As mentioned previously, as part of my climb to the top I’ve unfortunately been lumbered with staff. One of whom is a very surly-alpha-return-from-parental-leave employee who is crankily struggling with juggling parenthood/part-timeness. The other is the spoilt offspring of pal of MrT and of best-pal of [foreign country] PM with whom the SaltMinesLimited hopes to do some form of lucrative deal.
Yay me!
Sigh.
MrsCranky is cranky (quite justifiably so in some respects, SaltMinesLimited does not deal at all well with return from maternity leave), but I think I can work with her and we will form a Superior! Team!
Bratson (who currently is casual while he sorts his visa) is both charming and personable. Unfortunately 6 weeks in he already has proved to be quite hopeless and is increasingly slacking. Every task he “completes” requires extensive re-work (despite detailed verbal/written instructions/screenshots). He also requires a massive amount of supervision – so much supervision that I am now working 10+ hour days so I can hand-hold and eventually barely complete my own work.
I’m still trying to cement myself as a star to MrT and, because of the relationship, there is a slight suspicion that Bratson might be underperforming because I am not giving adequate instruction/guidance. If it was not for the relationship with MrT, Bratson, being casual, would be long gone.
Much to my disgust, after Bratson had taken it upon himself to take 2+ hours for lunch without telling anyone, I was compelled to have “the chat” to him. Topics ranged from spending way too much time in the kitchen (“but the biscuits are so delicious”), going missing for hours without informing anyone of his movements, not undertaking required reading/exercises, poor quality of work &etc &etc.
MrT, to his credit, was pretty horrified by Bratson’s conduct and had his own version of “the chat” with him. Unfortunately Bratson seems to operate under the misapprehension that he can charm his way out of these situations.
Having a day off on Friday, I left MrsCranky and Bratson with a good deal of work to be going on with (MrsCranky more in the form of handover notes for tasks/projects she’ll be taking on). MrT was aware of the tasks I’d left Bratson and agreed that they were reasonable.
Imagine my suprise to receive an email Friday evening from Bratson informing me he’d completed taskB, but really didn’t understand what he needed to do with taskA (which I’d spent over an hour patiently going through with him on Thursday). Fortunately I went through same task with MrT who thought it easy.
I’m hoping in light of this I can soon divest myself of the Bratson millstone.
Sigh.
Honestly, GenY? They really need some sort of bleak economic climate (or a war) to sort them out.
Bratson sounds hideous. No good can ever come of this kind of quasi-nepotism. Just keep documenting everything.
Today was quite wonderful because the horrible little creature called in sick. I’m hoping it is something that requires many days off – though it quite amazingly coincides with the day MrT told him he need to have himself sorted out and decide if this role is for him (clearly it is not).
Unfortunately I sense that MrT still wonders if it is my instruction.
Little monster.