Moral Dilemma

[Tomasi]

What are one’s moral and ethical obligations toward an employee that is incompetent?

He needs the job to feed his family and would likely not find other work at the same level of compensation.

He was in the position already when I became his supervisor. I do not believe he can be re-trained and I have no other position to move him to.

What would God want me to do? How should I handle?

 

[trevor]

Hello Tomasi,

If the person is unable to do their job does that mean they should lose their job. Not all of the time. Are they good to have around, are they kind to other employees?

If the answer is no, then you don’t have much of a choice. Maybe the employee isn’t happy working and needs a change. A decision does need to made though.

I own a company and your question is the hardest thing I face. It breaks my heart because you want to help everyone but we have to realize we can’t.

ybiC,
Trevor

 

[Almeria]

Is he capable of doing the job? If he applied himself and thought through each step before doing it (even if he had to have every step wwritten out for him), could he perform the job duties as needed? I have had employees who were extremely lazy and simply did not do the work as required–after two written warnings, they were fired for continually skipping assignments. They were capable of doing the job, they just decided to not do it. As it was affecting the business, they were fired.

If your employee is not able to do his job, and especially if that is costing you customers, then he is a liability. Make sure that his job duties are fully documented and he has signed off on those duties, and if he does not get them done, follow your company’s HR practices. If you don’t have an HR department, check with your state laws to see what needs to be done. Generally a series of written warnings (signed by the employee as well as you) are required before firing. They will also provide documentation that he was not doing his job, in case he turns around and sues for being fired for no reason (being in a right to work state also helps protect against that).

Yes, as an employer you have certain moral and ethical guidelines that should be followed in regards to those that work under you. But at the same time, an employee has moral and ethical guidelines as well. If the employee is not living up to his end of the deal, you are not required to bankrupt your company simply to employ someone.

Also, simply talk to the guy. Maybe he has some health or personal problems which are occupying his mind. Offer what help you can, tell him what sort of allowances you can make in terms of his responsibilities, but still follow the HR practices if he can’t get the reduced duties done as well.

 

[puzzleannie]

as his supervisor you are responsible for his job and skill development, but you are also responsible for the work he is charged with doing. You are responsible to your superiors, to the owners of the company and to the customers. If he is truly not competent, and it has not already been documented by means of performance evaluations, written warnings etc., then begin the process of ongoing evaluation and documentation, and offer every opportunity for training, retraining, skill development and job improvement. If he is truly incompetent and unteachable and unresponsive, you must replace him. It would be a great act of charity to direct him to jobs or careers within his level of competency and education and interest.

 

[Catholic2003]

Tomasi:

What would God want me to do? How should I handle?

Imagine yourself in his shoes, and ask how you would want to be treated. Suppose you were in a job that you were completely unsuited for, and every day you went to work wondering and worrying if you would be found out and fired that day. How would you want to be treated?

I would want to be treated with respect and honesty. Be firm in your decision, but be gentle in breaking the news to him. Be prepared to answer his questions. Is there a chance for him to turn around and do better? Is it your recommendation alone that is keeping him from being eligible for retraining? Does the company have a severence plan, or outplacement support?

I think the golden rule works well for this situation.

 

[Rascal]

What does “incompetent” mean? Can the employee not do the job? Is the employee being lazy? Instead of someone coming up to me saying You’re Fired! for being incompetent, I would prefer at least a conversation about the concerns and an opportunity to improve.

Perhaps an incentive? Whether it’s to improve the quality of work, or somehow find something else. I find it hard that the employee can’t be retrained. That would be lack of motivation in my mind.

 

[Rascal]

{Please delete}

 

[Benadam]

I think the Lord wants work to be for man and not man for work. I’m sure you do to. If it turns out that it isn’t feasible to continue the relationship I would put whatever resources the company can offer to work for him. In this light I think in order to fire someone and obey my conscience I would have to set him up, as much as possible, to make the change he will have to make. If he has skills that an associate company may be able to use, make the connections for him.If you understand his capabilities and have assessed his skills you may be able to make suggestions and offer help making connections. If possible hire an agency that will assess his budget, and skills, provide counseling and a direction that best suits him. Maybe the state offers programs that will do this. I think whatever effort you can make will show him you are doing what has to be done and that you want the best possible for him as well. It is likely the Lord is prodding him in the same direction that will result in your efforts, whatever effort you are able to put together for him.

 

[1samuel]

incompetant? that describes many i have worked with. especially the current boss. If they pay you to look out for the companies best interests, than you are obligated to do just that. If you do less, then are you not in the same “poor performance” category that he is in?
are the effects of his incompetence serious enough to be concerned? Where I work, sure they create some extra work, and its bothersome at times, but not critical enough to get them removed. So boss man, make the call. you know inside what is right.

 

[NightRider]

In my opinion, you need to honor the fact that he was in his position before you were his supervisor. That is of utmost importance. Perhaps your assessment of his work is much different than his previous supervisor and he is actually working at the level his previous supervisor expected him to work at. What else is contributing to your impression that he is “incompetent?”

I think we need more information to help you to answer your question. Or–you need to learn more about this employee, who has been in his position longer than you have been his supervisor…

 

[Catholic2003]

Here is what Thomas Watson, Jr. wrote about this in 1960, when he was CEO of IBM:

Object Lesson: “Passing the Buck” with Inadequate Employees

Nobody likes to fire a person, even if he – or she – is obviously inadequate. But it’s a task most managers have to face up to sooner or later, although often the tendency is to pass the buck and let the next manager do it. Here’s an Object Lesson with a hero in it: A manager who recognized the problem, faced up to it, and solved it.

A woman at one of our plants had been hired some five years ago. Since then, she was transferred several times and all reports on her indicated she was performing satisfactorily. Actually, she had been inadequate from the beginning, but none of her managers was willing to tell her, or to help her do better, or to recommend she be discharged.

This game of buck-passing ended abruptly when she was transferred to a young, alert manager who immediately realized she was a substandard employee. He notified his management and the plant Personnel Department. Together they worked out a program of weekly counseling to help the woman improve. The woman was told that she would be dismissed if she failed to improve. She did not improve. Her tasks were elementary, and ones she certainly should have been able to perform satisfactorily. After two months, she was released.

We hear that managers are often afraid their action will be reversed if the employee appeals through the Open Door policy. If a manager makes his decision after sound counseling of the employee, based on honest and thoughtful evaluation, and after he has made every effort to help the employee improve, he should certainly not worry about having to defend it. Actually, only in rare instances has a manager’s decision in such matters been reversed. And then, only when the manager has failed in his first obligation; to give the employee every possible opportunity to help himself.

It hurts the company and the employee when a weak manager doesn’t give an honest evaluation of an employee’s performance. The quicker such problems are identified and solved, the better. The last thing we want to do is be harsh or hasty in our judgments, but the worst thing you can do is let an employee continue on at a substandard level, deceiving himself and the company. The best thing you can do is give him a frank evaluation, suggest ways to improve his performance and counsel him frequently. This way, if he does not improve, there will be no question about the fairness of your decision.