Problem with a tech

[Lisochka]

I will need your advice on this, please
I have been a pharmacy manager since November so I want to do things correctly, I guess. One tech transferred to my store a couple of month ago. She had issues at another Walgreen's store as well.
I have had issues with her being late a lot, trying to leave earlier and then trying to make up hours later...
Now I am having an issues with her attitude.
I will just tell you what happened yesterday.
Couple of weeks ago I told her that every Saturday I will schedule her for an inventory. I told her you are not helping customers, you are doing an inventory. (I think I mentioned to her that if we completely be behind we will ask her to help with customers, but I do not remember 100 percent for sure if I said that. ) Yesterday, I asked her to help me with the customers because we were struggling to catch up.
she came to help with the customers and then she said that she is tired of not finishing her work because we keep asking her to help with customers. She also said that she wants to leave earlier today again and then make up hours later. I spoke to the assistant store manager and she said no, so I passed it on to her.
She started arguing with me that I told her in the past that Saturdays will be her inventory day and she should not help customers. To which I replied that 15 minutes of helping customers is not going to interfere with her inventory. She kept arguing with me and repeating the same sentence. To which I said that I will go get the assistant store manager to help us with conversation. She said" You are the manager, why are you going above your head? I don't need the assistant store manager to be involved in this" I told her that I needed the assistant store manager to be involved into this and went and got the assistant store manager.
When me and assistant store manager came in the tech said that she does not want to talk to us and she will be dealing with HR.
Assistant store manager said that we are trying to resolve the situation and make it better, but the tech said that I was not listening to her so she will be dealing with HR.
Assistant store manager asked me what do you want to do? Do you want to document this situation? I said yes. Then she asked if it was ok for both of us to continue our work and if the environment was hostile for both of us working together and I said quietly, I don;t know...Then the tech was asked the same question and the tech said : "Yes, I feel that the environment is hostile and I want to go home" so she left.
Later on she wrote a letter to HR about me. I don't know what she wrote in it...
What do you guys think?
1) Should write my side of the story to HR? If I don;t then her letter makes a dent in my career. I guess it will do it anyway, but at least they will hear my side of the story.
2) I want to give her a verbal warning for being constantly late. My friend says I need to give her also a verbal warning for disobedience as well.
3) She wants to be a senior tech, but after yesterday's situation I am not sure if I want her to be a senior tech.
4) My other friend says that this tech is crazy ( my friend is only basing her opinion on this situation and personally does not know this tech) and I need to transfer her out...
What do you guys think?

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[Momus]

You will get a call from HR to explain your side of the story and everyone else involved. Nothing will happen to you.

Techs don't run the show, you are the manager. Time to make her life a living hell. Document when she is late/leaving early, being insubordinate, unproductive, every single mistakes. Write her up. 2-3 offenses, give her last and final warning. Fire her.

 

[M0df]

Sounds like you failed to document any of the ongoing issues, which is a problem. I hope you made store manager or rx sup/dm aware of this at some point in the past. As Momus said, document everything from now on. Forget verbal warning unless it is your company policy and you have no proof of previous verbal warnings. My guess is HR will have her transferred to a different store to limit the liability. If they don't, you need to have a very short leash, and not just with her, as she will be looking for proof that she is being singled out.

 

[farmadiazepine]

Write her up 3 times and fire her. Seriously? She doesn't listen.

 

[BMBiology]

If they don't, you need to have a very short leash, and not just with her, as she will be looking for proof that she is being singled out.

If she had acted like this at the other store, why didn't they fire her? What do you think is the reason?

 

[littleowl]

Sounds like part of the story is missing. Why would someone suddenly become openly hostile? Also, if your previous instructions were for this tech to stay away from the patients while conducting inventory tasks and you consistently drag him/her away from their assigned duties to help with patient care, it is a direct contradiction to the previously given instructions. You admit that you're unsure about whether you mentioned patient care duties during your conversation with this person which leads me to believe that it was never said. I'm not saying that's what has happened here but it could definitely be a contributing factor in your tech's frustrations, especially if this person has a limited amount of time (short shift) to complete their work. Is this individual the only person who is required to work every single Saturday? That can also cause problems if this person has not requested to work every weekend. I have no comment about the late/leaving early/calling in issues because we have a zero tolerance policy and it's very effective. As mentioned above, documentation of ALL offenses prior to this is going to be key in the conflict resolution so I really hope you've been keeping up with it in a written format.

 

[Old Timer]

Sounds like part of the story is missing. Why would someone suddenly become openly hostile? Also, if your previous instructions were for this tech to stay away from the patients while conducting inventory tasks and you consistently drag him/her away from their assigned duties to help with patient care, it is a direct contradiction to the previously given instructions. You admit that you're unsure about whether you mentioned patient care duties during your conversation with this person which leads me to believe that it was never said. I'm not saying that's what has happened here but it could definitely be a contributing factor in your tech's frustrations, especially if this person has a limited amount of time (short shift) to complete their work. Is this individual the only person who is required to work every single Saturday? That can also cause problems if this person has not requested to work every weekend. I have no comment about the late/leaving early/calling in issues because we have a zero tolerance policy and it's very effective. As mentioned above, documentation of ALL offenses prior to this is going to be key in the conflict resolution so I really hope you've been keeping up with it in a written format.

BULL. I am the lord and master of my pharmacy. If tell my staff to do something, they do it. Period. Unless what I ask is:

• Illegal
• immoral
• unethical
• against company policy

They do what I say. Just because the manager planned for the person to perform inventory duties does not mean if 12000 people show up at the register at one time the person cannot change what they do. You might need to have a conversation and say something about planning to do X but Y became more important. But the tech does not decide their duties, the manager does. I can reassign them any time I feel like it for any reason I deem appropriate.

 

[owlegrad]

I am confused, what does it mean to do an inventory every Saturday?

 

[Lnsean]

i know it's hindsight...but document...document..document...when you have a serious "talk" with her..make sure another manager is in on the conversation. it is very easy to hire someone but hard to fire them.

 

[Estrace]

I am confused, what does it mean to do an inventory every Saturday?

Maybe they have an inventory coming up and just preparing for it. Some pharmacies are so disorganized that every task is such a huge deal. A well run pharmacy does not need to delegate someone to come in every Saturday just to prepare for inventory.

You need to grow a backbone and stop involving assistant store manager in issues with your techs. What that tells them is that you're not capable of taking charge of the pharmacy that you're supposed to be in charge of. I'm a staff pharmacist and my techs do exactly what I ask them to do, no question asked.

 

[SClENCE]

Every time she is more than 5 late = write up. If she tries to leave early the answer is no. If she leaves anyways she is considered to have walked off the job and is instantly fired. I wouldn't bother involving the assistant manager. Who the hell asks to leave early and "make up the hours later"? If they were needed later they would be scheduled later. You can't make your own hours. It doesn't matter if you told her she would have to deal with customers or not. You are allowed to change your mind and if she cannot do what is asked of her than you can find someone who will.

I wouldn't be worried about what she says to HR. What is she going to say? The pharmacist wouldn't let me leave work early? I am mad because I didn't get to do that the task thatI wanted to do within the pharmacy? LOL

 

[CynicalIntern]

Nthing the choir here, but your assistant manager has no jurisdiction in your pharmacy. You are the manager. You make the rules. If your tech can't go home early, they can't go home early. If you are re-arranging the tasks that you set for them to do and it isn't unreasonable, they have to deal with it. All this "deferring to the assistant manager" makes you look weak and like a pushover. It's your pharmacy, don't let anyone else tell you how to run it.

 

[owlegrad]

HR would say to have someone as a witness for any write ups, like an assistant manager.

But I will echo what others are saying, you are the boss. She does what you tell her to do. If she is late write her up (I would have a witness). If she wants to go home early, no. If she walks out that is job abandoment.

Contact your supervisor right away about this, they will not appreciate this kind of surprise.

 

[maria1oh]

I don't think that's 100% fair to schedule someone every Saturday for inventory. And if they were assigned to do inventory then let them do inventory. If it gets too crazy with customers then page the assistant manager to come back to help or just make them wait a little longer. Staff should be treated just as well as the customers.
I have seen plenty of times when supervisors and trainers come into the store and don't bother to help out if it gets hectic.

 

[BidingMyTime]

Unfortunately, you've handled this situation wrong from the beginning, which is going to make your job very difficult from here on out. At least in you favor, is the apparent fact that she has a history of being a problem employee, hence why she was transferred to your store.
Many commenters have already done a good job explaining what needs to be done.
Key points:

1) whatever you do, make sure you are using the same rules for everyone (or have a work related reason why you aren't...like why is she the only employee who is doing inventory, you need to have a valid reason why, such as other technicians are trained to do things she can't do, and they are needed for those function--but if this is a case, you need to have a training schedule planned to train her to do those other functions as well.) If you don't have a valid reason why she is the only employee being asked to do inventory, then you need to share the work equally.

2) document everything, and have a management witness for everything. Unless your assistant manager is responsible for firing technicians (I highly doubt this), then your assistant manager should not be saying anything to the technician. Call the assistant only to witness your discussion with the technician, but you should be the one doing all the talking.

3) have a talk with *ALL* your employees, and let them know that while you have been lax in following company policy (at least it sounds to me like this is the case, I've never heard of a company that wouldn't mandate a write-up for leaving a shift without permission.) Do not single out the technician in question during this talk. Just let everyone know that people are expected to work their hours scheduled, unless they have asked for those hours off *before* the schedule was posted. That you will *not* approve people leaving early, except in the case of an emergency (and make sure you have in writing what constitutes an emergency, death in the family, hospitalized spouse, etc.) or in the case of unforeseen work circumstances (ie snowstorm is keeping all the customers away.) Then write-up every instance, for every employee, from here on-out. Follow your company's escalation policy on discipline.

4) Don't get in petty arguments with her. If she has honest confusion about job duties, then talk to her about how priorities may change on a day-to-day basis, due to customer load, etc. Otherwise, don't waste time repeating yourself. Tell her what she needs to be doing, if she refuses, then write her up per your company policy.

5) Who is your immediate boss? I think you should talk to your immediate boss about this situation, and get their feed-back as well, on the best way to handle the situation.

 

[Lisochka]

Thank you guys so, so, so much! I feel so much better having all your opinions
I have done documentation, I just wrote about few last weeks late instances but posted them all together on Saturday. I hope me posting them all in one day is not going to look super bad...
I think I am going to talk to my store manager about writing her up for being late, and for inappropriate behavior in front of customers. Also I will tell her, with a witness, of course, that no more leaving earlier unless its an emergency...
I don't feel comfortable talking to her without a witness, so I will continue to involve store manager or such...
Thank you guys so, so ,so much I really appreciate your input

 

[Lisochka]

Oh, and I will also ask her if she feels ok to work every saturday and do an inventory...May be I should split it between all the techs...You guys gave me really good points. Thank you so much

 

[sosoo]

if firing her makes u feel uncomfortable, then reduce her hours until there's no hours left to reduce.

 

[Lisochka]

Thank you so much!

 

[littleowl]

BULL. I am the lord and master of my pharmacy. If tell my staff to do something, they do it. Period. Unless what I ask is:

• Illegal
• immoral
• unethical
• against company policy

They do what I say. Just because the manager planned for the person to perform inventory duties does not mean if 12000 people show up at the register at one time the person cannot change what they do. You might need to have a conversation and say something about planning to do X but Y became more important. But the tech does not decide their duties, the manager does. I can reassign them any time I feel like it for any reason I deem appropriate.

Well that's certainly one way to view it. Respect is earned, not given freely. If your support staff doesn't respect you because you're a spineless crybaby who throws tantrums and then defers to management that has no jurisdiction in your department then that's on you. None of this overlord mess is going to fly in my pharmacy...mostly because the other pharmacists have no idea how to perform tech duties so if they decide to mutiny, I'm on my own. We can't afford to deal with power grabs and self-important jackassery so everyone is given a task list weekly. If your task list (as a tech) needs to be changed, one of the pharmacists or interns has to ASK you to change it, not demand it. Same goes with scheduling issues. I don't expect many people work in a department structured like mine but it works for us.

 

[Rouelle]

Well that's certainly one way to view it. Respect is earned, not given freely. If your support staff doesn't respect you because you're a spineless crybaby who throws tantrums and then defers to management that has no jurisdiction in your department then that's on you. None of this overlord mess is going to fly in my pharmacy...mostly because the other pharmacists have no idea how to perform tech duties so if they decide to mutiny, I'm on my own. We can't afford to deal with power grabs and self-important jackassery so everyone is given a task list weekly. If your task list (as a tech) needs to be changed, one of the pharmacists or interns has to ASK you to change it, not demand it. Same goes with scheduling issues. I don't expect many people work in a department structured like mine but it works for us.

I know several people who run the show completely and are able to do so solely because they have earned the respect of everyone in the pharmacy. They work harder than anyone else on staff and know how to do every job. They tend to be a pleasure to work with/for.

 

[Old Timer]

Well that's certainly one way to view it. Respect is earned, not given freely. If your support staff doesn't respect you because you're a spineless crybaby who throws tantrums and then defers to management that has no jurisdiction in your department then that's on you. None of this overlord mess is going to fly in my pharmacy...mostly because the other pharmacists have no idea how to perform tech duties so if they decide to mutiny, I'm on my own. We can't afford to deal with power grabs and self-important jackassery so everyone is given a task list weekly. If your task list (as a tech) needs to be changed, one of the pharmacists or interns has to ASK you to change it, not demand it. Same goes with scheduling issues. I don't expect many people work in a department structured like mine but it works for us.

Your choice entirely. I decide what needs to be done. I am free to change my mind as circumstances warrant. I don't do it capriciously. But ultimately I am responsible, so things will go the way I want. My staff respects me because I have earned it. I work hard, I make their lives as easy as possible so when I chuck plan A and go to plan B, they know that I know what the heck I am doing. I always say please and thank you. But when your boss says please get the register, it's a formality. You get the register.

 

[littleowl]

Your choice entirely. I decide what needs to be done. I am free to change my mind as circumstances warrant. I don't do it capriciously. But ultimately I am responsible, so things will go the way I want. My staff respects me because I have earned it. I work hard, I make their lives as easy as possible so when I chuck plan A and go to plan B, they know that I know what the heck I am doing. I always say please and thank you. But when your boss says please get the register, it's a formality. You get the register.

I'm sure that there are pharmacy teams that function very well with one chief and plenty of grunts. I applaud that because it suggests that you've built a cohesive work unit. Here there are at least 14 techs, 3 interns, and 8 pharmacists scheduled daily so we don't really have the luxury of building respect and trust. Everyone is expected to pull equal weight according to what they're capable of and it works out pretty well.

 

[owlegrad]

But when your boss says please get the register, it's a formality. You get the register.

I was thinking the same thing. When I say, "Can you please get drive thru?" I am not really asking if you will get the drive thru or giving an option, I am just being polite. I appreciate when my boss shows me respect and I try to show my support staff how much I appreciate what they do. It is not necessary to be rude to the staff in order to get them to do the job; really I think you get more respect when you show respect.

 

[Dysic]

Every time she is more than 5 late = write up. If she tries to leave early the answer is no. If she leaves anyways she is considered to have walked off the job and is instantly fired. I wouldn't bother involving the assistant manager. Who the hell asks to leave early and "make up the hours later"? If they were needed later they would be scheduled later. You can't make your own hours. It doesn't matter if you told her she would have to deal with customers or not. You are allowed to change your mind and if she cannot do what is asked of her than you can find someone who will.

I wouldn't be worried about what she says to HR. What is she going to say? The pharmacist wouldn't let me leave work early? I am mad because I didn't get to do that the task thatI wanted to do within the pharmacy? LOL

To opener: you are the boss and you need to act like the boss. Needing the assistant manager to resolve pharmacy staff issues shows weakness. Let her know you are the boss, it's your way or the highway!

 

[Deja]

yeah the fact you keep getting the assitant manager involved AND from your description where you whispered "idk" gave me the feeling that you are not very authoritative... which as a manager you need to be or no one is going to respect you

All the best managers I worked with have these traits: they know how to do everything, can joke around with the techs BUT also have this mean ahole side to them where the techs are "scared" of them,

if you want to do something, you make sure you clearly let everyone know, such as customers first above all else. Main thing is tho, you have to make sure you know how to do everything in the pharmacy so you can make other peoples work easier too

some techs may just have an attitude problem and there is nothing you can do, in which case you fire them

 

[IDontHateYou]

LOL.... I'm not even a pharmacist yet... and I'm starting Pharmacy school in the fall

I would never do some of the things this tech has done, period.

Leaving early? Who the heck does she think she is? I would expect to be fired if I did this on a regular.
Frequently late? Again, who does she think she is?
Refusing to do certain task? BS. Anytime I've ever had ANY job, and my boss ask me to do something (as long as it was reasonable) I always did it, even if I didn't want to do it... and I kept a friggin smile on my face. Not like he asked her to jump off a roof. Very simple task, help me out with the customers for a few minutes. This alone, she should be written up, and fired.

Sure, Techs deserve respect, but lets be clear here; they are not the boss of the pharmacy, the Pharmacist ARE. If you don't like that, go back to school and become a Pharmacist; not my fault you took the easy way out.

I'm planning to work as a tech in my first year once I get my intern tech license and I look forward to learning as MUCH as I can about the pharmacy and doing ALL task asked of me. Surely, if I was told to do inventory and then the pharmacist called me to the front to handle some patients, I would have jumped to it right away, without a word. ESPECIALLY, if I'm sometimes late and leave work early. That Tech's got some real balls.

Somebody needs to professionally & respectfully put her in her place. I'm not saying be a jerk, but you're the boss man. Don't let some tech punk you around.... you earned your title bro.

 

[SClENCE]

Did she get terminated yet?