The world of HR is a myriad and often troublesome place. Sometimes it takes some assistance from an outside professional to help iron out a few wrinkles.
In this case study we feature an organisation, which had two centres with a manger for each one, who reported to a general manager and an operations manager. Both of which helped to oversee the organisation as a whole.
One centre was not performing particularly well, priorities were not being focussed on and there were complaints from upset clients. To add to the turmoil, at this centre a staff member had accused the manager of bullying and harassment and had been transferred to the other centre. The manager for the centre was promoted to the position from within and had been a whistle blower on the previous General Manager which had resulted in the General Manager losing the position. This manager liked to remind visitors to the centre and other team members, even the current General Manager; that they were responsible for the demise of the previous General Manager and wore the whistle blower tag almost as a badge of honour.
The manager had been with the company for a number of years and had never been the subject of a disciplinary.
The organisation sought initial advice from a national business advice forum who advised that there had been no disciplinary hearings so they would need to document all instances that occurred, counsel the employee and look for improvement and move through the disciplinary process at each stage, and only then if the behaviour or performance merited such action. The organisation called in our lead consultant from Solved HR for a further opinion and advice.
Our consultant advised the organisation it would be far better to follow a process of re-education and assistance in the form of the operations manager. Our consultant implemented a job description for the manager covering everything from the operational side, ensuring that client relationships are developed compassionately, client acquisition legislation is adhered to and staff were managed effectively.
The manager was invited to a performance review where the manager’s job description was including the person’s positive attributes and areas of contribution as well as the areas of weakness that require support and training. At this meeting the manager did not agree with the view of the existence of any weak areas, blamed everybody else but reluctantly accepted the support of the operations manager.
The employee was monitored and spoken to on a number of occasions over various issues. However; at the organisation’s Christmas party, the Manager’s spouse made derogatory, inflammatory and inappropriate comments about the organisation, the General Manager and the Operations Manager. Because the Manager didn’t attempt to disagree or quieten the spouse it was widely held the manager was in agreement with the views being expressed. The incidents were reported to the organisation who again sought advice from the same national business advice forum, which following further discussion and because of an imminent retirement advised redundancy as part of a restructure.
Redundancy or Settlement
The organisation again called in our consultant who quickly highlighted a number of flaws with that idea:
- To make someone redundant means the position is no longer necessary within the organisation, so the organisation would not have been able replace the manager, rather if they recruited within 6 months they would have to offer the manager their job back.
- The manager could evoke “bumping” which means another staff member if served less than 2 years would be made redundant and the manager offered that role.
- The redundancy could be challenged.
Our consultant suggested a preferred solution was to hold an initial meeting with the employee and to advise that, following reports of the incident an investigation would take place with possible disciplinary action to follow. This should then pave the way to hold a ‘without prejudice’ discussion and introduce the possibility of a settlement agreement and no more cost than an initial redundancy.
This suggestion was adopted, a without prejudice discussion was held and the employee accepted the settlement agreement and subsequently left their employment.
This allowed the organisation to move forward without fear of a tribunal, to be able to recruit any position within that six-month’s period and have no obligation to invite the troublesome former employee to apply for the role.
In just 6 months from the removal of that manager the centre has turned itself around and is now performing better than its counterpart.
The moral of the story – whilst business advice platforms are great for generic advice, always be aware that employment law and HR advice is never a ‘one size fits all’ solution. If you have a contentious issue involving a staff member then contact our lead consultant at Solved HR for an initial consultation on 07700 900024 or email in confidence hello@solvedhr.co.uk
The advice given in this case study is relevant for the circumstances this organisation faced and the prevailing employment legislation at that time and should not be taken as general advice.