Scenario: The Problem Employee
You are a supervisor at your company. You’ve overheard your direct report, Sheila, making offensive and inappropriate comments to other employees, and Scott, another of your direct reports, has complained to you about these comments. You’ve given Sheila a verbal warning in the past regarding these kinds of comments, but you’ve hesitated to put anything in writing because you know that Sheila is good friends with your boss and you don’t want to do anything that might negatively impact that relationship.
However, Sheila’s comments are only getting worse and more frequent. Now Celia, another of your direct reports, has come to you and demanded that you do something “once and for all.” You realize, belatedly, that it was an error to not address this behavior in writing and on record before, and it is time to give Sheila a strong written warning for this conduct right away. If you don’t, you might be the one finding yourself in trouble. Moreover, the whole company might suffer from this hostile work environment.
Compose a message to Sheila (you may supply a last name of your choosing) in which you detail the problem behavior and explain what actions she must take in order to correct her behavior. Provide a time frame in which the problem behavior must be corrected, and explain what the consequences may be if she fails to make the required changes.
Like the Week 1 Homework, this assignment should be in the style of a formal memo. Ideally, it should be no longer than one page long. It should be detailed enough, however, to explain the problem behavior, provide the corrective action plan, and explain the potential consequences of not adhering to the plan.
