It came to my attention that a direct report who took 3 sick days in a row was actually partying in the Maldives. I normally wouldn’t care (other than the fact that they were dumb enough to post on Insta knowing that another member of their team is a tattletale) but this particular person caused a product launch delay (long story, but they were responsible for some GTM processes that had to happen in those three days). Now these kinds of things happen so no one on my team is in trouble/stakeholders aren’t overtly pissed, but I’m rightly annoyed about the situation. I’m going to talk to them about it and let them know how disappointed I am, but I’m wondering if I should escalate this and give them a formal reprimand (would involve speaking to HR to send a letter/etc.) I’m not going to fire them over this (or put them on a PIP, but this will impact their EOY review) but I’m wondering how hard ass I should be about this. The responsible leader in me knows there’s a pretty big morale implication if this person seems to get off Scott free… what’s the point of the rest of the team working hard if a coworker has a moment of jackassery that undermines their work? The empathetic person in me has been there - recently our company imposed a PTO day cap and so this person went from unlimited days off to 20 days, which means this vacay would not have been approved since they’re at their cap for the year. The older person in me is more just pissed at how someone could be stupid enough to get caught doing this shit (like cmon, really?) and entitled enough to not care about setting up a proper handoff before pulling this nonsense. What would y’all do To add some more detail Another of my direct reports, who is a tattletale, screenshotted this employee’s Instagram stories and showed them to me during a 1:1 (I don’t have social media) Team is down a person who is out on maternity I was able to get this particular individual 26 approved PTO days this year already (6 above the cap, which is 20)… when the change was announced I worked with everyone on my team to make sure we could get all of their “planned” trips approved, which involved me going to the mat with HR I’m not mad about the launch delay (these things happen… we’re not saving lives, a few days late isn’t the end of the world, and I ultimately take the blame for launch delays). I’m pissed about the dishonesty, and the lack of consideration for the rest of the team’s time and work
This should be dependent on their performance outside of this event. Using sick days for vacation is a personal choice and shouldn't influence your professional opinion btw
“Sick days for vacation” Do you understand the meaning of words Sick and Vacation ? As op said if u doing this at-least be smart about it
Hangover can easily be considered sick in a court of law…
Maybe evaluate why your product launch depended so much on one person.
Easy one… small company, lean team, one persons out on maternity so there’s coverage issues. regardless of this - most of the time, product launches rely on team members doing their job. If someone doesn’t do their work, or doesn’t have the wherewithal to send solid coverage documentation to someone else on the team, something’s bound to break
Sounds like risks that management should be aware of and build into their launch estimates.
How about don’t do anything ? And realize as a manager it is your responsibility to make sure there is no single point of failure, if they are eligible for sick days they can take them at any point, that’s how it all works.
I agree - honestly, things happen. Small company, lean team, someone’s out on maternity right now so we’re running a person short, hence why certain things are dependent on single individuals. If someone gets sick and there’s a delay… so be it. I had the convo with stakeholders, I stuck my neck out for the team, and everything was totally fine (not ideal of course but we’re not saving lives here… 3 days isn’t the end of the world). The issue for me is the lying… like even if they would have come to me and said “hey, I had things booked before the PTO policy shift” I’d have worked with them (I had already gotten them an extra 6 days of PTO approved when the change was announced to accommodate their planned vacations. But leaving the team out to dry to go on a vacation without giving any kind of notice or handing off work is kinda messed up no matter which way you slice it
My guess is cruise doesn’t do well driving accountability. Life is full of choices which everyone is free to make, but you have to own the outcome. Every high functioning team requires trust and accountability. This person broke trust and need to be held accountable. Embrace growth mindset here, but no consequences is not a good idea.
I’d post your TC or GTFO
How come? Would love your insights here
You sound like an idiot report that OP is mentioning about. OP’s original post and responses clearly shows he or she is a very mature and sensible manager. BTW. I am in IC myself and i’d never tolerate lying (no matter who ever does it ) to me. In professional settings it just causes trust issues.
Disregard for broader team’s product launch AND lying about being sick while in fact partying. Big no-nos. Should have communicated their intentions (even if you came to an agreement off-the-record because the PTO policy recently changed). There has to be some sort of consequence.
Your direct report took 3 SICK days (big bold capital SICK), so you’ll have to be careful in how you handle the situation. He can and will claim that his IG posts were from a previous trip and that he was seriously ill; you don’t want to get caught up in a legal situation. I would escalate this to HR and let them come with with a legally appropriate strategy. I’d also send a generic email to my team stating that sick days are meant to be used for sicknesses; anything else is morally wrong and doesn’t align with company values. I’d also tank his performance reviews. Find other suitable reasons to justify the reviews; do not quote these 3 SICK days and the subsequent delay in your product launch.
Agree with the HR escalation. The generic email could backfire by impacting team morale and imo is not necessary. The last part might be one of the worst things to do. Of course don’t talk about the vacation during sick days during the review, but definitely talk about how he delayed product launch. Be direct about his violation of policies/ethics. Never leave them guessing what they did wrong. That creates unnecessary new problems.
Agree, they should be reported to HR. Planning a PTO to go vacationing in Maldives is fine as it gives the manager ample time to plan but taking three random continuous sick days without actually being sick to go party essentially turning sick days into PTO days where they inform you the night before or the day of is just nonsense. They should be reported to HR. Adults do not behave like this.
You should send a note to your leadership explaining why you don't have a team capable of picking up work when someone is out. I agree that what he did is shady, but a single absence shouldn't impact a product launch. How different would it have been if he was actually sick? From what you've said so far, the product launch would have been impacted either way. He used his company benefits, and you failed as a leader to have a Plan B and a team ready to step up
Yeah it would have been impacted either way. Honestly the short staffing is a known quantity and, at the end of the day, a few days isn’t the end of the world… those types of things can be managed. I should probably expand the post a bit but they didn’t even have the courtesy to send a brief handoff doc to me… I’d have happily picked up the work but needed some info (which I asked them for). I wasn’t going to hound them for the info though because they were taking sick days… i figured they were dealing with something and the work would still be there when they got back, so I just managed stakeholders and life moved on. Long story short - I’m not pissed at all about the delay. There’s an inherent risk in that type of thing with our current staffing so it’s more of a “let’s manage it if and when it happens va punishing it”. I’m more so just pissed about the lying and lack of consideration… like knowing they were going off and partying, how hard would a one sheet handoff doc have been?
don’t listen to @amex
Key man risk is management's fault. The reason for the absence is irrelevant. Look in a mirror
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I mean if they would have at least brought be back a bottle of rum I’d at least have had a laugh with them. Talk about a lack of consideration
I ain't reading all that. But after my manager and PM constantly asking me updates which I felt like over the shoulder moment, I just took a mental health day off and did whatever I feel like doing..