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Excess Chatter, etc.
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Excess Chatter, etc.
Discuss workforce management, performance management, retention, communication, motivation, contributing to business results and other topics.
We don't have an HR Manager, so I (as Payroll & Benefits Administrator) am the HR Dept, with the CFO standing in when it comes to major decisions. I have a situation with an employee in the connec
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Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Excess Chatter, etc.
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Excess Chatter, etc.
posted at 7/21/2009 6:46 AM EDT
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Posts: 9
First: 4/15/2009 Last: 7/24/2009 |
We don't have an HR Manager, so I (as Payroll & Benefits Administrator) am the HR Dept, with the CFO standing in when it comes to major decisions. I have a situation with an employee in the connecting department and would like some feedback/suggestions. She is a non-stop chatterbox, nosy-Ned, goofy guss. When she calls a vendor or customer and learns they have something in common, she will chitchat forever. She talks to herself at her desk, and often sings songs like the Meow Mix song, or various commercial jingles, or will suddenly blurt out "get'r done" or other motivational blurps. She talks loud, and is very disruptive to another person in the same department who is older and has difficulty concentrating. But when attempts have been made to bring this to her supervisor's attention, her supervisor does not feel there is a problem because she gets her work done and the vendors and customers are responsive. She constantly calls out to the older employee asking her to "come over here and help me with this" making it necessary for her to get up and take care of this girl's issues and then try to regain her focus again on her own. She also involves herself in all conversations around her, and contributes invited or not. Her supervisor is not interested in criticism. What do you suggest? Don't we have an obligation to her coworker? |
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Excess Chatter, etc.
posted at 7/21/2009 7:17 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
So who wants this dealt with? If the supervisor doesn't care, why is it an issue? Also, please note, in your HR capacity, you really can't be "dealing with" someone else's employees without that person's complete buy-in. |
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Excess Chatter, etc.
posted at 7/21/2009 7:43 AM EDT
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
As the HR person, you need to advise the supervsor of the older employee's complaint. If the supervisor won't do anything about it, and the supervisor also supervises the older employee, then there's nothing else you can do except possibly go over the supervisor's head and ask his/her boss to do something about it. If you don't want to do this, or the supervisor's boss doesn't want to do anything about it, then that's it, there's nothing more that you can do.
What you absolutely cannot do, and no amount of perceived responsibility to the older employee will change this, is implement any kind of employment actions against someone else's employees. This would be a huge no-no and not something HR should ever be doing. |
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Excess Chatter, etc.
posted at 7/21/2009 8:04 AM EDT
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Posts: 19
First: 2/13/2008 Last: 7/27/2009 |
I agree re: needing to keep responsibility in the supervisor's lap. Having said that:
What's with this "older employee" label? Is the age of the co-workers salient to this issue? Is the complaining employee the annoying employee's assistant? If yes, then I suppose she needs to continue to hop to when the annoying employee calls her over to her desk. If no, isn't the complaining employee accountable for saying no when it's not convenient for her to "get over here"? I don't mean to discount the annoyance the one employee may be causing, but OTOH, the complaining employee's respondibility for dealing with some of the problem should also not be discounted. |
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Excess Chatter, etc.
posted at 7/21/2009 8:06 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I agree with hrbth about not going around the supervisor. If the older lady has brought up her concerns to the supervisor, there is not much else that can be done.
Also "She constantly calls out to the older employee asking her to "come over here and help me with this" making it necessary for her to get up and take care of this girl's issues and then try to regain her focus again on her own."....leads me to believe that the other employee who has trouble concentrating and refocusing should bring it to the supervisor's attention (if she hasn't already) and let her know that her own work is suffering to help the other lady. Or just tell the annoying coworker that she is in the middle of something that she can't stop. Why does she feel like she HAS to get up and help her? Has she been directed to do so by the supervisor? Past that, how about some earplugs, music etc to block out the annoying coworker? |
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