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Employee removed her own files from my office.
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
Discuss workforce management, performance management, retention, communication, motivation, contributing to business results and other topics.
It isn't as simple as the subject line might imply. This employee, while in my office, caught sight of my printouts of her own personal email.
When complaints or observations about breaking the rule
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Forums » Topic Forums » General Forum » Employee removed her own files from my office.
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/10/2011 4:25 PM EDT
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Posts: 6
First: 7/10/2011 Last: 7/21/2011 |
It isn't as simple as the subject line might imply. This employee, while in my office, caught sight of my printouts of her own personal email.
When complaints or observations about breaking the rules are made by employees, the procedure must include me seeing the offence with my own eyes. If I witness it, on more than one occasion, I gather evidence. All employees have been informed - on more than one occasion, that emails in the company domain are not private and are subject to review at any time. This person abuses the email regularly. Sometime during the day she removed the paperwork, which she saw me move, from my private office, off my desk. The evidence she did so is circumstantial, but there. This is an employee whose work could shine if she would just tighten up her non-professional behavior. Had she not taken the printed file, likely I would have put it aside for a later time. I do not want to have to replace her, but what she did crosses over a limit I have a hard time finding a way to condone. There is more to this than just making the file disappear. But this is a start. Anyone have this happen, and how lieniently or severely should it be handled? |
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/10/2011 7:47 PM EDT
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Posts: 6
First: 7/10/2011 Last: 7/21/2011 |
Yes, I do. I've had to let people go before. It is never a convenient time, is it?
The company, the executives that I work for and with are the best I've ever known. They are generous nearly to a fault, and I tend to balance decisions in that way. The trouble I'm having is that in this case, I just cannot. Thank you. It seems that I needed an impartial opinion to underscore what I know needs to be done. |
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/11/2011 9:09 AM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
Thank you for completing my thought. I guess what I am saying is that we have a duty to help keep each other honest and to protect confidentiality - anyone could have looked at those documents. |
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/11/2011 11:49 AM EDT
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Posts: 6
First: 7/10/2011 Last: 7/21/2011 |
This employee is my assistant. She comes in and out of my office, often a bit too informally, but I close my door when I'm with another employee.
At the time, the documents were on my desk. When she came in, I turned them over, and put them under other paperwork. In order for her to have taken them, she had to wait until I was out of my office and search for them. She has since deleted these emails from her Outlook account, but does not realize that I have all emails captured by our anti-spam solution software. So they were still recoverable from a place only I and our outside tech has access to. Yes, you are correct, however. Being in my position - I should not have left them open atop my desk. Generally I do not. I use colored pocket folders or files to put them into so that they will not be casually observed. I just had not gotten to that yet. It will not happen again, however, as I have changed my routine to put these printed documents into a drawer in my desk until the folder has been created. The records go into a locked drawer. Often, documentation is kept and gone over again at a later date. If it is the kind of thing that resolves itself, there's no reason to make an issue, the documents are held for a while and disposed by cross-cut shredding. I do not know if others in my position are having serious problems with email and texting, but since the advent of the smart phone and blackberries, I have had many problems. This person was using Outlook email for texting to her significant other. This goes on over a period of 12 to 17 minutes nearly EVERY hour. I've had to make it a rule that no personal cell phones are to be out of their purse or pocket during work hours - with the exception of breaks or lunch, of course. I have blocked facebook and had to block "Farmville", so the habitual farmville player got herself a "smart phone" so "now I can play Farmville whenever I want". She's no longer with us. After the "no exposed cellphone" rule, this person would spend long lengths of time on the company phone on personal calls, whispering into the phone. That was the give-away that the call was personal - the whispering. She answers phones, so there's no way to keep her off them. We had a talk, and it stopped. I did not know until very recently that she had replaced the calls with the texting via Outlook. She does do a lot of very good work. I have to constantly remind her of her value, and it helps keep the non-professional behavior in line for a while. However, as I said, the theft of the documentation went over the line. Thank you both for your observation and consideration. I needed this from another source. I have no others here who are in the same position as I, and some things are absolutely confidential. I do not bring all things before the owners, and neither do they want me to - my judgment is trusted. In this, because I'm so close to it, and because it will be a hardship for a while to lose her, I needed your vision into this. It put the matter into perspective - the kind that cannot be argued with. Best, Lin |
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/11/2011 12:04 PM EDT
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Posts: 2442
First: 2/12/2000 Last: 9/14/2011 |
One other idea is to make sure that you have a personal use of the telephone policy and make sure that you have the ability to monitor the calls going out from each phone.
If you see a number is being abused you can warn the person and then block that number if necessary. Of course this is only if you wish to try to turn someone around and make them productive. However if the person does not understand that they are putting their livelihood in jeopardy then I am not sure that I really want to save them. Surely there are better candidates available...... |
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Employee removed her own files from my office.
posted at 7/11/2011 12:51 PM EDT
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
it would be terrible to have a number blocked if it were an emergency. Realistically there should be a reasonable policy regarding non-work communication, too bad people abuse this. |
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