Help with Situation

drehil

EE gets frustrated, hits wall and then storms out of building. EE comes back in a couple minutes later and apologizes for his actions to all witnesses. HR recommends EE is suspended for 3 days and put on 90 day probation. EE is also requested to seek anger management counseling-no EAP. EE supervisor says if EE is not fired he will quit. How would you handle this situation?

NeedCoffee

I'm assuming that either the EE's behavior at that incident was WAY over the top or that EE has past history of angry behavior to justify suspension and probation. If you are handling this incident in accordance with your disciplinary program, then I think your actions are great.

As for the EE's supervisor - I would have a conference with the supervisor explaining the actions that were taken (disciplinary program) and the importance of a consistently applied disciplinary policy. Explain that under the program, the EE has not done anything to qualify for immediate termination, therefore you are going forward with progressive discipline.

Bottom line - if the supervisor cannot handle/follow the company's policies, tough luck - let them quit. You can't break precedent just to placate one supervisor. Try to involve the supervisor in the disciplinary process - ask them for ways to improve the situation. That way, the supervisor still feels like they have some control over the situation.

Good luck!

ray a

What caused the frustration? Was somebody or something pushing his buttons causing him to lose control? Did he cause any damage to the wall? Has he had any other disciplinary action leading up to this incident? I would say you need all the facts leading up to the situation before you make a final decision. Based on the fact the ee returned on his own and apologized to everyone who witnessed his actions, I would probably not terminate. Your suggestion of suspension and anger management seems reasonable.

Paul in Cannon Beach

To me, the HR response seems a bit heavy handed but perhaps its appropriate for your organization to deal with outbursts in that manner.

The EE's ability to come back and apologize to everyone tells me he just lost his cool. I'd probably go with a one day suspension and recommend anger management only if there had been other incidents.

The part I dont understand is the supervisor. What does the supervisor mean by saying the EE will quit if he is not fired?

Its funny you bring this up because we had a supervisor blow his top here last week. No hitting the wall or anything. He just chewed out his staff. It was out of character for him so a simple apology was all that was needed.

ritaanz

Ray's questions need to be addressed before I would suggest any form of action. If this is a first incident, I would write the incident up and follow the company's discipline policy.

Why is the supervisor so angry?

drehil

Thank you for all your help. I do know that there are other questions that need to be answered for you to totally make a judgement call on this one but even without them being answered you have helped me greatly. I will let you know how this plays out.

SMace

There is a lot more going on between the super and the ee than you may know.

I think you have handled it well. You say you suggested anger mgmt and not mandated, right? I think you counsel the ee and let him know the consequences if this happens again and then let the super quit. If the super acts like that you're better off in the long run if he does quit.

drehil

Situation played out as expected..supervisor resigned. Hated for it to happen this way. Thanks for all your help.

ray a

Ultimately no one is indispensible. If the irate ee is truly repentant and has been a good worker otherwise and is salvageable, and the supervisor was being unreasonable and following their recommendation would have put the company at risk, then you made the right decision.

ritaanz

Sounds like there was something more between the supervisor and the employee than this fit of anger.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out with the employee that apologized. I suggest talking to him and making sure he doesn't make a scene by celebrating. Recommend to him that he not comment in any way.

GJohnson

We had a manager with an anger management problem. It started at first with foul language. It progressed to throwing items......and hitting and damaging a door.

The first time that he hit and damaged property we made him pay for the damages. In every case he apologized.

When we had another incident of "in your face" behavior, we found out that he was provoked by another employee.

To solve the problem, the employee who provoked the situation was sent to a class on getting along with other people. The manager who had lost it before was required to sign up and attend a minimum of 6 sessions for anger management. He was told that failure to complete the course would lead to immediate termination.
We were able to locate a low cost program where the courts send offenders. The program was used to working with "required" situations and was able to provide proof that the discipline was met.

The manager later thanked us for requiring his attendance in the program and said that he had learned a lot.