How to Approach This Situation at Work?

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  jno on 04/12/2018 - 17:09

  Are they hitting their productivity and kpis everyday? If so leave them be as long as they dont make it look stupidly obvious they are doing nothing if not than it becomes an issue

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  crashloaded on 04/12/2018 - 17:35

  Are there any employment agreements in place? Sounds like your work needs to create one that includes social media.

  I work in a government job and my agreement has social media clauses in it, which can basically lead to disciplinary action if breached.

  3 strikes and you're fired.

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  Juzz51 on 04/12/2018 - 17:36

  -2

  Sawasdee krub

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  Tasmaniac on 04/12/2018 - 18:25

  To be fair this is precisely what HR are employed for. Sounds like job satisfaction is failing and HR need to implement some tactics to improve morale
  Implementing a social media policy is the obvious choice however that's something that should be decided by HR.

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  Morphio25 on 04/12/2018 - 18:30

  As someone on the flip side of this situation I'd say if your employees are spending that much time per day on Social Media then you don't have/aren't giving them enough work to do.

  Personally I'm in the position where I don't have enough work to do much of the time such that I could spend a lot of time on social media if I chose to do so. So long as your employees are getting their work done then what's the big deal? If you still don't like it then you need to make sure there is enough work for your employees day in day out.

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  cantstanzya on 04/12/2018 - 19:21

  130 hours a year of intentionally wasted time is acceptable

  Lol at public service

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  ratman on 04/12/2018 - 19:29

  Sounds like a leadership issue. Either they're not keeping people motivated, or too scared to manage them out.

  Not just a public service problem, I've seen plenty of dead weight in the private sector as well. Though its much easier to hide in the public sector, and takes longer to get rid of actual slackers once their identified.

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    curious101 on 04/12/2018 - 23:54

    True, I am not the best at it, but taking all the ideas on board and will learn. Thanks.

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      ratman on 05/12/2018 - 07:49

      Yeah it's hard. I'm not great at it either, but have recognised it and am improving slowly. All the best.

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  Korban Dallas on 04/12/2018 - 19:56

  -1

  To be frank, you are the manager, manage it. It's your job.

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  MessyG on 04/12/2018 - 21:06

  +3

  Here's some thoughts (I work in the hospital system which is a very specific microcosm but some of this might be transferrable), take what resonates, leave what doesn't:

  1. Is it possible to sit down with them individually and have a chat about their aspirations? Getting to know them a bit and getting to know what their goals are can be helpful. Especially if you take it upon yourself to help them achieve those goals. Leaders don't tell people what to do, they inspire people to be better.

  2. Can you set up a meeting with everyone mid-late week where everyone reports in front of each other where they're up to with their tasks? Partly for a little bit of shaming (trying to be mindful I'm from an exceptionally bullying work culture so this might not be appropriate!) but also partly for everyone to collaborate and offer some suggestions on areas where people might be getting stuck.

  3. Try swinging by people's desks/cubicles/whatever their space is and asking to see their to-do lists once a fortnight. If their tasks are not well-defined, everything will seem insurmountable and they'll escape into social media. If they have a task-list that you can say you expect them to have it done by the end of the week, and trust them to do that, then it doesn't matter so much how much social media they're on as long as they get it done.

  4. Kind of a rehash of point 1, but try getting to know them. Getting to know people doesn't mean trying to be cool or liking what they like, it means asking about them about themselves and their lives etc. The very best communicators don't talk - they listen. The more connected they feel to each other and you, the more they'll put down the phone.

  All of this takes a lot of time and a slow buildup of trust. You can't do it quickly and you can't do it with bullshit trust games. They need to feel like they can come to you and tell whats going on for them without fear of reprisal and that is bloody hard to achieve. Doable though. Good luck.

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    curious101 on 04/12/2018 - 23:55

    Thanks a ton MissG, extremely helpful.

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  cuteduck on 04/12/2018 - 21:30

  +1

  Becareful about unfair dismissal, union involvement, Fairwork Australia and you may get into trouble for bullying and harrasment. You may be the one who get fired if not thread carefully.

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  ZippyRoo on 04/12/2018 - 22:20

  +3

  As a manager you should really be thinking about why they're on social media, rather than how do I tell them to get off social media. Has he/she actually completed their tasks and have so much free time now that they're browsing online? If yes, then it is time for you to think about how to make better use of that person's efficiency and progress that person to do something greater. A great manager should never be afraid or worried about your staff's progression, as they move on, you will be moving and progressing along too. Your senior managers might not be focusing on your growth as much as before, because they're expecting that you have the experience and maturity to bring it up yourself now, and so you should.

  If your staff is not completing his/her tasks and is still procrastinating, then it is time for you to find out privately one-on-one why it is the case. Maybe they don't like what they're doing, maybe they're having issues with another colleague, or maybe they're experiencing some family crisis. You should show that you care and are always willing to listen, and will give them the support to work through those issues. However, at the same time, set some firm KPI's in a few months time so that they have enough time to resolve their issues, but you're also sending the clear message that their behaviour will not be tolerated forever. Even for your other staff, you should always tailor the KPI's differently for each person and work it out with them on what they'd like to do, and what they feel comfortable achieving. Raise a few challenges for them throughout the year when you know them well enough, and when they look back over their working career in the future, they will thank you and always remember you as a great mentor.

  When you do need to have that dreaded conversation with an individual, try not to bring up a particular action which has no direct link to the project or the organisation, that won't be received well. For example, instead of just telling them that you've noticed they've been browsing online a lot, you could say 'you agreed to complete a task by Monday but it's already Tuesday today and the task is still not delivered, and as a result the project timelines now need to be shifted'. Whether the delay is caused by them procrastinating online or not doesn't really matter here, it's more about the direct impact their actions have on the organisation's deliverables.

  Lastly good luck and hopefully your workplace culture will improve in the near future.

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    curious101 on 04/12/2018 - 23:57

    Thanks a bunch.

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  JungliChilli on 05/12/2018 - 08:05

  This is why everything will get privatived eventually.. (referring to the people working under the op).. And you know what, it's simply fair enough that they want to privatise everything..

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  Quagles on 05/12/2018 - 08:56

  If the staff are getting the job done leave them alone. If they can get more work done you think, up the amount of work they have to complete. Might reduce phone time.

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  zwolf on 05/12/2018 - 10:33

  Yeah, you are being a pushover. If that really bothers you.
  I'd suggest a group talk about it, about the concerns being handed down to you about if YOU are doing YOUR job, echo your sentiment to them about an occasional breather on social sites to be acceptable but not to be surfing/checking constantly or there will be repercussions, upper mgmt might be looking to shake things up if the lack of productivity isn't addressed.

  Basically foist off the blame on upper management (that's what they're there for), and a "guys, my job is on the line too, please stop (profanity) around" vibe would be more likely to shame them into proper conduct then going straight to "I'm the boss, do it or else".

  After that's addressed, then you can do the "what are you doing right now? Is this being productive? :/" desk-side chats and they'd be better received. My 2 cents.

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  squall3031 on 05/12/2018 - 10:59

  Propose a restructure. That's what my workplace did. And here I am….at work browsing Ozbargains. LOL.

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  kaleidoscope on 05/12/2018 - 12:48

  You should stop where it begin. Why do they tend to use their phones? Addiction? Probably… so how do you stop that? Keep them busy and engaged with work.

  Assign them enough work so they are kept busy. If they dont meet deadlines then you have valid reason to evaluate the cause. If they dont have enough work then you cant possibly do much.

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  lonewolf on 05/12/2018 - 15:55

  +3

  Sorry but from my experience in corporations public or private. The problem is usually middle managers, a lot of times those are roles that didnt exist before and never needed to be made but were made to make the manager above them have less work and more delegation time. Public sector problems arent with the actual staff or "indians" but rather too many chiefs / middle managers who have no work as there are so many of them and they end up trying to micro manage staff or find more ways to have meetings and other time consuming activities instead of letting staff do their work. I am sure everyone has small mini brekas where they check phones or whatever, its about the work that is output at the end of the day and if its reasonable or not. And frankly if the public sector cut back on the middle managers , they would save a lot of money as well as will be able to hire more staff to do work.

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  mezje on 05/12/2018 - 18:49

  Is there productivity significantly lower than other colleague?

  When I worked at a large company I found I was often bored and seeked out work but nobody wanted to put in more effort than was required and I was left to just browse the net like everyone else.

  Situation could well be different but I found fulfilling a role someone without much computer literacy was doing left me with a lot of time/boredom which in turn drained my motivation.

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    curious101 on 06/12/2018 - 00:48

    totally agree, thanks.

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      mezje on 06/12/2018 - 18:35

      No worries, the fact you are thinking about issues like this is good and not just pointing fingers at the younger people and saying they are addicted to phones etc.

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  Commander Shepard on 05/12/2018 - 19:42

  +1

  Very interesting topic. But no I wouldn't go and do a blanket ban or start pointing fingers.

  Find a way of getting involved more with each individuals project or tasks.
  Like a group meeting every day or two to go through their current work. It means other members of the team and yourself can chime in and assist and it also means it shows your actively interested and watching over. If a response isn't good enough, point out the problem (as you are talking more that dialog will not come across as rude).

  Perhaps there isn't enough consequences/weight on deadlines. Or they feel their work does not make a difference. Or if they are meeting all of their targets they may need more work.

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    curious101 on 06/12/2018 - 00:50

    Very helpful, thanks.

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  No ONE on 05/12/2018 - 22:09

  Does your team have enough task to keep them busy? I find public sector to be very slow and not enough task to keep staff engaging.

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  greatlamp on 05/12/2018 - 22:42

  -2

  What you should do is treat each worker on case by case basis

  The 4 quadrants of employee engagement is used as a coaching tool to identify which employees to train and, most importantly, which ones to get rid of.

  link

  Employees who have low potential and low enthusiasm for their work are poisoning your workplace culture. You cannot fire all the trouble makers, especially not in a public organisation where the problem is so widespread.

  But you MUST have consequences delivered, and employees who aren't worth keeping should be given little slack.

  As in Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', first you must explain the rule of no non work related activities at your desks.

  It won't work, so you need to keep a lookout, and when you see the poor behaviour, immediately speak with the employee (in private - its not a public humiliation). Ask them if they understand the rule, then ask them if they understand the purpose of the rule, and why it is necessary. Explain the reasoning to them again. (this will make you appear like you are treating them like a fool, don't worry, they already treated you as a fool by ignored the rule). Do not get upset with the employee, just explain it to them as if they didn't understand.

  if the same employee shows again the poor behaviour, this time you involve HR/document the issue. You have given them 2 chances, now there is consequences.

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    curious101 on 06/12/2018 - 00:53

    Thanks a ton, this was extremely useful. The link did not work, but I was able to find the appropriate source (4 quadrants of employee engagement).

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  CheapBase on 06/12/2018 - 01:20

  Lol can't we all just get along, everyone is trying to make a dollar. If employees arent showing motivation, then clearly they don't like the work. Initiate and move them to a different area of the business. Simple as that.

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  CLoSeR on 06/12/2018 - 08:22

  There a processes in place to handle this; workplace conduct.

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  [Deactivated] on 06/12/2018 - 09:46

  This is one of those liberal safe haven jobs isnt it

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  syousef on 06/12/2018 - 10:01

  +3

  Wow, the level of sociopathy on this post is off the scale.

  It's really simple. Give them more work. Not a ridiculous amount more. A reasonable amount more. If they're getting the job done, great. If they aren't getting the work done talk to them about that. If you don't have work to give them that actually contributes to your organisation's goals, you need to look at that aspect.

  Don't worry about micromanaging social media time - whether they're loitering in a bathroom, using social media or just staring off into space and daydreaming makes no difference. What matters is getting the work done.

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    [Deactivated] on 06/12/2018 - 10:21

    +1

    Great response in a mass of ugly ones

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      syousef on 06/12/2018 - 11:57

      Thanks.

      In my experience most people greatly over-estimate their ability to be a good boss.

      When I fill in for mine, I consider myself "okay" and I think if I was interested in doing it for years I'd get good over time, but possibly never reach "great". But I am not interested in moving up in that way full time.

      Being a boss is like being a parent. Becoming one is no where near as hard as being a good one.

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  [Deactivated] on 06/12/2018 - 10:19

  You should not be spending extra time on the weekend doing work. Your weekends are for your personal time. You're not a robot. The point of being a permanent full time worker is that you will have times when you are less productive and times when you are more. You can't really force productivity, and the organisation is not going to thank you for working in your personal time.

  I did feel the same as you, and occasional I still do a sneaky bit of work from home, but it's a really bad habit that you should work on stamping out.

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  KingstonTheNotSoWise on 06/12/2018 - 11:51

  My situation is a bit different cause it's in retail, not in an office environment. The latter leaves a bit more room open for this since everyone's in what I'd imagine is a slower environment. I can easily observe my staff cause they're all in 1 spot out in the open, not behind desks. When I was a supervisor, most of the troublesome staff I've had to deal with has always been under 25s as well, they weren't browsing social media but were reckless & careless, often leading to a lot of problems down the line with both HQ or customers.

  I don't mind staff doing some personal stuff here and there as long as there isn't any work to be done, which isn't always the case. I don't care if they want to talk among themselves, to me; that helps with team building, but as long as they're working while they do it. If I caught them browsing social media on their phones or yapping while there were customers in the store or while there's any work that needs to be done, I'll call them out on it and not kindly either.

  You're probably more likely to be more experienced than I am at this stage as I'm only acting manager and still young, but books I've read and a mentor I've got; have taught me that you need to be able to evaluate both yourself & the staff, to find the root of a problem. I'm a firm believer that every problem as a root that's never to be automatically assumed before finding out where the root is first. Are your instructions clear? Are you assigning the right staff members to the right task? Are they being overworked, under paid? Are they being made to feel like they aren't worth it? Are you leading by example or just giving orders? There's so much more.

  On top of that; you need be able to flick a switch in yourself. If a casual & soft approach isn't working, then a stern & hard approach MUST be applied.

  The problem is these days, younger staff between 16-25 and maybe even 25-30+ on rarer occasions, are reckless in general and a lot of the time aren't shown proper consequences & discipline for their actions. In part because of the way society frowns on old fashioned discipline for those growing up in this day & age. Of course that's a generalisation but it will obviously vary from person to person or group to group, team to team etc…

  Since you did the 1 on 1 with them (which would be my last resort after telling them directly) and it has been ineffective; what I take from this is that the staff were like "oh my manager told me not to do this, har har I'll just do it anyway because they'll just nicely tell me not to do it." so they are not seeing any consequences for their actions and equally not respecting you. My next step would be warning letters for each staff member. 3 warning letters and they're fired, plain & simple. It might sound harsh but this is the real world, not high school or uni. They need to learn their actions now have an impact on more than themselves. A weak link in the team is bad for everyone.

  I would also suggest reading The Art of War (the most vanilla version you can get in English, not the crappy re-interpreted 1s) and SAS Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces, both are amazing & insightful books. The latter focuses on not just purely management of staff and teams but management of yourself, because self evaluation is vital, like a I said, the problem could actually be you. Both books have actually kind of helped me approach my work with a lot more confidence than I'd have expected, to a point that when I was applying for a promotion, I was able to handle the interview with reasonable confidence (the interviewer was once a military general surprisingly lol) and now I'm able to handle my staff with reasonable confidence as well.

  Although I'm still learning myself but this is just an idea of the way I'd handle staff that aren't meeting their KPIs or doing tasks I've assigned. I've been able to approach staff who have tried to give me excuses or make mistakes to a point that instead of being given a response along the lines of "haha rip" or a careless "oh okay" (if I get a response like that I call them out on it as well) I can see the crushing effect it may have, they apologise and really realise their mistakes and even try to rectify them or avoid the same mistake next time, because I make sure they know I'm out for blood after the first few mistakes. Equally, when I assign tasks and they achieve it well or exceed my expectations, I make sure not just themselves know but the rest of the team know as well.

  Being a casual & fun manager is great, it creates a fun & safe workspace and can lead to a pretty tight team, that is the kind of manager & leader I want to be at all times, but again; you need to be ready to shut shit down when it gets out of hand and if THAT doesn't work, well, it's time for them to find work elsewhere and let someone who deserves the role a chance to step in.

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  RICKYLOVESYOU on 06/12/2018 - 12:03

  You dont have a minimum KPI employees have to meet? Personal performance reviews every month?
  Incentives for going above and beyond?
  There are tons of ways to get your team motivated. Use google.

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  myusername on 06/12/2018 - 12:43

  -1

  easy fix, talk to IT department to block those sites

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    mauricem on 06/12/2018 - 13:25

    -1

    Not so easy, IT policies are rarely applied at team level. Try blocking all social media sites at department level and expect to be indicted by the UN for crimes against humanity

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      myusername on 06/12/2018 - 14:48

      really?
      have worked for companies that block social media sites

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        Quagles on 07/12/2018 - 08:06

        Im guessing very small companies?

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          myusername on 07/12/2018 - 10:48

          @Quagles: one of them is one of aust largest.

          not going to name drop i know fellow workers and managers are on here

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    idonotknowwhy on 07/12/2018 - 13:31

    4g on the phone

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  peterpeterpumpkin on 06/12/2018 - 13:17

  For every person you see playing on their phone there's another doing f-all the traditional way.

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  helloeatty on 06/12/2018 - 16:49

  Ozbargain is one of the culprits, but I’m so addicted, hate to say

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    myusername on 07/12/2018 - 10:48

    me too i only use this site at work lolololol

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  Martian on 06/12/2018 - 17:40

  This is how it works at this stone age:
  Provided the staff completes the amount of tasks set for them they should be allowed to do what they like. Think of what the situation is like if they are working from home. You have totally no control of how they utilise social media.

  So set proper KPIs and get them to complete or have them utilise the time to obtain the best results. As long as they achieve that will be all good. And if not, yet they are still on social media demand explanations.

  Going down that path…

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  [Deactivated] on 06/12/2018 - 18:48

  +1

  Its an out-of-date view that to be productive means bums in seats staring at a spreadsheet. You mentioned performance and that is the key. Are they hitting their targets, are they delivering, are they adding value. If the answer is yes then it matters not if you perceive they are spending the majority of the day on insta. if they are not delivering then you have an issue, but that is the issue, not what you have been monitoring.

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  GourmetFoodie on 06/12/2018 - 20:24

  +1

  Carrot and stick is best.

  Stick…
  1) get your IT department to ban all social media sites and YouTube from work computers.
  2) create strict performance plans with measurable inputs and outputs so under performers can no longer hide

  Carrot…
  1) Seek to increase employee engagement - survey the staff about how their work environment/culture can be improved as a whole, and also survey them about what will increase their personal job satisfaction. Discuss the results honestly. Say what you can control and what you can't. Where you can control things, take action to create change and track and measure the impact of that change.

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  rgr on 06/12/2018 - 21:30

  government/public service/GBEs aren't the most inspiring motivating places to be working at to be honest. no real urgency, no competition, no private value to generate for investors, constant overspend and wastage of resources is not punished etc.

  I remember interviewing for a role at the ATO a while back and my interviewers were some of the most miserable, dull and unhealthy people I'd ever met. these young people probably are doing themselves a disservice in working in the public service area to begin with - sets up them for real bad expectations when/if they end up moving to the private sector cause that's where you get flushed down the gutter for not disciplining yourself and performing.

  being a 'millennial' myself, i don't have an issue with moderating my fun time browsing the web/using my phone and managing my discipline because the work is engaging and i have a manager who instills a "perform or you're out" mentality, which makes things fun. i also understand that money enables me things like comfort and personal pursuits. you just need to find out what makes them tick and try to exploit it. the shitty performers always end up quitting anyway, they normalise what they have and think the grass is greener and move on.

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  theraque on 06/12/2018 - 21:54

  This is an easy fix. Mobile signal blockers to stop signal forcing staff ourside if they want to use their phones. Then a proxy on the network block all social media and other time wasting sites.

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    Quagles on 07/12/2018 - 08:05

    +1

    Oh yeh, so easy. And illegal.

    https://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/faqs-mobile-phone-and-gps-ja…

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  [Deactivated] on 06/12/2018 - 22:11

  Block social media access on the company computers.

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  anastasiastarz on 07/12/2018 - 03:47

  Talk to IT about blocking all those site - unless they use it for work eg. social media management
  We also lock our phones in lockers, if it's an emergency they'll call the landline.

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    Quagles on 07/12/2018 - 08:04

    Apart from a few highly security conscious government agencies its very rare to lock phones in lockers at a normal office…

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  [Deactivated] on 07/12/2018 - 08:23

  Give them less work to the point of nothing to do. Then suddenly give them an urgent responsibility, which they will fail because they have been doing nothing. Then fire their ass for their failure.

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    hashtagbargain on 07/12/2018 - 16:00

    Are you my boss? I've seen this technique used at my work.

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      [Deactivated] on 07/12/2018 - 18:19

      Depends who is this? John?

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  serpserpserp on 07/12/2018 - 12:20

  +1

  Classic middle management, have no idea how to motivate people. No wonder they are "burnt out".

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  sd4f on 13/12/2018 - 10:58

  I don't know how it plays into other people's mindsets, but if they have time to slack off, it means they have time to slack off.

  Not saying overload them with work, but I think it's one of those things that if you look at it differently, rather than the time based approach of 8 hours a day they're servants to their job, but rather, give them tasks to complete, and how they complete them is up to them. It eliminates the micromanagement, as it's more of a hands off approach, meanwhile, place emphasis on making it clear that dead lines are to be met.

  Maybe I'm too young or modern with this sort of thinking, but if they get their work done satisfactorily, then who cares.

  Oh and couldn't help but post this;
  Internet outage

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  ngw3 on 06/01/2019 - 19:50

  +1

  I think there are a few reasons to employees not being productive:
  1. There is simply not enough work (or the work is not important)
  2. There is no incentive to excel at work (some employees observed bad behavior w/o punishment, good behavior is not rewarded, no performance related incentives)
  3. The work culture is already bad (new employees would just follow)

  A few ways to overcome it:
  1. Focus on hiring people with good ethics (not sure how)
  2. Provide performance-related incentives
  3. Confront bad behavior as soon as it happens

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