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AlphaDog wrote:
[quote=josntme]
One of the first things that I learned in management school was how to get rid of an employee with out firing them.
1. Assign them menial tasks and when they're thru discard whatever they did in front of them and give them another menial task. Repeat as necessary.
2. If possible give them irregular hours of work.
3. Move them around to different work stations repeatedly.
4. Be unsupportive.
One of these or a combination will most assuredly cause them to quit.
Everyone in management can't be the good guy.
Have you found any one of those to be more effective then others? Quicker? Responsible for getting you in trouble? 
I was district manager for a national company's sales force and I found number 4 to be the most effective in that setting. The company didn't want to fire anyone because the fired employee could file for unemployment benefits, and of course they didn't want that. Believe it or not, the unemployment commission usually sides with the employee even if fired.
If it were me I would check with the "human resource" (or what ever your company calls it) and see what policies are in place to terminate someone. They should be able to give you guidance as to the steps necessary and the paper trail you must keep to cover your, and your company's, ass.
I have only fired one person, but have had many quit. I once had a woman that I told I was keeping records necessary to terminate her employment and she could see the records at anytime and I was coordinating all this with the human resource dept. She resigned within a month.
Lots of luck. It ain't easy being the bad guy, but the overall good of everyone and the company must come first. If someone isn't making you money, then you don't need them.
On edit: If you set around worrying if someone will retaliate, then you don't need to be in management.
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Grumpyguy wrote:
Literally, I can't fire her under company rules.
I don't understand that at all... You've got your hands completely tied.
Jeff
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Well, not only do you have a terrible employee; it's also about impossible to have respect for your boss.
Bad employees learn very quickly how far they can push things. She knows she won't be fired. There is nothing for her to fear.
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paper trail
cut hours and/or mess with her schedule
have "customers" write letters to the company complaining about her.
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I didn't post earlier because I thought it was pretty harsh to recommend that you screw with her work situation/duties/schedule to get her to quit.
If you can not fire her, assuming it is possible, about the only other option is to change her duties so that she never comes in contact with customers.
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In gov't, it's often difficult to fire people but it CAN be done; but, things must be well documented. I suggest the following:
Document her shortcomings!!!
Develop a "corrective action plan" (sorta like being on probation - shape up in x length of time). In such a plan, you document the shortcomings, what needs to be done to fix them and what YOU as her supervisor will do to help the process. Then you meet regularly, discuss the progress, etc. Each time you'll have a checklist of items & sign off on each. You'll document whether she's making progress or not. If at the end of the corrective action plan (I think in the case of the one I had to do, it was 60 days) she hasn't progressed, then you take further disciplinary action.
The nice thing is, when you have SOLID documentation, it's a lot easier to terminate someone. It's a lot of work but it's what has to be done to prove one's case.
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I have lots of experience with this very situation. Not as a manager myself, but watching my previous manager. When you have a problem employee that you cannot let go, for whatever reason, you give them more and more rope while withholding assistance. Let the employee hang themselves bad enough and the managers will take action. It sounds bad but ultimately the employee either succeeds on their own or fails on their own.
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You're in retail that explains a lot. If you're in big box retail it explains even more. If you are supervisory at all, transfer her to a department that has less public interface. (shipping and receiving?)
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One other thing to consider is that maybe you suck at coaching. Teaching/coaching/mentoring is a skill like anything else and some are better at it than others. It's no sin to not be good at it. It could be anything from you suck in general at it or, maybe you don't, but, for whatever reason, you and this "student" just don't connect.
You've got a pretty damaged relationship with this employee. Rightly or wrongly (To be fair, we do only have one side of the story) your opinion of her is in the dumper (And don't assume she doesn't realize what you think of her, including the "... she isn't the brightest bulb in the marquee;" business), two botched firings, and now losing your cool and yelling at her (If it was in front of customers and/or co-workers double the damage done).
If your hands truly are tied, is there someone else, another supervisor or maybe senior employee, that you can let have a shot at coaching her?
As for making her life miserable, I'd be very careful playing that game, particularly with the history you two have already. The phrase "hostile work environment" comes to mind. Even if others have gotten away with it, under who knows what exact circumstances, it doesn't mean you will.
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...they have documented actions such as:
1. Being assigned menial tasks and when they're thru, having whatever they did in front of them discarded and then given another menial task. Repeated often.
2. Given irregular hours of work.
3. Moved them to different work stations repeatedly.
4. Being unsupported.
this, most assuredly, accounts for most of the workplace shootings.
There is no small amount of truth in that statement.
One of the first things I learned in life as first line supervision is that a supervisor who results to unethical behavior including but not limited to the above, is an asshole, and not a leader. Such people do not belong in management, though they tend to do well in the food service industry.
Suggestions regarding harassing her to force her to quit are ill-placed and are overt signs of the inability to manage.
Several good points have been noted. Bad employees quickly learn the limits of bad or no management. Managers at any level who don't manage end up with the employees they deserve.
...pretty harsh to recommend that you screw with her work situation/duties/schedule to get her to quit.
It is in fact pretty harsh and illegal. And stupid. And telling of bad management.
Grumpyguy, you are screwed. From your description, she *can't* be fired (because she *won't* be) and she won't quit. Learn to live with it. Assigning her work outside of customer service is a proper alternative to termination.
If that can't be done, she can't be fired, and you can't control your temper, then your job is in jeopardy, not hers.
If properly documented (key, as many have mentioned) management will through you under bus for various reasons if it mitigates their responsibility in a lawsuit. Not that this would ever come to that. Employees don't ever sue employers for mistreatment and harassment. At least, she probably wouldn't, right?
Whiip's point is well taken. If you *can't* find that person, then Blankity also offers some outstanding perspective and advice. This along with some Zen may be your only solace.
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