By frustrated
My supervisor is instructing me to continue retraining a co-worker who is totally untrainable. In two years she has not been able to retain anything she has been taught. My work deadlines are not met because I am having to spend an inordinate amount of time repeatedly explaining procedures. She should have been let go after her 90-day probation period, but is being kept on because she's "so nice," and we're told the rest of us who are up to speed need to be "more understanding" of co-workers who don't learn as quickly as we do. Problem is, this untrainable half a brain is getting paid the same if not more than I am. When should a supervisor finally say that a person is not working out? Just how long do you keep someone on the payroll who is not learning their job? My boss has instructed me that she intends to keep her and that I am to continue retraining her AND get my work out in a timely manner. HELP!
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By bookwoman:This sounds like you're being set up to fail. Can you meet with your supervisor to discuss this directive objectively? If you prepare for a meeting with a list of questions or bullet points and conduct yourself in a thoroughly unemotional manner, maybe your supervisor could provide a structure or plan for you to accomplish such a crazy-ass goal (don't say that to the supervisor).
Good luck.
By thelma:It sounds like someone where I work. She's still here after 5 years. She filed a harrassment complaint against her boss so now, if they fire her, she can sue. So they won't fire her.
And I've seen good workers get fired because the boss doesn't like them or has a grudge.
By labtech:You have to get your work done before you help Ms. Untrainable, otherwise you'll be the one in trouble. Write up the tasks you're trying to teach her. Ask her to sign off on the tasks when you have done explaining it for what is probably the 100th time. When she "doesn't know how to do" something, pull out the papers. This worked on our Untrainable - he quickly became Trained, once he understood he'd be out of a job unless he started working.
By Kassie:This sounds like a woman with whom I work, and I suffered through training her, something that was never fully accomplished because our weak managers would never do anything about the problem. If I could go back 10 years, I would have done a lot of things differently. I would not have been as accomodating, would have documented everything, and allowed our untrainable employee to sink or swim. I don't really believe in the sink or swim management technique for most people, but I believe it is necessary with the strategically incompetent types, who have learned that putting on a "dumb act" often results in someone else being tasked with the responsibility. As long as the untrainable employee is allowed to get away with it, the situation will never improve.
By anonymous:10 years!
you have my sympathy.
By Anonymous:I understand where you are coming from. As a manager, I deal with this quite frequently. Most of the time, the manager is aware of the problem. Laws and regulations have really made it difficult to deal with underperforming individuals without months of documentation. Sometimes there are plans in the works to terminate, but these details can not be discussed with other employees. I suggest that you start documenting EVERYTHING and take it to your manager.
By Alane:I feel you...I am going thru the same thing.I have been training someone for two months. I have printed out old reports with instructions on how to prepare the reports. I have also sent emails with examples and instructions on how to do them. Employee has demonstrated doing similar reports. How long should I hold her hand? When stuff goes wrong, our boss will talk to both of us. So, it looks like if she messes up then the entire team messes up and should I be blamed?
By the confessor:Two thoughts here. Either this person is not cut out for the job and everyone really loses out in the long run, or thet are "playing dumb" to avoid having to work.
Document and let this person know that their underperformance issues will be dealt with one way or another. Period.
By anonymous:This sounds like what is happening where I used to work.I was let go in what was called "right sizing", along with 4 others.The idiot that they kept has had 90% of the job duties taken from her because she has screwed up so many times,which puts a giant strain on the other customer service reps.The customers refuse to talk to her,things have been documented and taken to management many times and yet she is still there collecting a paycheck for essentially no work! I am still in contact with former coworkers and they and the customers would love to have me come back, but my half brain former boss would rather hit himself in the head with a shovel than admit he made a HUGE mistake when he let me go.It would be comical if it wasn't so sad, for all of the people who have been forced to double their work load,as well as the ones,like myself,who were excellent workers let go for no real reason other than not being liked by bad managers.My only hope is one day he will be on the unemployment line and see how much he enjoys that!!!
By anonymous:I'm posting from the other side of the coin, the customer who has to deal with untrainable and stupid people on the phone.I work in a dental office and our supplier let the person go that I dealt with on a regular basis and kept someone so stupid that I refuse to give her my orders-WTF??? How could they let the best customer service person I've ever had in my 20+ years go and keep this idiot?? There's only one other person there I trust do get my order right, and half the time I can't get through to her because no one else wants to talk to the idiot either and they're waiting for the person with a brain to speak with! To me, this was the most ignorant thing this company ever did, and I made my feelings known to their so-called branch manager, who was totally rude to me-what a jerk!!The service from them has really gone downhill, and if I wasn't so fond of my territory rep who calls on our office,I would change supply houses in a heartbeat.So not only do other workers suffer from untrainable people, the customers do,too!!
By fairness:how about making some flashcards for her. write notes and give them to her. you can even show your boss that you have done that to help her.
By What's a Christian to Do?:I prepared a step by step description of tasks and hi-lited the most important steps. When there was problem after problem with work she did on her own, I asked the co-worker to show me the instructions I prepared so I could see if I missed something. I was told that I never gave her anything. I realize that she likes to learn by having someone talk her through everything. But, I am not even her supervisor. I just sit in the desk next to her and am not even supposed to be doing the same job. I learned it so I could explain it to her. The only reason she is still there is because she has a pleasant phone personality, this is what my supervisor has told me. She has been working with us over a year now, she has been moved out of one position after another because it was not a good fit (she made too many mistakes). I am a Christian and want to help her as much as I can, but some days her incompentence makes me angry. Why can't she read the manual and figure it out herself? And, if she does not understand it, why doesn't she stop before she proceeds so that she can find out the correct way to do it? Why are people who take the time to understand their job and do it correctly punished by having to fix the problems that the incompetent people create?
To make it worse for me, she is always saying how thankful she is that I understand the problem and that I am able to fix it.
We can thank God for the job-security that we are given through them!
By labtech:If you have access to an office copier, and office supplies like looseleaf binders, here's what I'd do. Make a copy of all the training materials, stick it in a notebook binder; put her name PROMINENTLY on the binder, and deliver it (in front of witnesses, if possible). Email the bosses telling them you have put together a training manual and specifically have given the first copy to HER, because a manual of SOPs is Good Business Practice and you were only TOO HAPPY to help here. Add "Training Coordinator" duties to your resume, too.
Guard that email like treasure because the bosses will only hear Ms. Pleasant whining "oh she didn't teach me ANYTHING", and then YOU will have the problem. Some people DON'T or WON'T read manuals and need their hand held constantly, which is a pity, because the workplace is no place for them. And don't find the time to help her all the time; make sure you have a more important project to do, and send her to the boss to ask her questions and straighten out her messes. And don't assume you have any job security - she's already lied once, and said you never gave her anything, what's to keep her from making up worse stories that the boss might believe ?
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