A reader writes:
I supervise a team of seven, split between two offices. Sally is an employee in her early 20s working in the opposite office as myself.
Sally is a slob. This is not typical workplace clutter. She leaves work and personal items all over the office — moldy food containers, piles of work items, boxes, etc. Her messes have taken up to an hour to clean up. Her own office is such a mess that she spreads her work out to all of the common areas in the office, and then leaves the common areas a mess. She has not responded to typical feedback or formal warnings, and the issue has been escalated to HR. Sally will be placed on a PIP next week.
The other team members in that office, especially Susie, are understandably frustrated. The other two people on the team feel like they are stuck cleaning up Sally’s messes because they want the office to be presentable when clients visit. I have asked them several times to please not clean up after Sally. Instead, I have asked them to notify me, and I will drive in from the other office (a 15-minute drive) and address it with Sally directly. If Sally is out that day, I have told them that I will drive to the office and clean it myself. This has rarely happened — often, Susie will clean up the mess, and then call me frustrated.
The HR process has been extremely slow, but the PIP is finally in progress and will be shared with Sally next week.
I’m stuck on how I address this with Susie. She calls me almost daily, often in tears, to complain about Sally’s messes. Susie is rightfully frustrated that Sally’s mess impacts her own work. I always reiterate that I could be there within 15 minutes to have it cleaned up so it wasn’t Susie’s problem, but she always cleans it herself regardless. I always repeat to Susie that I am aware of the situation and it is being addressed. I am not willing to share much more than “it has been addressed” to protect Sally’s privacy.
Susie has questioned me on if I have even talked to Sally about the issue. Because she isn’t seeing any changes in Sally’s behavior, she doesn’t believe it’s been addressed at all. I keep repeating “it has been addressed” or “I am working with my supervisor on a solution” hoping she will get the idea that HR has gotten involved. Furthermore, she continues to clean up Sally’s messes instead of calling me, which is making it hard for me to hold Sally accountable.
How do I convince Susie that I am addressing the issue? I get the feeling she thinks I am ignoring the issue and losing trust in me, which is obviously not the case. She is becoming resentful of doing all of the cleaning, even though I have asked her outright multiple times to not.
Aside from outright telling Susie that Sally is being put on a PIP (which I obviously wouldn’t do), how do I get her to trust me that this is being addressed? I’m at my wit’s end here.
Well, first, I wouldn’t recommend using a PIP for something like this that’s so black and white. This isn’t a situation where Sally needs to build her skills or get better at follow-through on projects, or needs time to demonstrate that her work has changed. This is a very clear, “You cannot leave messes all over the office, period.” It’s closer to a conduct issue than a performance issue, and PIPs aren’t well-suited for those. Instead, you’re better off making your expectations clear, laying out the consequences if they’re not met, and then sticking to that.
But it sounds like you’re being stymied by your organization’s HR, which is requiring a PIP, so here we are.
The language you need to use with Susie is: “Every time you clean up Sally’s mess, it makes it harder for me to address the problem. The way to help get this resolved as quickly as possible is to alert me that it has happened and then leave it alone. Your cleaning it up is actively interfering with my ability to resolve it, so I need you to stop — that’s not negotiable. You cannot clean on Sally’s behalf anymore.”
But you really, really need to pair that with something like, “I can promise you that I’m only asking this of you for a month and no longer.” Because if you’re asking Susie to work in messy chaos for months on end and not do anything about it herself, that’s unreasonable.
Frankly, I might also pair it with, “I know it must seem like this should have been fixed by now. Our organization has policies that managers have to follow when there are issues like this. The only way I can take the action necessary is by allowing the messes to stay long enough that I personally can document them.” Because that’s the truth, and by trying to avoid spelling it out, you’re letting her think you’re just not taking any real action. It is not a violation of Sally’s privacy to spell this out for Susie.
That said … Susie’s reaction to Sally’s messes sounds really intense. Calling you daily in tears? Unless there’s some missing context that makes that make sense (like that Sally’s mess is literally preventing Susie from being able to do her own job), that makes me wonder what more is going on, either with Susie personally or with the broader situation.
I’m also curious how long this has been happening! If it’s dragged out for a year and Susie has been hearing “it has been addressed” for a year when it clearly hasn’t been addressed in a sufficient way, it’s understandable that she’s frustrated.
Can you just move Sally to the office you’re in? Or work out of the office she’s in yourself for a while? Given the way HR seems to be tying your hands, you’re going to be able to deal with this a lot more effectively if you’re regularly in the same space that she is.
