Supervisor's job requires shift of perspective, responsibility

I am a supervisor in one of the college dining halls of a large university. We have an experienced employee who says he is going to quit the college without giving any notice. He says that he can't stand his boss anymore and wants to leave him in way that will cause the boss to be in a mess. I used to be a co-worker of this guy before I was promoted and I don't know if I should tell my manager about this or keep it to myself. If he does what he says he is going to do, it would put the rest of us in a difficult situation until we could find a qualified replacement, which could take a long time. I am not sure what the best thing to do is in this situation.

Being a supervisor holds a broader scope of responsibility. In fact, the supervisor's role requires a shift in your perspective on matters such as these where the good of the employer is at stake. We all have to take into consideration our personal relationships when choosing among alternative courses of action. As a co-worker it would probably feel like the betrayal of one of your buddies, but as a supervisor, the good of the larger group becomes foremost.

In this situation, I would first try to talk this man into giving notice for his own selfish reasons. He would benefit from a potential good reference, the ability to be rehired at a later date, under a different manager, a chance to resign and say goodbye to his associates and keep the lines of communication open for needed connections in the future.

In my experience, burning bridges at work simply does not pay off in the long run. I have seen this type of behavior, taken in anger or disappointment, actually hurt a person late into their careers, so as his friend you might try this approach.

If that fails I think you need to share what you know with the manager to whom you report and he or she can then decide how to handle the information, including being discreet about the source. It also sounds like this man is spouting off his intentions to other people and you so don't be surprised if word may have already gotten to the management of your college dining hall.

Keeping notes will help produce a fair review

As a new manager, I know I will be required to do annual performance reviews for the seven employees who report to me. The company I work for does a special training program on how to use its performance management system but my concern is how will I be able to remember all the positive and negative things that employees do throughout the year. I don't want to treat employees the way that I was treated when my previous bosses only talked about what happened during the last few weeks or the last few days before the review took place.

Your description of your prior performance reviews is not uncommon. Most managers don't have enough time or just want to avoid doing these annual or semi annual reviews. As a result they write what comes to mind from recent memory just before the deadline for submitting the reviews to human resources and rush to get them over with. The product of this type of poorly put-together review is, for most employees, just as you described: a feeling of being short-changed and unappreciated.

I have heard this tendency referred to as the ``recency effect."

To avoid this problem, many supervisors keep notes of different occurrences or incidents that happen throughout the year on each of their employees. The manager records items that come to his or her attention from a variety of sources such as a satisfied customer, a missed deadline, repeated errors or lateness, a well-done report, a successful event, and their own observations.

This can be done in a notebook divided into sections for each employee or on index cards that can easily be dropped into the employee's file or a separate place that best works for the manager's style. I always jotted these down in my calendar on the day it occurred or came to my attention and then reviewed these notations when starting the performance evaluation process.

Actual examples will always strengthen the credibility of a performance review. Managers also need to relate their comments to the performance of the individual's job responsibilities and incidents that may have occurred. Where possible, try to look for patterns in behavior and trends in individual performance. This includes noticing improving trends and changes in performance that are disturbing.

If the employee's job has changed since their last review, be certain to consider the current job performance as primary when doing the evaluation. If a plan to improve performance becomes necessary, you can base it on the current needs of the position being reviewed using specific examples that help the employee understand what is being asked of him.

Vacation pay is due to terminated employee

I know of a local company that does not compensate an employee for unused vacation pay when the employee is fired or is involuntarily terminated. The employee in this situation has an employment agreement that states he will earn the vacation. The company's claim is that in committing the offense leading up to the termination, the employee has forfeited this benefit. I hold that vacation is an accrued benefit, earned by the time he has been on the job, and should be paid just like his earned salary at the point of termination. I would appreciate your opinion on this matter.

In Massachusetts, accrued vacation time is considered to be wages. Wages are paid on a regular basis and are paid in full. Employers do not have the option to delay the payment of wages owed either by providing the employee with a partial payment or by waiting beyond the time limits set in the law. For example, an employee who voluntarily resigns can be paid all wages owed up to six days after his or her last day of work. An employer may not choose to skip or miss a payment of one's salary, no matter what the reason.

When an employee is fired, that employee must be paid the full amount owed by the end of the last day that they work at the company. This final pay must include all money due including earned vacation pay.

The Massachusetts Payment of Wages Act is enforced by the office of the attorney general. To speak directly to your point regarding the relevance of the existence of an employment agreement, the Massachusetts attorney general's office published an advisory on vacations. It states, ``Under the Massachusetts Wage Act, after separation of employment, regardless of whether for cause or not, employees must be compensated by their employers for vacation time earned `under an oral or written agreement.' Withholding vacation payments is the equivalent of withholding wages and, as such, is illegal." If you want additional details about how vacation is treated in Massachusetts, explore the attorney general's website at: www.ago.state.ma.us.

Linda Lerner is a Boston-based executive coach and a human resources consultant. E-mail questions to jobdoc@globe.com or mail to Job Doc, The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 55819, Boston, MA 02205-5819.