A reader writes:
I’m working with a report who has some trouble with organization – if I hadn’t noticed he was missing some things, he might have dropped some balls. I have given him some very direct feedback which he agrees with. He is working on some better organizational systems, but now I’m wondering if there are more issues at play.
We’re all remote and we have an online chat system that shows up if you’re away from your desk for more than five minutes. And he’s away…a lot. I hate that I notice this, because I don’t want to micromanage my team’s hours, but often I go to message him and find he’s gone away for 20-30 minutes.
We work 9-5 and it’s quite flexible. If you have a doctor’s appointment or want to take a longer lunch, the expectation is that you mark it in your calendar and schedule a time later. I’m also okay with people stepping away from their desks occasionally to deal with life or have time to think. But there is a limit and I think he is crossing it.
As an example, he logged on 20 minutes late yesterday, took a 90+ minute lunch break, and took at least a half hour break, which I noticed – and I’m obviously not monitoring him all the time. As far as I can tell, he’s not taking time off later, and he hasn’t made any mention of it or put it in his calendar.
If he was a strong artist, I wouldn’t care! And I don’t want people to think that they can’t change their hours sensibly because they absolutely can. But if he’s missing things because he’s not spending enough time on them then it could be organizational issues at play. Should this be part of the conversation? How do I increase this without seeming like I’m micromanaging his hours?
Yes, I’d bring it up – because ultimately the quality of his work (meeting deadlines, not letting balls drop, etc.) is the issue, it seems to play enough of a role in what’s happening that it’s silly not to name it when it could speed up the whole process of figuring out whether he’s going to work at this job or not. Also, he is quite forward looking when it comes to what kind of flexibility is appropriate for him. It’s not like you’re calling him for lunch for more than 10 minutes; You notice that important and regular time is missing from his working hours.
I would say it this way: “I’ve noticed you’ve been away from your desk more often than I expected. We have some flexibility with hours, but the expectation is that if you have an appointment or take an extra long lunch, you’ll mark it in your calendar and make time later (or take PTO if you can’t or don’t want to make time). Generally, though, I expect you to leave with a half hour for lunch. I don’t want to micromanage my time – but I’m concerned that it’s playing a role when you’re dropping balls and being better organized, so I’d like to ask you to look into that as well. Or you can just skip those last two sentences and say, “Can you be sure you’ll do the same going forward?”
There Are Times when it makes sense to keep focused on the end results you need from an employee (in this case, he becomes better organized and stops dropping balls) and figure out that it’s up to him how he gets there, and the pressure on you to do so should naturally motivate him to change those habits – and if he doesn’t get there, he’s not a good fit for the job. But in this case I think you’ll save some time by naming what you’re seeing and letting him know he needs to rein it in. And you don’t need to look away when he’s abusing job flexibility… in any case, but especially when you’re actively training him to fix the problems.
