【Sherry’s Leadership Story】我應該開除她嗎? Should I fire her?
凱西的小主管來找我聊凱西日漸低落的工作生產效率以及職場情緒問題。凱西是隸屬於我職掌的開幕籌畫團隊中的門店商品陳列專員, 在她的小主管跟我討論凱西的工作狀況前, 她已經連續好幾個月在工作上犯錯拖累進度, 且開始有越來越嚴重的情緒控管問題。
Cathy’s supervisor came to me to talk about Cathy’s low productivity and emotional issues. Cathy was an on-site product implementation specialist of store opening team under my supervision. Cathy had been making mistakes and let her emotions out of control during work several months before her supervisor sensed that the situation was getting worse and decided to discuss it with me.
凱西其實有將近二十年的零售通路現場營運經驗, 但是在工作上的情緒性發言, 甚至有時會口語上霸凌較資淺同事, 已不只是她自己的生產效率降低, 整個團隊的工作效率以及士氣都被影響, 更別提她因情緒不穩犯下的大小嚴重拖累團隊專案的錯誤情事。
Cathy had almost 20-year seniority in the company and was experienced in store operation. The situation got worse when she started to speak emotionally at work and sometimes verbally attacked a younger teammate. It was definitely affecting morale of the team, damaging productivity as well. No to mention mistakes that she made had seriously delayed team’s project schedule.
當我找凱西談談, 想了解究竟發生了什麼事時, 她哭了。
凱西哭說: “我想我太老了, 我無法跟上大家的腳步。小主管跟年輕同事開始將那些紙本的工作流程作業電子化, 雖然小主管有給我幾個月的時間去適應跟學習如何操作, 但是我就是學不會, 我就是習慣用紙本作業。對不起, 我沒有控制住我的情緒, 我媽媽現在生病住院中, 不管是工作還是家庭, 我都覺得好挫折, 壓力好大。”
It was time to talk with her to understand what happened. Then she cried: “I think I am too old to catch up. The supervisor and a young teammate start to file work documents in a digital format, which I still used to do it in paper. I know the supervisor has given me training classes and months to adapt to the new digital documents, but I just can’t understand it. I am sorry that I can’t control my emotion. My mom is in hospital now. I am so frustrated and stressed in both work and personal live.”
我了解她的感受, 但是同時我也需要解決她無法跟上團隊進度以及情緒問題, 如果繼續下去, 她會拉著團隊走到厭世無士氣的惡性循環。
I understood her situation but it was also true that she couldn’t catch up with the team. If she couldn’t control her emotional issues, she would decrease the team productivity and created a dark hateful environment.
問題是: 我真的應該開除她嗎?
Should I fire her?
要不要做這個決定前, 我重新檢視了造成問題的幾個因素:
Before making the decision, I reviewed the core issues again.
(1) 凱西無法適應電子化工作流程。但是她愛這個公司, 這個零售產業, 而且她有二十年第一線門市營運經驗。
Cathy couldn’t adapt to the new computer world but she was deeply engaged with the company and loved the retail business. She had 20-year operation experience.
(2) 凱西的情緒壓力另一方面來自母親生病住院, 她表達她想要更換工作地點到離家近的地方, 以便有更多時間照顧家庭。
Cathy’s mother was ill in hospital and it put her in stress. She wanted to work somewhere close to home so that she could spend more time with her family.
我們需要做的是減輕凱西的壓力來源, 並找到可以讓她有效發揮經驗值的地方。我們跟凱西再次溝通討論, 也尊重她的意願, 將她轉調部門到靠近她家的一間門市, 讓她可以發揮她第一線營運管理經驗, 同時也因為離家近, 有更多時間可以照顧生病的母親。
What we needed to do was release her stress and used her experience in the right place. Therefore, we had another discussion with Cathy. With respect for her preference, we transferred her to a store close to her home, and she could use her experience while spending more time taking care of her family.
凱西並不是一個壞員工, 她只是不再適合原本的職位。
最後, 當我們將她放到了合適她現狀的位置, 讓她可以發揮豐富的實務經驗, 並兼顧家庭時, 她又恢復到以前那個有生產效率且全心付出的優良員工。
Cathy wasn’t a bad employee. She was just in the wrong position.
In the end, we put her in the right place where she could use her experience with consideration for her family needs, she became a productive and engaged employee again.
