I'm the local team lead for a company that does military contracts. One of my team members has been running the gambit on infractions, and it has gotten to the point where I have to act.
I've already spoken to this person a couple times about his performance issues.
This person is currently on vacation (a cruise), and is scheduled to be back at work on Monday. I pretty much have to confront him, because I've taken the work that was his and given it to other people. If I didn't, then the work wouldn't get done in time and the whole team would suffer. The rub is that I cannot officially fire him; that is a job for my supervisor. I suspect that my supervisor is going to do that himself when he visits our location in a couple weeks.
So there is going to be a couple week period where he knows he is probably going to be fired, but he'll still be on the premises. I already know he's angry with me, because he's been accusing me of micromanaging him. I know this guy has a family, and I feel bad for him for that.
I might take the cowards route, and make it seem like he's still working, while just letting other people do the real work (because I can't count on him to do the work). I might do this until my supervisor comes into town and does it himself.
There is also the chance that he may be kept around because he has a lot of certifications, and looks good on paper. It is contract renewal season, which means my company kind of needs him for his credentials, even if the rest of the team has been doing his work.
I feel horrible about this. I don't think he's a nice person (I believe he is cheating on his wife), but I've been laid off twice, and I know how much it hurts to be out of work.
I'm also a bit scared, because the guy is a former Marine, and bigger than me. Granted, I work in an office with a lot of former Marines (who are awesome folks). I tend to overthink things like this, and the likelihood of any actual workplace violence is statistically pretty low.
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If I don't take the work from him, we'd have late deliverables to the customer, which is bad news as we're trying to make sure we put on our best face as we want our contract renewed.
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Going off your post and this, he might not be far off in the micromanaging department.
There seems to be a lot that you're not telling us (or can't), but right now it's coming off like 'I don't trust this guy, so I'm taking away all his work'. The fact you're doing it while he's on vacation doesn't help things either. Unless his vacation came out of nowhere (and if so, why would it have been approved?), his time off was scheduled far enough that any work would have already be distributed.
He is going to assume that he is getting fired when I tell him other team members are assuming control over his files. So essentially, I'm the one who is giving him his first clue that he is going to be fired.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
Then you should talk to your boss and explain that and say he should fire him sooner or else he'll be sitting around doing nothing.
There's been other stuff going on, like an audit revealed he was billing 14 hour days to take Fridays off, when he wasn't in the office more than 8 hours each day.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
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Pretty much no organization in existence wants somebody who knows they're fired to have access to anything, much less depend on them for customer deliverables.
Moreover if you start treating him like he's fired and then he isn't fired...you've made him effectively unmanagable from your POV and that's a failure at your job.
Talk with your supervisor, make sure your opinion is the same as his opinion. Tell him your concerns about being unable to assign work to him because he won't be there or won't do it. Each of these are directly under his control, not yours.
I would not let him back in the building.
Yeah, that sounds better than my initial idea. I'll write up an email to my supervisor explaining the situation, and then follow up with a phone call on Monday.
My only fear is that my supervisor may keep him around because he needs the warm body to fulfill the contract.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
Dude is committing fraud against the company. I'd tell my supervisor if he still wants him around when he's committing crimes that's his business but that the dude needs to not be in my area under my leadership. Alright "I'm not comfortable with having somebody who is forging reports under my leadership, I can't take responsibility for somebody who I can not trust."
The point is, before you act on this yourself you need to tell somebody within the company what you're thinking to make sure it doesn't go horribly wrong and then YOU get fired.
Also, keep any e-mails you send or receive on the subject. Save a copy to your computer or a portable drive. Maybe print a hard copy for your records.
Basically, you don't want to risk playing a game of "I said, boss said" without some backup.
That's a pretty big problem, but it isn't YOUR problem. If that has been discovered and reported already I'm pretty shocked his desk hasn't been cleared out already, even if he's on vacation.
Either way, YOU don't do anything. I wouldn't even take his work away unless your supervisor tells you to do so.
You had to take some work away while he was on vacation, but until further notice you should proceed under "business as usual". If HE doesn't do the work he is assigned, that is just more logs on the fire he's roasting himself with.
I would also be VERY direct with that work. Tell him what he needs done, and by when, and that you expect a status report on progress for x items every x amount of time. It is then up to him to do the work and follow the process. If he doesn't, call him on it.
And if it gets too close to deadline and there's not enough progress, then you can assign another person to help, CCing both of them and perhaps the supervisor.
Aside from that, follow what your supervisor and/or HR direct you to do.
If all that you say is true, his time is limited. Certs or no certs improper time charging is a big deal.
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Be careful about this. If you're working for a company that fulfills military contracts, keeping emails may very well run afoul of all sorts of legal issues.
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You also want to absolutely minimize how much exposure you personally have to this entire process – and that includes taking on tasks that are outside your area of responsibility.
Edit – It’s fine to tell your boss, “I will make sure that X’s work and projects are passed on to other colleagues to provide a smooth transition for our customers,” but when it comes to people getting fired, it’s rarely good to go above and beyond.
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Now if someone accidentally emails you something from a SCIF. Well enjoy that spillage paperwork. YEESH.
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I can also understand his hesitancy; we do not want to appear bad when our contract is up for renewal. The quieter this is handled the better.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
For military/government ( I am assuming US) work, this isn't lawsuit bad, this is prison time bad.
If you are a bigger company (it kind of sounds like it), you may have an ombudsman that you can refer possible unlawful activities to.
That said, as some one who has been in your position, I try to side track the person to tasks that are least likely to hose the project delivery.
At least if he's on single person specific tasks, the billed hours are more simple to track for later issues.
Good luck.
I tell people here to quit making me have to do my job on a regular basis.
Maybe this guy just can't get the hang of the MS application being used, though in theory he should of had more hands-on time with it than me at this point.
Overall, my team/copmpany is pretty kick-ass, and we're one of the better (if not best) contractors where I'm at. I've seen a lot of contractors that are a blight, but not us. The sad thing is, the ones who are the recipients of our hard work aren't necessarily the ones who decide whether we can stay on contract.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
Sometimes people just have to be fired. Keeping someone on when they can't do the work is not kind to them, and not kind to the rest of the team. He'll probably be upset at the news, but later on he'll come to realise it was the best thing, when he gets a job more suited for him.
I bet you're real popular at the morgue.
Now if the COR is just blindly approving invoices and isn't doing shit and the guy is defrauding the government the office of the IG would be more than happy to put some IG Dick into the COR and the fraudster, but it would fuck your company in the process, super hard super fast, and you would be out of a job. If you send it to the ombudsman, he would likely just send it to the IG, or to the COR.