Help with Employee and MLM's

[boxertdog]

This is a long story but I'll summarize. For the last year one of my direct reports has been selling Thrive patches, shakes and what not "on the side". She's a full time employee with us and I noticed right when she started taking all the products that her focus changed, mistakes skyrocketed, attitude changed etc. she was a high performer with a great attitude and eager to do a good job at work prior to this. It's been a year and her performance has plummeted, she is rude to people who ask for things, takes zero initiative, blames me whenever she makes a mistake "you told me to" is a common reply to emails and questions. She "doesn't have time" to get things done despite the workload being very easy to achieve in a 40 hour week, etc. The list goes on and on. However she probably does 80% of the job every week.

I spoke to her about it in the Fall, asking if she was engaged or anything was going on I should know about. Then we discussed a month later in her annual review. A month ago I met with her with HR and she reacted extremely defensively-yelling, crying, denying, stonewalling, cycling through every emotion. We told her we'd follow up in 30 days. I'm not seeing any changes. She has been working for me for 3 years and for 2 of them was awesome but I'm at my wit's end with this. I'm pretty sure she's so wrapped up in posting Instagram videos and her side hustle and whatever speed is in those powders that she's not working a full 40 or focused, despite putting it in her time cards, and her attitude is beyond awful.

I don't want to let her go, but I feel like I have no choice. Is there any way to suggest that she choose between her MLM and her real job? We pay well, offer flexibility, give bonuses, etc. she has no degree so this is a really good situation for her. But it's turned into a bad one for me. If I was not her boss I'd tell her she's destroying her reputation etc but I don't want to cross the line. Is there anything I can do besides continue to hammer away at performance issues? My next step is to ask her to document everything she does with her time in a day every day so we can discuss why she isn't able to finish everything.

Any help much appreciated. MLM's are so predatory I just want to scream.

[Susie]

We have FT employee who is also a part time real estate agent (entirely separate from what we do).  She has been with us for 15+ years, and fortunately she has remained pretty engaged and a good performer after starting to sell RE a couple years ago.  We've had a couple hiccups, e.g., she didn't want to return in person and also periodically wanted to leave her camera off during teams meetings when remote, that made us suspect she was showing houses/attending closings/inspections during work hours.  That clearly had to be sorted, but we seem to be in a good balance now.

Anyway.  My view is that it isn't really the employer's business what the side hustle is.  Obviously I cringe at the MLM aspects of the OP, but I would handle it the same way as something more traditional like selling RE on the side, or any other outside activity.  I'd focus on making sure the specific deficiencies are noted in writing and pointed out to the individual, I'd implement a performance improvement plan when needed, and follow all the other protocols (including any technology use protocols that you have in place that she might be violating if she's doing any of this stuff on work devices/network).  I'd also be really clear about the dates when you started noticing the changes, and maybe suggest that the employee reflect on whether anything changed around that time.  What they do with that information is up to them.

With our employee, we reiterated over and over as needed that our policy required either coming into the office or turning on your camera on Teams meetings, and we didn't let her slide at all when she wouldn't turn on the camera.  We also reiterated that remote work doesn't change the core hours, and we need her on between X AM and Y PM.  It wasn't ok to take off during the day and "makeup" the time in off hours.  These are our policies.  You need to abide by them.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Fortunately for us it eventually worked, but it won't always.

[laterz]

Don't make it about the MLM. Make it about her performance. If she's not performing to the job expectations, then too bad. You've given her the feedback. Put her on a performance plan. She needs to not only show improvement, but sustain it. if you know the workload is reasonable to complete in time timeframe provided, I'd probably ask her to show what she completes every day - not where she is spending her time. If she doesn't complete enough in a day, i would ask why not. Unless the workload or the actual work has changed, I wouldn't open the door to entertain excuses.

And the not taking feedback/being rude- i'd be crystal clear on that. "I need to be able to give you constructive feedback without being rude/arguing/putting it back on me. This is not negotiable. Is this something you can do?"

askamanager.com is great for this kind of stuff.

[boxertdog]

Apr 27, 2022 12:19:10 GMT -5 laterz said:

Don't make it about the MLM. Make it about her performance. If she's not performing to the job expectations, then too bad. You've given her the feedback. Put her on a performance plan. She needs to not only show improvement, but sustain it. if you know the workload is reasonable to complete in time timeframe provided, I'd probably ask her to show what she completes every day - not where she is spending her time. If she doesn't complete enough in a day, i would ask why not. Unless the workload or the actual work has changed, I wouldn't open the door to entertain excuses.

And the not taking feedback/being rude- i'd be crystal clear on that. "I need to be able to give you constructive feedback without being rude/arguing/putting it back on me. This is not negotiable. Is this something you can do?"

askamanager.com is great for this kind of stuff.

Thank you!

[madringal]

Ever company I have ever worked for (banking) requires that we have all side and part time jobs approved. Does your company have a policy like that?

[shopgirl07]

The MLM thing is a non factor. Her performance is poor, you’ve spoken to her about it and it hasnt improved. Why are you so invested in keeping her? It sounds like she’s been completely unprofessional and rude to boot. When you don’t hold employees accountable it sends a terrible message throughout the organization and really kills morale. Let her go.

[boxertdog]

Apr 27, 2022 19:54:25 GMT -5 shopgirl07 said:

The MLM thing is a non factor. Her performance is poor, you’ve spoken to her about it and it hasnt improved. Why are you so invested in keeping her? It sounds like she’s been completely unprofessional and rude to boot. When you don’t hold employees accountable it sends a terrible message throughout the organization and really kills morale. Let her go.

Honestly the only reason is because HR is already swamped and so am I so training someone new right now makes my heart palpate. I initiated a call with HR yesterday to implement a PIP and final warning. Sigh. She used to be great, I just want her to go back to it. I think I was hoping she'd figure out this MLM wasn't making her any money and go back to normal. Doesn't seem like it's in there cards.

[boxertdog]

Apr 27, 2022 16:07:09 GMT -5 madringal said:

Ever company I have ever worked for (banking) requires that we have all side and part time jobs approved. Does your company have a policy like that?

Nope. We should probably implement one though. And be really clear about company time, using your laptop etc.

[shopgirl07]

Apr 28, 2022 7:18:09 GMT -5 boxertdog said:

Apr 27, 2022 19:54:25 GMT -5 shopgirl07 said:

The MLM thing is a non factor. Her performance is poor, you’ve spoken to her about it and it hasnt improved. Why are you so invested in keeping her? It sounds like she’s been completely unprofessional and rude to boot. When you don’t hold employees accountable it sends a terrible message throughout the organization and really kills morale. Let her go.

Honestly the only reason is because HR is already swamped and so am I so training someone new right now makes my heart palpate. I initiated a call with HR yesterday to implement a PIP and final warning. Sigh. She used to be great, I just want her to go back to it. I think I was hoping she'd figure out this MLM wasn't making her any money and go back to normal. Doesn't seem like it's in there cards.

I get it, it’s super disappointing, but I think you’ll find a huge measure of relief once she’s gone and you’re no longer at the mercy of her moods. 

[dr.girlfriend]

I think you've gotten good advice. Training a new, good, motivated person will be much less heartache in the end than letting her attitude problem drag on.

[Deleted]

Guess those patches aren't working, eh?

Just going to echo what everyone else has said. This isn't about the MLM for the most part. It's about the fact that she's been given warnings and not listened. Now that she's on the PIP she can either improve or go. It's in her hands to decide which path to take.

[boxertdog]

Apr 28, 2022 9:03:33 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

I think you've gotten good advice. Training a new, good, motivated person will be much less heartache in the end than letting her attitude problem drag on.

This is so true.

[boxertdog]

Apr 28, 2022 9:16:43 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

Guess those patches aren't working, eh?

Just going to echo what everyone else has said. This isn't about the MLM for the most part. It's about the fact that she's been given warnings and not listened. Now that she's on the PIP she can either improve or go. It's in her hands to decide which path to take.

She wears like 3 at a time. :/

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[fernweh]

Apr 27, 2022 19:54:25 GMT -5 shopgirl07 said:

The MLM thing is a non factor. Her performance is poor, you’ve spoken to her about it and it hasnt improved. Why are you so invested in keeping her? It sounds like she’s been completely unprofessional and rude to boot. When you don’t hold employees accountable it sends a terrible message throughout the organization and really kills morale. Let her go.

So much this. We had an employee at my job that was just not performing and it was allowed to continue for YEARS because as far as management was concerned the work was getting done. And yes it was getting done because it was being loaded on to other people. The good employees who they knew would get the work done, who were then overwhelmed. It destroyed moral to a point where everyone either quit or adopted and if she doesn’t have to why should I attitude, which in turn made tasks not get done. That was when management took notice and did something about it. But honestly it was too late and the team continued to suffer.

The pain of letting a bad employee continue to be a bad employee is far worse than the short term pain of training someone new.

[waverly]

Did you do a performance improvement plan when you met with HR? If not, it sounds like it is time since this has been on a while. Have HR give you the proper forms to fill out. Then I would meet with your boss and/ or HR to discuss the PIP. Then meet with the employee.

Basically, then you as the supervisor would report back to your boss and HR about the PIP weekly to see if there has been improvement. Typically there is 30 days, I think so about 4 weeks. If you see improvement then they stay on after the 4 weeks, and if you don't see improvement then they are terminated. If they improve but falter again, you go through the PIP process again. One outcome might be that they realize they are not hitting the metrics and they quit.

[boxertdog]

Apr 29, 2022 12:53:43 GMT -5 waverly said:

Did you do a performance improvement plan when you met with HR? If not, it sounds like it is time since this has been on a while. Have HR give you the proper forms to fill out. Then I would meet with your boss and/ or HR to discuss the PIP. Then meet with the employee.

Basically, then you as the supervisor would report back to your boss and HR about the PIP weekly to see if there has been improvement. Typically there is 30 days, I think so about 4 weeks. If you see improvement then they stay on after the 4 weeks, and if you don't see improvement then they are terminated. If they improve but falter again, you go through the PIP process again. One outcome might be that they realize they are not hitting the metrics and they quit.

Helpful info, thank you. We didn't do a formal PIP the first meeting but I told our HRD we will need to do one this time.

[dr.girlfriend]

Just adding to this, it really took me back to the days when we were dealing with a similar situation at my workplace. The person was failing in their job responsibilities for a long time, but we let it drag on. Then when it became clear they were on the verge of being fired they actually took a medical leave, which meant we didn't have *anyone* in the position but couldn't rehire because the position wasn't open. It was literal years of terribleness. So much better to have a swift and merciful resolution than to let things drag on.