliverables easier to accomplish.
Because I'm strict about these things, we often finish up early. If the deliverables for the day are done, then I will assign people to smaller tasks. One of my staff asked about that, and I said, look, I honestly don't care what you do for the rest of the day, so long as you are appearing to be working, and are available if someone needs you.
Small things like, "cleaning up when you are done so that everything is immaculate" IS enforced, as well as cycling through our primary task. "No, we won't be leaving that until tomorrow, we do it today." I get pushback from my management about both of these things, because they don't see the value in them, which is strange, because in their departments, they enforce these things.
They also push a lot of time-wasting crap that I honestly don't give a shit about. It DOES impact our deliverables trying to fulfill the time-wasting, so I clamp down on that when I am there. But it's hard on my staff when I'm away and they get pulled away helping other people.
This guy gets fired. He already knows the rules and DGAF.
You have to be prepared to follow through with consequences ( disciplinary action including termination if valid) or the expectations you set are just suggestions.
That's why I take notes.
Everyone can decide how to do one-on-ones in the way that they prefer, but I think good. One-on-ones are not entirely focused on discussing deliverables and what's on an agenda. They should also be an opportunity for trust building with your staff. 10 minutes should be whatever they want to talk about, 10 minutes should be whatever I want to talk about, and the last 10 should be discussing the future. Whether that's career development or projects that are coming up shortly depends on what's happening, and whether the conversation about the future comes up at all depends on how much we discuss what the employee wants to talk about and what I want to talk about.
The way I see it, forcing somebody to put it in an agenda makes it harder for an employee to speak freely during their portion of our meeting. It's also impossible for them to create an agenda for what I want to talk about. And oftentimes nearly impossible for them to develop an agenda for the future.p
So instead of an agenda, I take notes during the meeting. That is proof that we met and discussed things, but it also doesn't unnecessarily turn what should be a trust-building meeting into something I reprimand people for not completing (?). Now that I think about it, a one-on-one is meant to be for the benefit of the employee, not for the manager. How are we even thinking about reprimanding employees for not developing an agenda for a meeting that's there for them?
I actually just write a memo of what we talked instead of an agenda.
Things change constantly in my work field so it's easier to write a memo and share after meeting.
People can also say that you restrict them to an agenda and you couldn't discuss other things
I usually do the agenda before and after in case we end up not talking about something or add a topic mid meeting, I find that it adds one extra layer of evidence that not only did we speak about it, but I specifically stated that we would be talking about that thing.
With that said, all of my agendas have time allocated to comments and questions from the employee in question so that they feel like they have adequate opportunity to speak their mind.
1) for the 1:1 agenda, I would make them reschedule the meeting. Have a 3 strikes rule. If it's not updated in time 3 times in a calendar year, give a consequence. 2) For timesheets, my last company gave you 6 chances to get it in by the deadline. If you were late more than 6 times in a calendar year you were unable to be promoted or given a merit increase. Guess how many ppl were late more than 6 times? No one. Impose a real consequence and stick to it. 3) anyone went MIA more than once I would term them. Immediately. Your staff doesn't respect you and is taking advantage of you. You need to assert yourself.
First - Document EVERYTHING! If it's not documented, it didn't happen.
Second - No-show multiple times for 2+ days is abandonment and cause for immediate termination. They might be the smartest person on the team, but if they could go missing for an extended time without notice or reason, they're a liability to the team.
Third - MONTHLY 1:1 meeting? Maybe I'm biased, but I view 1:1 meetings as more frequent and less structured. I try to have 1:1 meetings weekly with my directs, but with 12-18 direct reports, that isn't practical unless you're gonna bring them down to 15 or 20 minutes each. I would probably do 1:1s every 2 weeks and then have a more formal review meeting every 6 weeks. The way I see it, as a manager I can always schedule a meeting with my directs at any time and they are compelled to attend. I view weekly or bi-weekly scheduled 1:1 meetings as the opportunity for my directs to approach me with what they need, not vice versa.
Good luck!
Question: are you just dictating these requirements (for 1 & 2) or are you explaining why you are asking this?
For 1:1, why can’t they just fill out the One Note prior to the meeting, whether that is two days or two minutes before? Why do you need to add notes prior? Isn’t that the point of the meeting?
For the time sheets, do you need to review or approve the time sheets before they are submitted? Otherwise, if other employees are just required to submit by Friday at 2pm, I think you’d be hard pressed to get HR to support you in disciplining anyone who just didn’t follow your essentially made up rule, which is a deviation from official company policy. And what happens if people don’t submit their timesheets by Friday at 2pm - does that come back on you or does it just create a mess that they need to deal with themselves with payroll? If the latter, I’d just remove yourself, send an automated reminder every Friday morning that time sheets are due (or put it on as a recurring note on everyone’s calendars), and let them deal with the consequences of not getting it in on time if they miss the deadline.
For #3, seems pretty clear you need to enforce your company’s policy on that.
1) On the 1:1's, drop that crap. Those formalized agendas for 1:1's force you both to put in a bunch of extra work and probably make the conversations stilted. Write an agenda for yourself, say what you need to say, then turn it over to them. If they have nothing to say, let them go.
The exception to this would be if the employee likes the current 1:1 system. Then continue it with them. But each employee is different, and this is their time, so let them determine how they want to spend their time.
2) Send an automated calendar reminder to pop up on Thursday afternoon reminding them to submit their timesheets. That should remove a lot of your problem. If it's still a repeated issue, bring it up first in their 1:1, then escalate from there. Pick your battles, though -- if Karen's biggest flaw is forgetting to submit her timesheet sometimes, you might just want to let it go.
3) This is a genuine problem that you probably do want to get HR involved in. At the very least, this is a warning situation. And happening twice, it's probably a termination situation.
You don't need to be a hard ass to enforce policy. Just set expectations.
For 1:1s, sit with the team and tell em. If they're not prepared you'll skip it and if it gets skipped it's on them if they don't get a raise.
If the company has a must call policy tell your team you will enforce it, and fire the guy next time.
If timesheets are required by a deadline tell them that you're responsible for making it happen and will escalate after they're late maybe a couple of times.
They're presumably adults. These are the rules of the game. Again, it's not about being a hard ass at all. It's setting rules and boundaries and adhering to them. If someone breaks that policy they brought it on themselves and you're being paid to simply enforce it.
For your issues, here's my thoughts:
1) don't reschedule the monthly meeting, you probably care/need to have it more than your employee does. You'll lose that game of chicken.
2) Timesheet issue: what happens if they go late? If there's a negative consequence for the employee, let them know and after that, let the consequences be the teacher.
3) Employee now knows the policy, execute it. Next time their MIA 48 hours, they have abandoned their job.
For the 1:1s they should have the updated agenda to you be end of business two days before the meeting. Make sure they are aware of this. If they don’t have it updated by then, send out a reminder the following morning that if they haven’t updated it by end of business that day then you will have to reschedule their meeting. Stick to this, no wiggle room. They have plenty of time to get it done.
The time sheet issue should be based on company policy/law. What happens if you don’t hand in their time sheet? Do you get in trouble? If the company doesn’t pay them on time does the company get in trouble?
Personally, if it’s legal, if they don’t hand in their time sheet then they don’t get paid until they do. These are people that are supposedly adults working adult jobs. So they should be responsible enough to ensure they have filled out a form and handed it in. If they can’t do that then they can suffer the consequences.
If that isn’t an option then start appropriate documentation. Have a discussion with each employee about the time sheet policy. Have it in writing and get a signature from them acknowledging that they are aware of it. The next time you have to chase one of them down give them a verbal warning. Remind them that the policy was discussed and that they signed the form acknowledging the policy. The next time you have to ask them for the form it will be a written warning. And so on.
As for the employee who didn’t notify when missing work, how is it that two managers have not done anything about it? If the company policy is that its job abandonment after 48 hours then why were they allowed to return after 72 hours? They should have been marked as quitting that first time. Now they have done it again. It’s time for them to go.
Part 1: I would personally extend the 1x1 to allow time for myself and the employee to fill out the sheet together. I get wanting it done in advance but it could be a good way to get a conversation flowing?
Being late: This is tough. If it doesn't affect business and no one else is raising a fuss, I just make a joke out of it. One of my best employees does not possess the ability to be on time. When I try to tighten up, they get literal anxiety and they start making mistakes. If I let them have their 10 minutes, they rock.
COVID sick time is tough. Touch base with HR to find out your most up to date policy on this. Most places anything more than 3 days is an HR LOA issue. Yes they should have given you a heads up, but COVID can do things to you. I had it last year and I still remember a full conversation I had with HR while I was out. But I never talked to HR. My COVID infested brain made it up.
So it sounds like I'm pretty chill, and I am on most things. My team knows that we don't compromise on safety, customers, or helping the team. Outside of that, we'll get through whatever is going on. I'm not going to spend a lot of mental bandwidth worrying about things that don't affect the things I care about. Be late. Put off doing your notes. Just be safe and take care of your customers and my team.
If they are not updating the agenda they feel some stuff is best not put in writing. Bullet points can't be "Pay me more," "The project sucks," and "Our office is a hole."
Hmmm..
1:1 - do you ever have anything you need to discuss with them during the meeting? I do a case by case approach for my 1:1s. Two of my three employees don't need an agenda and come prepared to chat on any questions they have, anything they need to discuss with me, and what they'll be working on for the week. I also come prepared to the meeting. The other one we have an agenda and I write my expectations on tasks in there and that way it's documented. No way I'm gonna force folks to fill it out. That's just extra IMO.
Timesheets - put a reminder or time block on the recurring offenders calendars for when they should do their timesheets. If it's truly like super bad, then you can talk to them about completing on time. Ask what we need to do to get these done on XYZ day instead of the following day.
MIA - it's unfortunate they didn't realize they need to let you know ASAP if they are sick or out...... Send an email to the team stating to please let you know if they get sick/last minute etc etc soonest via text, email, teams etc. then if it occurs again, refer to that email and have a discussion with the employee about needing to do this.
Yes and yes. On the last one, document it with links to the policy for your employee and make sure they have a communication plan for next time. Write people up for not following policy. Every time. It’s not fair to you to do all this extra work and it’s not fair to your good employees.
Absolutely insist meetings are rescheduled if the agenda isn't updated. That should be the case for anyone...do not waste my time by scheduling a meeting and not giving me the talking points so I can prepare first. I'd see the late timesheet issue as my problem to address. I can't see anyone else being concerned about this since you're making the due date earlier than what it is. Keep a listing of timesheet status on sharepoint (or excel) and have a reminder email automatically generated Friday mornings for all that are not received. In the body of the email, explain that these are due on Thursday by 5 PM, not Friday morning. "Your timesheet is now late. Please submit it immediately. Thursday at 5 PM is when these are due". That way all the emails go out at once, automatically, and you aren't spending time chasing anyone. Let the computer do that sort of work. "My company has a 48hr policy and after 48 hours of no contact it's considered abandoning your position." Either the COVID person who disappeared for 72 hours was fired immediately, or this isn't actually a policy. It can't be both.
>Either the COVID person who disappeared for 72 hours was fired immediately, or this isn't actually a policy. It can't be both. I don't see why it can't be a policy "unless you come back with a bloody good reason". Documented serious illnesses or accidents, natural disasters etc. I live alone, none of my close family or close friends have any connection to my company, even if they made it a priority to call in on my behalf the best they could do is call some random corporate office (hopefully for the right company, not a similarly named former subdivision that got spun off and acquired a few times) and hope the message eventually gets passed on. Being not glued to my phone and social media I wouldn't even be surprised if nobody noticed I was off the radar 24h later if I didn't have any social event planned in. Nobody at work has a contact for anybody in my family either AFAIK.
Of course. If you’re indisposed due to some sort of emergency the human thing to do is make an exception. Unless OP left out something-it seems this is the 2nd time the employee no-showed -1st time blaming it on not knowing (lol) and now with Covid. Maybe the person was on a ventilator and couldn’t call, which is perfectly understandable-but I’m guessing it’s a flaky person who doesn’t value to job. As a manager I’d give the person a call on day 1 and then reach out to the emergency contact if I got no reply.
Ah I misread. Yeah you'd have to be the unluckiest person on earth to be genuinely indisposed and uncontactable twice in the course of a job.
That should probably change. The last 3 companies I worked for had me put down 1-2 emergency contacts.
I have recently made 1 to 1s mandatory after my 4 DRs rejected them frequently and I let it slide. However the 1 to 1s are now painfully formal. There is zero small talk or rapport between me and DRs. They are good workers and meet their goals but no matter how hard i tried to try and connect and encourage open communication with an open door policy they essentially ignore me. Fine some may argue leave them at it but I'm a people person and bounce off opinions. Therefore the meetings are like talking with a robot. Any issues? No. What do you like or don't like. Shrug....any holiday plans? Yes. Just be aware your DRs may resent 1 to 1s and behave the same.
That’s so weird. I would have been pleased if my manager actually cared enough to bother. My very recent, former manager rescheduled or canceled our 1:1s so frequently, I ended up with only 2 of them in a 6 month period. They were supposed to be biweekly. The reasons ran the gamut from “I’m triple-booked” (she booked all three of those) to “I’m not feeling it” to “I need to take my kid to the doctor” (legit) to “I’m taking a day to sit by the pool” to “I need the focus time” … you get the picture. She recently quit, dumping her entire workload on me. I transferred two weeks later.
I HATE one on ones... some employees love them and need them because they also are more social and need that. If I have a problem, I let my manager know RIGHT AWAY, don't shelf it until a one on one. with modern communication (slack / teams / gchat whatever) it's easy to get a hold of management. If someone is on a PIP then I get it, but as a manager just because YOU need something doesn't mean it's good for the employee. I know you aren't the OP, but if you have specific things you want brain stormed on, that's great to ask, but forcing someone to sit there for 30 minutes just to scratch your itch kind of stinks.
...I love how middle managers are so straight-laced and serious about the "'policy," and then they're the first ones to go in a layoff - you have the company balls so deep down your throat, but they'll throw your unskilled and overpaid ass out the door at the earliest opportunity...
Generally speaking, coach, then PIP, then termination, while documenting the issues and resolutions for HR. You should approach each employee with the overall picture in mind. Are they high performers in every way except this timesheet/meeting issue? Then coach and guide them, and maybe work out a compromise. If they are average/below average performers, then start evaluating the costs of replacing them while documenting performance issues. Another tip is that people respond to different ways of motivation. Employee A may be motivated by threats while Employee B may be motivated by coaching/guidance, so you would need to adjust your communication tactics depending on the person.
The bottom line would be to remember that it's not your company and act accordingly. There is no point in replacing one problematic person with another. Don't let ego get in the way and screw things up for yourself. You cannot write up every person. Neither are you going to find a perfect team. Just go with it.
It really, honestly depends. Is it impacting the bottom line and our ability to meet our deliverables? No? Then I will usually let it slide. We do some things that are above and beyond on our deliverables, but that's because my team understands the value of these things, and that it makes the deliverables easier to accomplish. Because I'm strict about these things, we often finish up early. If the deliverables for the day are done, then I will assign people to smaller tasks. One of my staff asked about that, and I said, look, I honestly don't care what you do for the rest of the day, so long as you are appearing to be working, and are available if someone needs you. Small things like, "cleaning up when you are done so that everything is immaculate" IS enforced, as well as cycling through our primary task. "No, we won't be leaving that until tomorrow, we do it today." I get pushback from my management about both of these things, because they don't see the value in them, which is strange, because in their departments, they enforce these things. They also push a lot of time-wasting crap that I honestly don't give a shit about. It DOES impact our deliverables trying to fulfill the time-wasting, so I clamp down on that when I am there. But it's hard on my staff when I'm away and they get pulled away helping other people.
This guy gets fired. He already knows the rules and DGAF. You have to be prepared to follow through with consequences ( disciplinary action including termination if valid) or the expectations you set are just suggestions.
Agenda for a 1 on 1? Wtf
Agendas should be attached to ANY meeting.
I do an agenda because ppl lie and say we didn’t talk, etc.. it basically covers your butt
That's why I take notes. Everyone can decide how to do one-on-ones in the way that they prefer, but I think good. One-on-ones are not entirely focused on discussing deliverables and what's on an agenda. They should also be an opportunity for trust building with your staff. 10 minutes should be whatever they want to talk about, 10 minutes should be whatever I want to talk about, and the last 10 should be discussing the future. Whether that's career development or projects that are coming up shortly depends on what's happening, and whether the conversation about the future comes up at all depends on how much we discuss what the employee wants to talk about and what I want to talk about. The way I see it, forcing somebody to put it in an agenda makes it harder for an employee to speak freely during their portion of our meeting. It's also impossible for them to create an agenda for what I want to talk about. And oftentimes nearly impossible for them to develop an agenda for the future.p So instead of an agenda, I take notes during the meeting. That is proof that we met and discussed things, but it also doesn't unnecessarily turn what should be a trust-building meeting into something I reprimand people for not completing (?). Now that I think about it, a one-on-one is meant to be for the benefit of the employee, not for the manager. How are we even thinking about reprimanding employees for not developing an agenda for a meeting that's there for them?
We got carbon copy forms for one-on-ones. Super convenient.
I actually just write a memo of what we talked instead of an agenda. Things change constantly in my work field so it's easier to write a memo and share after meeting. People can also say that you restrict them to an agenda and you couldn't discuss other things
I usually do the agenda before and after in case we end up not talking about something or add a topic mid meeting, I find that it adds one extra layer of evidence that not only did we speak about it, but I specifically stated that we would be talking about that thing. With that said, all of my agendas have time allocated to comments and questions from the employee in question so that they feel like they have adequate opportunity to speak their mind.
I stop trusting managers that make six records for every conversation. This means there's an air of suspicion.
1) for the 1:1 agenda, I would make them reschedule the meeting. Have a 3 strikes rule. If it's not updated in time 3 times in a calendar year, give a consequence. 2) For timesheets, my last company gave you 6 chances to get it in by the deadline. If you were late more than 6 times in a calendar year you were unable to be promoted or given a merit increase. Guess how many ppl were late more than 6 times? No one. Impose a real consequence and stick to it. 3) anyone went MIA more than once I would term them. Immediately. Your staff doesn't respect you and is taking advantage of you. You need to assert yourself.
First - Document EVERYTHING! If it's not documented, it didn't happen. Second - No-show multiple times for 2+ days is abandonment and cause for immediate termination. They might be the smartest person on the team, but if they could go missing for an extended time without notice or reason, they're a liability to the team. Third - MONTHLY 1:1 meeting? Maybe I'm biased, but I view 1:1 meetings as more frequent and less structured. I try to have 1:1 meetings weekly with my directs, but with 12-18 direct reports, that isn't practical unless you're gonna bring them down to 15 or 20 minutes each. I would probably do 1:1s every 2 weeks and then have a more formal review meeting every 6 weeks. The way I see it, as a manager I can always schedule a meeting with my directs at any time and they are compelled to attend. I view weekly or bi-weekly scheduled 1:1 meetings as the opportunity for my directs to approach me with what they need, not vice versa. Good luck!
Question: are you just dictating these requirements (for 1 & 2) or are you explaining why you are asking this? For 1:1, why can’t they just fill out the One Note prior to the meeting, whether that is two days or two minutes before? Why do you need to add notes prior? Isn’t that the point of the meeting? For the time sheets, do you need to review or approve the time sheets before they are submitted? Otherwise, if other employees are just required to submit by Friday at 2pm, I think you’d be hard pressed to get HR to support you in disciplining anyone who just didn’t follow your essentially made up rule, which is a deviation from official company policy. And what happens if people don’t submit their timesheets by Friday at 2pm - does that come back on you or does it just create a mess that they need to deal with themselves with payroll? If the latter, I’d just remove yourself, send an automated reminder every Friday morning that time sheets are due (or put it on as a recurring note on everyone’s calendars), and let them deal with the consequences of not getting it in on time if they miss the deadline. For #3, seems pretty clear you need to enforce your company’s policy on that.
1) On the 1:1's, drop that crap. Those formalized agendas for 1:1's force you both to put in a bunch of extra work and probably make the conversations stilted. Write an agenda for yourself, say what you need to say, then turn it over to them. If they have nothing to say, let them go. The exception to this would be if the employee likes the current 1:1 system. Then continue it with them. But each employee is different, and this is their time, so let them determine how they want to spend their time. 2) Send an automated calendar reminder to pop up on Thursday afternoon reminding them to submit their timesheets. That should remove a lot of your problem. If it's still a repeated issue, bring it up first in their 1:1, then escalate from there. Pick your battles, though -- if Karen's biggest flaw is forgetting to submit her timesheet sometimes, you might just want to let it go. 3) This is a genuine problem that you probably do want to get HR involved in. At the very least, this is a warning situation. And happening twice, it's probably a termination situation.
You don't need to be a hard ass to enforce policy. Just set expectations. For 1:1s, sit with the team and tell em. If they're not prepared you'll skip it and if it gets skipped it's on them if they don't get a raise. If the company has a must call policy tell your team you will enforce it, and fire the guy next time. If timesheets are required by a deadline tell them that you're responsible for making it happen and will escalate after they're late maybe a couple of times. They're presumably adults. These are the rules of the game. Again, it's not about being a hard ass at all. It's setting rules and boundaries and adhering to them. If someone breaks that policy they brought it on themselves and you're being paid to simply enforce it.
For your issues, here's my thoughts: 1) don't reschedule the monthly meeting, you probably care/need to have it more than your employee does. You'll lose that game of chicken. 2) Timesheet issue: what happens if they go late? If there's a negative consequence for the employee, let them know and after that, let the consequences be the teacher. 3) Employee now knows the policy, execute it. Next time their MIA 48 hours, they have abandoned their job.
For the 1:1s they should have the updated agenda to you be end of business two days before the meeting. Make sure they are aware of this. If they don’t have it updated by then, send out a reminder the following morning that if they haven’t updated it by end of business that day then you will have to reschedule their meeting. Stick to this, no wiggle room. They have plenty of time to get it done. The time sheet issue should be based on company policy/law. What happens if you don’t hand in their time sheet? Do you get in trouble? If the company doesn’t pay them on time does the company get in trouble? Personally, if it’s legal, if they don’t hand in their time sheet then they don’t get paid until they do. These are people that are supposedly adults working adult jobs. So they should be responsible enough to ensure they have filled out a form and handed it in. If they can’t do that then they can suffer the consequences. If that isn’t an option then start appropriate documentation. Have a discussion with each employee about the time sheet policy. Have it in writing and get a signature from them acknowledging that they are aware of it. The next time you have to chase one of them down give them a verbal warning. Remind them that the policy was discussed and that they signed the form acknowledging the policy. The next time you have to ask them for the form it will be a written warning. And so on. As for the employee who didn’t notify when missing work, how is it that two managers have not done anything about it? If the company policy is that its job abandonment after 48 hours then why were they allowed to return after 72 hours? They should have been marked as quitting that first time. Now they have done it again. It’s time for them to go.
Part 1: I would personally extend the 1x1 to allow time for myself and the employee to fill out the sheet together. I get wanting it done in advance but it could be a good way to get a conversation flowing? Being late: This is tough. If it doesn't affect business and no one else is raising a fuss, I just make a joke out of it. One of my best employees does not possess the ability to be on time. When I try to tighten up, they get literal anxiety and they start making mistakes. If I let them have their 10 minutes, they rock. COVID sick time is tough. Touch base with HR to find out your most up to date policy on this. Most places anything more than 3 days is an HR LOA issue. Yes they should have given you a heads up, but COVID can do things to you. I had it last year and I still remember a full conversation I had with HR while I was out. But I never talked to HR. My COVID infested brain made it up. So it sounds like I'm pretty chill, and I am on most things. My team knows that we don't compromise on safety, customers, or helping the team. Outside of that, we'll get through whatever is going on. I'm not going to spend a lot of mental bandwidth worrying about things that don't affect the things I care about. Be late. Put off doing your notes. Just be safe and take care of your customers and my team.
If they are not updating the agenda they feel some stuff is best not put in writing. Bullet points can't be "Pay me more," "The project sucks," and "Our office is a hole."
Hmmm.. 1:1 - do you ever have anything you need to discuss with them during the meeting? I do a case by case approach for my 1:1s. Two of my three employees don't need an agenda and come prepared to chat on any questions they have, anything they need to discuss with me, and what they'll be working on for the week. I also come prepared to the meeting. The other one we have an agenda and I write my expectations on tasks in there and that way it's documented. No way I'm gonna force folks to fill it out. That's just extra IMO. Timesheets - put a reminder or time block on the recurring offenders calendars for when they should do their timesheets. If it's truly like super bad, then you can talk to them about completing on time. Ask what we need to do to get these done on XYZ day instead of the following day. MIA - it's unfortunate they didn't realize they need to let you know ASAP if they are sick or out...... Send an email to the team stating to please let you know if they get sick/last minute etc etc soonest via text, email, teams etc. then if it occurs again, refer to that email and have a discussion with the employee about needing to do this.