- Are they reliable? Is the employee calling in sick more frequently? Are they arriving late and leaving early?
- How efficient are they? Are they becoming sloppy in their work habits? Taking shortcuts and drawing complaints from co-workers or even patients?
- What about their appearance? Are they looking more disheveled lately? How about their speech--is it noticeably faster or slower? Any weight or mood changes?
I realize, looking this over, that there were some glaring differences in the woman at work. She once had been so open and easy to get along with, and in past 6 months or so, she had become more secretive and stand-offish.
Still, I knew she had gone through a painful divorce and I strongly believe in giving people latitude to work out their problems. Her work was still of a professional enough level that I even told some people to back off when they criticized her for being short with them. I explained that she was going through a rough patch and would eventually work things out. I still hope that's true.
Any stories or insight you'd care to share would be more than welcome. I appreciate you listening to mine.
posted by Anne @ 10:16 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I am also very trusting and we had an employee embezzle alot of money from our research program. I kept telling our physician's something was going on with this employee but she had been working for our company for 16 years and they thought they trusted her as well. It just goes to prove that as a manager you should always go with your gut feeling on a person and just approach the employee or physician's with your thoughts.
As with previous articles and comments about staff, we tend to be pretty compassionate with staff. It really does hurt when one of them steals, violates policies, etc.
It bears reiterating that persons who start being late or missing time a lot need early intervention. Problems that linger become a lot harder to solve.
It is very hard to anticipate all of the ways in which people may try to take advantage of the practice. Reviewing systems for holes is very important. Receipts written at the front desk are very important to control. Access to prescription pads or script writing software needs to be very restrictive. Drug samples or emergency meds also need restricted access. The list goes on.
Finally, it seems unfortunate, but keeping some distance between staff and supervisors and providers seems important. Both supervisors and providers can have their judgment impaired when there are close relationships with staff. It also opens up the potential for various legal complications.
I understand a lot about addiction, due to the fact that I am a recovering addict. For years, I tried to keep this a secret,and justified my use of my "prescribed medicine" due to pain from an car accident. But my desire for the "medicine" became worse. My work suffered, my personality changed, and I started taking sick or vacation leave to stay in bed bombed out of my mind. It's hard to explain by behavior. My work suffered and my staff covered for me. They would tell me that I had a problem, but denial is one word that we addicts depend upon. I didn't have a problem!!!!! A little over 3 years ago, I almost died (30 pills a day will do that to you). My PCP admitted me to a psych ward to withdraw from the medicaton. Now that was hell. I was not in a place with just addicts. I was locked up with people that were violent, had committed crimes, etc. And we were behind doors that were locked, and were escorted everywhere (eating, etc.). After therapy for 3 months, I left clean and sober. I have been clean eversince then. My work improved. When adversity hit, I have been able to deal with those situations logically. I attend NA. NA considers addiction as a disease. I see it as selfish satisfaction. My advice for all those that have co-workers in this type situation is to give them the hard approach. Do not cover for them, do not feel sorry for them. If they are coming to work high, and their work is suffering, give them an ultimatum. Get help, get clean, or be fired. Document everthing. Do not believe their excuses. And for goodness sake, DO NOT feel sorry or have pity for them. They will feed on this until they have run your dry. Addicts feed off pity. Send them to see a person that specializes in addiction. Just remember that an addict must realize that there is a problem. If they are forced to get help, and have not admitted they have a problem, you are wasting time. As supervisors, you are allowed to visit NA meetings. Listen to the other stories. And one thing is for sure, you can't BS another addict. I hope all managers out there have a positive results.
I once had an employee who I suspected of stealing our sample medications, even though we had good controls in place, she had been a long time employee who had one of the few entry keys to the building so could come in at will. I had to have our security services run a report for all her access times and address it this way. She still did not admit any wrong doing and because I had no concrete evidence, could only wait as well. I alerted my providers and head nurse about my suspicions. She acutally stole a few flu shots and administrered them to her friends, one a child given an adult dose, YIKES...the liability of this caused me a more than a few gray hairs as she was a receptionist and not a nurse. I put her on administrative leave pending the internal investigation and ultimately fired her 5 days later. Once she was gone, my locked sample closet was never tampered with again.
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