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Posted By Debbie S
I have been advised today that one of our sales managers has rung in to say that he has been signed of work for a month citing work stress as the reason.
He is approx 55 years old and until 6 months ago was a director of a company that did similar type of work as ours. He had been in this position for plus 10 years. This company unfortunately went into bankruptcy. About 2 months later he applied for a job in our company but obviously at a much lower level than he had been used to and he was accountable for his time / answerable to a senior person who was female. His ability to do the job was never questioned because of previous experience and he has proved to be good - Because he is based in a different part of the country to the head office he is rung or rings his senior manager daily discuss any issues that may have arisen.
Stress was mentioned for the first time last week when he said that he felt he was 'unloved' (his words) by his colleagues (if he does come to Head Office he ignores everyone .
All the other sales managers have a similar workload/ customer database and have never complained.
Yes we have a stress policy/ risk assessment - I don't think his senior could have been any more supportive to him than she has and am inclined to think that the failure of his previous company and the sudden loss of status and lifestyle are the contributory factors.
What is the way forward as he's mentioned discrimination even at this early stage.
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Posted By Rob Randall
Hi Debbie,
if he feels unloved then perhaps he should be loved, even if he is fairly unlovable?
His circumstances are, after all, rather tragic.
Remember that love is actions and not feelings. Somebody should take him out to lunch and let him have a good cry on their shoulder before telling him how valuable he is to the firm.
Love,
Bob R
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Posted By CFT
Discrimination? I think not based on your take on the events.
Give it a while and pay for him to see a medical councillor, disseminate the information you get and decide on next move, you are demonstrating you care by providing this essential service.
Not sure on the love bit, bit to gooey for me.
CFT
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Posted By Pete48
This is really HR and not H&S but the response is common sense.
Talk, talk, talk. Why does he feel unloved, what does he need/want to see changed?
If he is getting stressed, how does he feel that stress and what can he/the company do to control that. Nothing specialist, just good old fashioned people management.
Talk, talk, talk. BUT make sure you listen more of course!
You cannot possibly make any judgement until that has been done.
The harder part comes when you cannot or do not want to accommodate his needs. Then it becomes an HR issue.
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Posted By Pete48
Sorry pushed the wrong button too soon. I was going to add a reminder that boredom is just as powerful a stressor as overloading.
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Posted By Kieran J Duignan
Debbie
'The way forward' for the employer is to conduct an appropriate assessment of the risk and manage the risk accordingly.
On the basis of the information you give and experience of assisting several thousands of such individuals at risk down the years, I'd recommend offering him the service of a chartered occupational psychologist qualified to provide him time-limited coaching based on a well-validated tool that assesses 'career derailers'.
Not magic but an incisive, constructive and cost-effective way of enabling him to get to grips with his external and internal realities.
Don't write him off without stretching a fair deal to be of help.
Just as people can learn to swim at 55+, they can also learn to upgrade their interpersonal skills and enjoy work and life in new ways.
At the same time take advice on what is technically known as 'frustration of contract', ie. when an employee declines to make himself available for work (this does become H.R. territory as it involves termination)
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Posted By Bob Youel
note also that you have a business to run and act swiftly as the longer you leave decisions the more your business and the person will suffer
'Sales' is one area of a business where any dropping off of effort can damage your company dramatically as against having an admin clerk or even myself off absent for a period - so we have to balance things very carefully but act swiftly
After working with stress for many years it is an unfortunate fact that dramatic change in ones life can have many repercussions
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Posted By Kieran J Duignan
Debbie
I imagine that, as a safety professional, you are quite good at stimulating your management to allocate resources to optimise compliance with the law - within the businesslike framework that Bob Youel rightly advocates.
The problem you/your management appear to face in the situation you outline is the likelihood of conflicting legal obligations.
On the one hand, Regulations 3, 4 and 5 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 oblige you to assess risks to the troubled 'stressed' employee and actively and reactively monitor his health.
On the other hand, if your management have complied with the Employment Rights Act 1996, the employee has rights which safeguard him against unfair dismissal.
From the account you have given, it appears that part of the difficulty may lie in defects in you system of selection i.e. failure to adequately specify the competencies and qualities required for the post and to use the full range of selection techniques available. To the extent that this is the root problem, your company has a made a fairly serious and avoidable management error which will be the focus in the event of any litigation.
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Posted By Bob Youel
K
Here here to K - what a sensible reply
Q?: Did not the Employments Rights Act get an up lift recently?
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Posted By Kieran J Duignan
'Uplift' to ERA: Yep! but the basic right to fair dismissal remains in place.
The process of grievance and warnings, in particular, has been civilised so that an employee can't simply go to court in a huff and simply try to get the court and contingency-fee lawyers to do the 'dirty work'. (It's explained clearly on the ACAS website).
Employee rights to fairness are not a 'wide open gate': tribunals dismiss claims for unfair, etc. dismissals.
From the available information, Debbie's company needs to avoid a case of 'constructive' dismissal whereby an allegedly 'unloved' (aren't we all?) chap asserts that he was effectively edged out.
The bona fide reason for 'career derailing' coaching is to genuinely enable him to dust himself off, save face and move on, possibly playing a new game on another court if appropriate. From my experience as an expert witness ergonomist and as an occupational psychologist, I've observed how much reasonbly good (i.e. challenging as well as supportive) coaching is a lot quicker, less damaging, less time-wasting and far less expensive and less bothersome to management than a court hearing (where the tribunal and lawyers can find it v. difficult to establish the legal clash within the fairly tight time constraints for a case of this kind).
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Posted By Heather Foster
I would so agree with the coaching suggestion, I am undertaking a certificate with the Institute of Leadership and Management and that has also proved very helpful and supportive to all of us involved on it. A real plus for any company to put their managers / leaders through. Coaching is discussed on the group sessions and I think it would be really beneficial and should hit all the necessary 'button's for this person. How encouraging to read the really positive human responses to this question.
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Posted By Steve Cartwright
Debbie
If he has only been with company 2 - 3 months I would guess he is still on probation. Company's usually use the probationary period to see if new employee is suitable.
From what you describe it is obvious he is not. My advice would be to arrange a meeting with him to find out what part of his work is causing the stress and in what way he is being discriminated against.
If he has any evidence to back up his claims i.e. work load greater than others, targets too high etc try to address issues. If no evidence and he just feels "UNLOVED" as you say, get shut.
Might sound harsh, but could save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
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