My ‘hotshot’ workmate is a liability to the company

Hey Rosie,

I’ve been at my job for 29 years and a supervisor for the last six, with a team of 17 people who report to me. Now we’ve hired a new hot shot college grad who I’ve been training for the last three months or so, he’s going to eventually get his own team. The problem is, he doesn’t have any people skills. He speaks to the employees in a condescending manner, he makes inappropriate and sometimes racist/sexist jokes, has open discussions about the workers within their ear shot, etc. Rosie, I am so tired of covering and cleaning up his mess! My boss thinks he walks on water and I would like to give him a true assessment of his work, because I think he’s a true liability to the company .

Help me !!

Dear Help Me,

Yes this is such a difficult position to be in and not to mention very frustrating as well. I can only imagine that you’ve seen many “hot shots” come and go over the many years that you have been there.

Now, how do you handle this particularly delicate situation? Plain and simple, you have to go and speak to your boss. You should give him your honest and unbiased feedback about your observations. In fact, I would come up with a suggestion of a game plan for him to follow. Depending on your company’s policies you may want to confer with HR in terms of any additional protocols you should follow.

You know your boss best, so make sure you have all of your facts laid out, have your fair and objective feedback ready for him when he asks and give the young man credit where credit is due. It will be left to your boss to make the changes necessary. Hopefully he will appreciate you for bringing this unprofessional situation to his attention.

Good luck !

Rosie

Send questions to Rosie at: heyrosie24@yahoo.com or PO Box 152, Kingstown,St Vincent & the Grenadines