Toxic New Employee

What do you do when a brand new employee goes to your boss and tells her that she doesn't think you are performing your job up to the standards that were explained to her in the new employee orientation?  Here's my situation: I am a Preschool Teacher and I have 8 years experience and a degree in my field.  My company hired a new teacher who has no experience and no education in this field.  On her very first day in my classroom, she went to my boss and told her that I am not following all of the standards that the company expects from teachers.  I was then pulled into my boss's office and was talked too about this.  I was in shock that a new person would go to my boss instead of talking to me first and I am upset that my boss took what the new person had to say so seriously.  I have been with this company for two years and never had a complaint from any other co-worker and all of the sudden a new person with no experience and no education walks in and complains about me and they take it so seriously.  Because of this, I already don't really care for her and I am not looking forward to working with her.  Do you have any advice about how I am  supposed to work with this person and not be paranoid about every little thing that I say and do?

Unfortunately, not everyone learns how to play nice. Little Miss Toxic could have asked you questions about your classroom procedures. She could have asked why. She could have used this as a perfect learning opportunity. She did not. Why? Her reasons could range anywhere from not knowing any better to trying to make her self look good by making you look bad. Do you care? Yeah, maybe. But you have something more important to address right now - your relationship with your boss. 

Talk with your boss. As a person responsible for young children, she must take any and all concerns brought to her seriously. She has an obligation to follow through on each and every one of them. The manner in which she follows through, however, is left to her judgement. She chose to speak with you and did so in a manner that left you unsupported. You have some questions and your boss has the answers.  Ask her if she has any concerns with your performance, with the way you teach or the care you provide to the children. Listen when she responds. Talk with her about her you felt when questioned. Let her know that you take your position very seriously and count on her continued support.

Without the support of your boss, it will be difficult for you to manage Little Miss Toxic. Know that, but don't let that stop you from talking with her. You are responsible for your relationships. Set the ground rules for this one right now. You are experienced, she is not. You can help her learn. If she has questions about what you are doing or why you are doing something a certain way, she should ask you and you can discuss. Give her the benefit of the doubt and a second chance. If she bites your hand, you bite her back.

Biting aside, this comes back to your relationship with your boss. With her support (and maybe a little bit of peer pressure), you can nip this toxic behavior rather quickly. Without the support of your boss, Little Miss Toxic may be the least of your problems. Good Luck!

Complexity At Its Best

Your organization has a Drug Free Workplace Policy. A supervisor suspects an employee may be using illegal drugs. She begins to investigate. Based on the results of the investigation, you will either clear the employee and determine that the allegations were without merit or you will have evidence to support the allegations and recommend appropriate discipline. Couldn't get any more straightforward than that, could it?

Right now, all of my HR practitioners and employment law attorneys are out there are stirring in their seats, beginning to feel their blood pressure rise and heart beat a little faster, as they reach for their company policy with one hand and their ADA/Rehabilitation Act folder with the other while  scanning their shelves across the room for their well tabbed  EEO book.  

Back to the drug investigation. You are finishing up your investigation and the evidence is not in the employee's favor. There is a knock at your door. The employee in question comes to your office and voluntarily identifies himself as a user of illegal drugs. Gotcha!

Now what do you do? In my organization, we acknowledge the identification. We consider the facts and make a safe harbor determination. Safe harbor essentially says that the organization will not initiate disciplinary action against an employee who voluntarily identifies him/herself as a user of illegal drugs prior to being identified through other means. Other means is defined as direct observation, evidence obtained from an arrest or criminal conviction or a verified position test result. Once the voluntary self identification is made, the employee must obtain counseling or rehabilitation through an Employee Assistance Program and refrain from using illegal drugs. In essence, you may not proceed with discipline, regardless of the evidence obtained, if all of the safe harbor criteria are met.

"If x than y" is one of my more commonly used formulas in Excel. If HR decisions were that straightforward, we'd all be sitting pretty. And bored out of our minds. HR is complex, HR is robust and HR is not for the weary. You have got to be on your toes, well read, and able to connect the dots. You must be able to identify the exceptions and know where to look for the bumps in the road.

As good as you are, this knock at the door was not a surprise. You were expecting it.  If it wasn't a safe harbor determination in response to an allegation of drug use, it would be a request for reasonable accommodation in response to a proposed performance based removal, allegations of hostile work environment in response to a less than satisfactory performance review or the unforgiving FMLA, ADA, EEO triangle. This list can goes on and on. You love this stuff. You thrive on it.

HR. Complexity at its best!