motivating an employee

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Good morning everyone,
Work related question about motivating employee's. I have one particular employee that I can't seem to get motivated. I try very hard to lead by example by being responsive, up beat, communicate well, concerned about my employee's well being etc... However I have one employee I can't get up to speed, Mechanistically he outstanding but his communication, appearance, enthusiasm and department involvement just don't cut it. To even talk to the guy its depressing and always ends up in a defensive conversation and frustrating. I have spent countless hours extracting this person talents and have now put myself in a spot where other employee's are suffering because of his lack off development. I just can't bring myself termination because of the relationship we have built and I want to make sure I have tried everything. Which brings me back you people for support and suggestions. Our evaluation process is very aggressive and rewarding however when I suggest to this person what he should do to improve he actually pouts for two or three days.

Thank you for you time
LHarrington
 

fauxfly

Member
Mechanistically he outstanding but his communication, appearance, enthusiasm and department involvement just don't cut it. To even talk to the guy its depressing and always ends up in a defensive conversation and frustrating.

I think you've answered your own question, I had a guy like this once and his poor attitude spread through the shop like a cancer. He will eventually infect and affect everyone.

Think about it.

Good luck

Steve
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
Yep, that will spread like the plauge, cut the head of it now. There are thousands of good maintenence guys in Michigan looking for work after the UAW cuts, your guy should be happy to have a job, most of those other guys sure would.
 
I will agree I probably have answered my own question however, did I fail as a manager or did he fail as an employee. That's where I struggling to make the decision. This is the main reason for procrastinating my forward movement.

LHarrington
 

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
I had a guy that was a good worker. But, sometimes he would be argumentive or wild mood swings.
I told him he should seek medical advice because I thought something was wrong with him.
He did. Turns out he is bi polar. The doctor put him on a anti depressant, now he's fine.
May be your guy needs an anti depressant.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
Does the guy do good work?

I don't buy the development crap. He either is doing the work you are paying him to do or he is not.

Not getting along well with his fellow workers is a bad thing but unless it is negatively impacting things in an articulable way, I would be inclined to leave things alone.

Firing someone like this is not likely to have the kind of beneficial effect on the other employees you might think it will. What they will remember is you fired him even though he did good work, and no doubt it will be spun that you fired him for not being a suck-up or some similar thing.

If he is worth the effort, keep on him.

If not, get rid of him. But don't expect it will be something you will be appreciated for by his fellow employees. It may take years to get past the bad effects of a decision to fire someone like this. I am not telling you it is a bad idea to fire him, just be aware that the negative effects of such a firing on the other employees may exceed the positive effects for quite some time.
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
"I have spent countless hours extracting this person talents and have now put myself in a spot where other employee's are suffering because of his lack off development."

You seem to have done what you could. How old is this guy?
 

James@CHA

Member
LHarrington said:
Good morning everyone,
Work related question about motivating employee's. I have one particular employee that I can't seem to get motivated. I try very hard to lead by example by being responsive, up beat, communicate well, concerned about my employee's well being etc... However I have one employee I can't get up to speed, Mechanistically he outstanding but his communication, appearance, enthusiasm and department involvement just don't cut it. To even talk to the guy its depressing and always ends up in a defensive conversation and frustrating. I have spent countless hours extracting this person talents and have now put myself in a spot where other employee's are suffering because of his lack off development. I just can't bring myself termination because of the relationship we have built and I want to make sure I have tried everything. Which brings me back you people for support and suggestions. Our evaluation process is very aggressive and rewarding however when I suggest to this person what he should do to improve he actually pouts for two or three days.

Thank you for you time
LHarrington

You can't fix it... He doesn't like his job most likely.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
petersonra said:
Firing someone like this is not likely to have the kind of beneficial effect on the other employees you might think it will. What they will remember is you fired him even though he did good work, and no doubt it will be spun that you fired him for not being a suck-up or some similar thing.

Bob what experience are you basing that on?

It's not about having a beneficial effect on the others it's about not letting the slacker have negative effect.

In my experience a 'slacker' even one that can do excellent work when they decide to do it, ALWAYS hurts the output of the rest of the employees.

Basically the majority of workers on a construction site only work as hard as you expect them to. Once you let one guy slow down the the others (at least most of them) will also slow down.

Maybe he is 'bipolar' not my problem, maybe he has family issues, again not my problem.

I don't want to sound cold hearted and for hard working employees I will do as much as I can for them. But I can not have a slacker slow things down, I can not sit in the office and tell the PM the job is running long because so and so has marital problems etc.
 
Last edited:
Zog,
He's 40 years old, No offense to anyone intended here but he constantly refers to when he worked on the farm and for relation in Alabama. He has lived in Michigan now for 15 years and been employed here at our company for 12 years and has work next to me for 6 years when him and I were the only two maintenance guy in the place. I'm afraid the company is going to out grow him if I can't get him to commit to his job and improve himself.

LHarrington
 

barbeer

Senior Member
Sounds like I used to work with his brother from Georgia.............."if you don't like this speed you really aren't going to like the other one, I only have 2!" Not that I am a tree hugger or belong to PETA, but he is the same guy that burned the cat's nose with his cigarette because it rubbed up against him.:mad:
 

zog

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
Reason I asked was it seems the younger people hitting the industry these days 9Again, no offense to anyome) expects to be coddled, hugged everyday, and told how special they are. There was a good article on MSN a few weeks ago about managers having to go to special training classes to learn how to manage this new generation. I was wondering if this guy was one of them.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
LHarrington said:
Zog,
He's 40 years old, No offense to anyone intended here but he constantly refers to when he worked on the farm and for relation in Alabama. He has lived in Michigan now for 15 years and been employed here at our company for 12 years and has work next to me for 6 years when him and I were the only two maintenance guy in the place. I'm afraid the company is going to out grow him if I can't get him to commit to his job and improve himself.

LHarrington
You want to fire a guy that has worked at your company for 12 years? because of what might happen at some future date?
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
iwire said:
In my experience a 'slacker' even one that can do excellent work when they decide to do it, ALWAYS hurts the output of the rest of the employees.

Basically the majority of workers on a construction site only work as hard as you expect them to. Once you let one guy slow down the the others (at least most of them) will also slow down.
If he is indeed a slacker, cut him loose. I got the impression from the OP that the situation is not quite that simple.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
LHarrington said:
. . . I have one employee I can't get up to speed, Mechanistically he outstanding but his communication, appearance, enthusiasm and department involvement just don't cut it. To even talk to the guy its depressing and always ends up in a defensive conversation and frustrating.
I fired that guy last year. I was wondering where he went.
 
petersonra said:
You want to fire a guy that has worked at your company for 12 years? because of what might happen at some future date?


Don't misunderstand what I saying, I my opinion company can and will out grow there employee's, meaning replace you if you fail to change or grow with technology. You can't use yesterday technology today and expect to be in business tomorrow. Much like our professions (permission to compare myself to anyone reading) you need to stay updated to stay on top of your game. I fully appreciate that no one wants to do a bad job. Even though they may appear to or say that don't care, deep, deep down they are concerned. I have worked with a lot of people and as long as they had integrity and effort I have been able to tolerate anything.

LHarrington
 

cschmid

Senior Member
LHarrington we have a guy similar to that except he would blow up out of no reason..he had been with the company for 14 years when this started..he finally got medical treatment and part of t was EST (electrical shock treatment) this process took a couple of years and some part time work to recover but he is better now and does his job well and is making an effort to learn new technology..

just recently got his first email account..So being forty and maybe in a mid life crisis and again I can hear it is not our problem yet it is our problem I would recommend some counseling if you are in the position..it would be to all of your benefits and especially his to become healthy again and you get a good already trained employee back, it is cheaper then training in a new guy..
 
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