My expectations must be too high (aka I have zero patience)

[Deleted]

I'm real close to losing my shit on someone on my team. I need a journal entry posted, but I did most of the legwork (ran some queries, pulled together the data, determined the adjustment needed). ALL he had to do was transfer it to a template and load it. For the love of god... It's been 3 HOURS.

I sent him an IM asking how he's making out. Based on his response I'm estimating he's not even a quarter of the way through the file. I just took the file myself and converted into the format needed in 30 min. It's just Excel, basic data, no fancy formulas, not rocket science.

He's been here almost a year, interviewed very well - seemed to have a good background and experience; but very little is translating into actual productivity. At least he's a temp and once I'm full-staffed I can end the contract (I'm down 2 FTEs), but HOLY HELL my patience is running thin. I can't give this guy anything time-sensitive. He's so "la-de da" even when I make a point to say how important a task is, another team is relying on us, and it needs to be made a priority for the morning. Oy...

[Deleted]

How old is he?

[treedimensional]

Enforce a deadline.

[Deleted]

He's probably in his mid-50s. I did give a deadline; it needed to be posted by noon, which I put in an email and relayed verbally as well. He struggled with it all day, and when I went to check on his progress I gave some pointers on how to approach it more efficiently. As far as enforcing the deadline, that's where I struggle. I can cite the deadline and why it's important, but when it's missed I feel like I don't have a lot of power for accountability. I'm not going to take it back and do it myself (although it would get done quicker). I've had one-on-one discussions with him about reliability and meeting deadlines. We've talked about specific examples, and he acknowledges those. Yet... Nothing changes. I'm glad it's a temp position, so it's easier for me to let him go. I need a body here (as slow as he is) until I can get these 2 positions filled.

[Mashara]

How soon is his position up? Do you have a request in to the agency for someone else? What exactly CAN he do? Maybe cherry pick mostly that stuff and give him ramped up deadlines for the rest. Like giving a different appointment time to someone you know is habitually late.

[mrsukyankee]

Yeah, my H dealt with a guy like that who just couldn't get things done on time. He held him until he knew he could hire someone else (another contractor). It drove him mad for a while.

[Deleted]

The position is open-ended for now (which he knows). He was originally brought in to fill in for someone on my staff who went on maternity leave in October. She decided she wanted to be a SAHM, so we've kept him on longer. My contact at the agency is aware that his contract with us will continue until we fill our open positions (which he is by no means qualified for). I've been giving him filler work; tasks that we have to do each quarter, that don't require a lot of expertise, yet still are tedious and take more time than I'd like my FTEs to spend right now while we're short-staffed.