Interrupting employee may not be aware of need for boundaries
Q. I am a manager of a small office administration group and I have been the manager here for four months. The problem I have is with one of the employees in our office who often interrupts me. This employee comes into my office to ask a question or to tell me that something has happened and he does this throughout the day. It appears that he cannot stay seated because if I am not there he will interrupt others with his questions or comments. These questions are usually about things that he should know the answer to or that he could easily look up. He has been with the company for over eight years and his previous managers have tolerated his behavior.
I have tried to stop these interruptions by not looking up when he walks in my office or giving a sharp or sarcastic answer but nothing has made a difference. Do you have suggestions for me to help change this distracting situation?
A. This is a problem of boundaries. Your employee does not seem to see any and you have not yet made your boundaries clear to him.
Whether your employee was raised in a household without a strong awareness of basic personal boundaries or he just developed this type of personality, you need to address it in a very direct manner.
That means scheduling an appointment to discuss the matter and being prepared for a very surprised reaction and even a denial from him.
Many people who have this problem see themselves as conscientious and believe that you should be impressed with their checking in with you all the time to make sure they are doing what you want. If they didn't care so much about doing the right thing they wouldn't bother you, right?
Due to this, I would suggest that you begin the conversation with something like, "You may not be aware of this but I am noticing you ask me a lot of questions and it frequently interrupts my work."
After you get through the denial part of the conversation or anger that you do not appreciate his careful work style, it will be important to come back to the topic and the problem it is causing for you. Stick with the facts of the matter and your recommended solutions:
- Your employee needs to become self aware of how often he goes to your office with questions or comments. You also need to keep count so that improvements can be noticed.
- He should try to get the answers he needs from other sources such as reference manuals, existing files, past reports, calling a vendor or researching on the Internet. Only after he has tried these other resources, should he then write the question down to ask you later.
- Arrange to meet with him every day, let's say at 3:00 p.m. to handle his questions. If he continues to interrupt you or asks questions, do not answer them and just say with a smile, I'll see you at 3:00.
Obviously, in urgent or emergency situations you need to make it clear that you expect to be interrupted.
Assisting such an employee with setting priorities may be helpful because it sounds like everything feels very important to him and his sense of urgency may be exaggerated.
The loss of productivity that you experience by being regularly drawn away from what you are working on and having to regroup and get back your focus after each interruption is a heavy cost.
I want to suggest that you also consider the degree to which this employee is potentially unproductive as well due to his inability to concentrate over time and to complete tasks without repeatedly asking questions.
Because this type of personality sometimes craves recognition, you may want to develop a few specific ways to recognize and reinforce the behaviors you are trying to get him to demonstrate.
Remember that he has an obligation to learn how best to work with and adapt to you, his new boss, in the same way that you are trying to work effectively with all of your new employees.
I expect that this behavior will not change easily. It has probably been a lifelong personality trait of his and it has been accepted and reinforced by other previous managers. If this problem persists you will need to treat it like other performance concerns with a written warning, a poor performance review and more serious steps as appropriate.
Keep in mind that as the new manager, you define a job well done and those who work for you have an obligation to try to succeed within this definition of success.
Employers should get familiar with new FMLA
Q. I have heard that the federal Family and Medical Leave Act has recently been changed or expanded in some ways. As an employer who falls under the FMLA, I need to know if there is anything I should be aware of or do differently. Also, when are these changes or additional benefits taking effect?
A. Just last month, the president signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which amended the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide two new types of job-protected leave in certain circumstances. These circumstances involve members of the armed forces, including the National Guard and those in the Reserves.
To review briefly, FMLA generally covers public agencies, elementary and secondary schools, and most companies with 50 or more employees. The recent amendments have added military family leave to the existing leave types, which provide eligible employees of up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period for certain family and medical reasons. Most people are familiar with the FMLA and think of this law as it relates to time off for reasons such as maternity leave, caring for an employee's child within one year of birth, adoption, or the initiation of foster care; caring for a child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition; and for times when an employee cannot perform his or her own job because of a serious health condition.
I spoke with Sally Adams, an attorney in Milton who represents employers in employment and labor matters. She explained that the expanded FMLA military family leave will add to the reasons an eligible employee may take job-protected leave.
One of the new types of military family leave covers an eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a member of the armed forces, and who needs time off to care for the service member when he or she is undergoing "medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, is otherwise in outpatient status, or is otherwise on the temporary disability retired list, for a serious injury or illness."
The serious injury or illness both must have been incurred in line of active duty and may render the member medically unfit to perform the duties of his or her office, grade, rank or rating. This type of leave provides up to 26 weeks in a 12-month period, as opposed to 12 weeks for other family and medical reasons. The 26 weeks of leave is available on a one-time only basis, however, it includes the 12 weeks the employee would ordinarily be eligible to take for other family and medical reasons during that 12-month period.
Employers have been required to provide this type of leave since the new law was passed on Jan. 28, 2008, without awaiting new regulations from the US Department of Labor. Until these regulations are finalized, the Labor department has said it will require employers to act in good faith to provide this type of leave.
Adams described the other type of military family leave as covering "any qualifying exigency" arising out of the fact that an eligible employee's spouse, or a son, daughter, or parent is on active duty or has been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the armed forces in support of certain military operations. Although employers are not required to provide this type of FMLA leave until the Labor department issues final regulations defining "any qualifying exigency," Labor is seeking comments on a number of issues it has identified, and has said it will issue the final regulations as soon as possible. In the meantime, Labor is encouraging employers to provide this type of leave.
With such a large number of military service members currently on active duty or facing call to active duty, employers should carefully consider any request that comes out of an eligible employee's need or requirement to assist a family member in the military. Adams suggests that employers become familiar with the new military family leave requirements before the need arises. Employers should consider informing employees of the availability of the new military family leave, revise their existing FMLA policies, and revisit the policies again once regulations are finalized. Until then, employers may use the existing FMLA procedures regarding notice, substitution of paid leave, use of intermittent leave, and the effect on other FMLA leaves, if any; and may require employees to provide medical certifications or other FMLA related documents to support the leave request.
Linda J. Lerner is an executive coach and a human resources consultant to small businesses and individuals. She can be reached at linda@lernerconsulting.com.
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