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[fredieZ]

Dude

What a bitch, been there-done that. The last two companies I've worked with have had total phobias about terminating sub-standard employees, so you end up doing what 'ya gotta do. I hate to admit that I sink this low.

It's easier when you always document any policy manual infractions. My favorite is lateness, In Colorado I only need three of these and I can fire and they won't collect unemployment, it's documented on a time card, owners love that. I've key-stroked target employees, I know every thing they do all day long, every email, every time they go on line, every screw up they make. I was able to remove one woman(she'd worked here 12 years and did about half as much as anyone else), she was shopping on line almost an two hours every day, when I documented this to the owner and showed what she was costing him, she was gone the next morning. We're in a ski town, you'd be blown by how many will call in sick on a powder day and go make turns, come in the next day with raccoon eyes. I changed company policy here to dictates that if you call in sick more than three days you must have a doctor's excuse, more than a week and you a need a doctor permission to return to work, come back to work without either of these and you don't have a job. Policies like these have always weeded out the zits who really don't care about the company or their jobs.

You also must achieve total alienation of the target employee from the prepress group. He's undoubtedly is not carrying his weight in the department, it needs to be emphasized to the group how much harder and how much more responsibility they have to carry when "he's not there". As a supervisor give him every shit job that comes a long, a few at first, but an ever increasing number. I had one guy who didn't type worth a shit, I helped him out the door by giving him day on end of typesetting. I contended that a good employee will become a better typist, a zit will become disgruntled and leave. Manage it so the target will be doing an uninterruptible job, and dump his revisions, corrections, or screw ups on another prep employee. "He can't seem to get this done right now, you gotta do it for me". It does take long with your help for the group to see him as a zit. You know how cold prepress employees can be when their emotional or pissed off.

Our bindery forman is a close friend and confidant, I have him manage to need a little help in the bindery, alot, target employee is gonn'a get a lot of bindery time and always the most boring, monotonous, mindless repetitive tasks. What ever it takes, I only what the best working with me, my brain drain and damage is minimized by great co-workers.

David