When you’re in a management position, others will come to you when they have complaints about your employees. That’s pretty standard. It’s really not appropriate for them to address one of your employees directly; it’s more appropriate to tell you the concern so that you can handle it from there. Recently, I came across a Reddit post from an employee who works in the medical field and documents patient charts. A doctor complained about the employee’s documentation on a patient, so here’s what the managers did next:
“I was sent an email telling me that I made several mistakes and that my documentation is a big concern due to these red flags, I was listed the things I did wrong and told to not do this again. I was then told to respond with any thoughts or comments I had.”
The employee goes on in the post to outline being unable to recall this situation and the managers saying they couldn’t find the document to be able to show the issues. So, these managers have either falsely accused their employee (in writing) and will have to backtrack, or they really do have a performance issue on their hands but won’t be able to prove or address it without more details. Either way, not a good situation.
There are a number of issues with how the managers responded. By sending an email listing out the mistakes and “not to do this again,” they determined that the employee had truly done something wrong without knowing for sure. There was no goal to find out what happened or ensure proper training. No chance to explain or defend. The offer at the end for the employee to respond isn’t really an invitation to say anything other than, “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” If they wanted thoughts and comments, they would have asked for them before accusing. Plus, doing this all over email rather than in-person or via phone did nothing to maintain trust and relationships. Rather, it created a lot of distrust and concern.
Now, we don’t have the managers’ sides, so we don’t know why they responded like this. Maybe they were really busy and trying to be efficient, or maybe this employee already had other performance issues, so they figured the current complaint was true. Regardless, it all comes across as very disrespectful, whether the employee made a mistake or not.
I’ve worked with a number of departments that had low-trust environments, and I always ask the employees for specific suggestions about what would help to build trust between them and their leaders. One of the most common responses I’ve received is that they want their leaders to talk with them about complaints before determining whether a mistake was made. They feel like their leader just takes the side of the other person before asking them about it. They want to feel like their leader has their back and won’t just accept all complaints as fact.
As a leader, when it comes to handling complaints about employees, you have a responsibility to look into them while also supporting your employees. You want to preserve your credibility with the complainant and with your employees. So, what should you do? How should you handle complaints about employees?
Get details from the complainant.
Ask questions to get as much detail as you can about what happened and when it happened. This helps you to determine (1) whether it’s something that warrants talking with the employee and (2) what to ask the employee. If all you get is, “something happened a few weeks ago,” that’s not enough, and I would just ask the complainant to let you know in a timely manner if anything else happens. If you get enough details to know there might be an issue, then it’s time to talk with the employee.
Ask the employee what happened.
Treat your employees the way you’d like to be treated by your boss. Even if it’s the hundredth time an employee hasn’t followed directions, you need both sides before making a determination about what happened. Talk with the employee in-person or via phone – no email. Share the information you have, and tell the employee you wanted to talk with them about it to find out what happened. Then, let them tell you. Ask questions as needed if anything doesn’t make sense or any gaps need to be filled. Your goal is to get to the bottom of this.
As much as you may think you know what happened, you can’t know for sure until you ask. This is particularly important if you’re anticipating disciplinary action. I’ve had leaders who were ready to issue disciplinary action on seemingly cut-and-dry situations but then found out new information that changed everything. Avoid the embarrassment of issuing incorrect disciplinary action, and get the employee’s side first.
There may be times you can’t share all the information you have. For example, the complainant may need to remain anonymous. That’s fine – share as much as you can because you want the employee to have a fair chance to know what you’re talking about and be able to explain what happened. Be transparent if there’s anything that needs to remain confidential.
Close it out.
None of us like to be left in the dark, especially when it comes to our jobs. Make sure to let your employees know the outcome, whether you determine there’s an issue or not. In some cases, you may know in the midst of the conversation whether a mistake was made. Other times, you may need to look into the situation further. Let your employees know the status.
You may need to follow back up with the complainant as well to explain the outcome. If you determined there was an issue to address, just explain that the situation has been addressed. There’s no need to go into details about level of disciplinary action. What’s important is that it’s been handled, and you don’t think it will happen again. On the other hand, if you determined nothing wrong happened, let the complainant know that. This helps to clear the employee’s name.
This process may sound incredibly time-consuming, but it typically shouldn’t be. You’ll have some situations that are more serious and take more time to look into, but chances are, most of these complaints will only take a few, short conversations to figure out. Everything isn’t a huge investigation. Give each complaint an appropriate amount of time and energy. As much as you may want to just send a quick email when you receive a complaint about an employee, take a few more minutes to have a conversation. You’ll get much better information, leading to faster resolution, and you’ll maintain trust and credibility in the process.
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