Need to coach a poor performer but I don’t think she’s worth helping
I was assigned to help / coach / guide a co-worker as she was written in by others for her poor work performance.
Mainly lacking Situational Awareness, poor knowledge of job duties, forgetfulness and basically not able to multitask or perform under pressure.
I was happy to help and genuinely cared about her and tried to find ways and means curating different methods that she could try in order for her to improve.
She has a great attitude and is receptive to feedback. She is definitely keen to learn but just unable to perform under pressure.
For some context, over a span of a year, she has been written in 3 times, and went on 6 coaching sessions, some with me, some with others that I specially chose as they were people who was willing to teach. Now, she just received another written feedback, her 4th one. With the feedback saying that she needs to be instructed on what to do next most of the time.
It is so sad that I am beginning to feel that this job may not be suitable for her and my patience with her is stretching thin becos hey its been a year. We see little to no improvement.
I started off with a caring for her mindset but my confidence in her is slowly diminishing.
My reviews of her had been hinting that she is just not suitable for this job but HR wants my department to keep helping her.
To put it bluntly, I start to feel that she is a waste of time and resources.
How to I tell HR to let her go?
Here are what netizens think:
- Great attitude and receptive to feedback are very good + points. She’s not hopeless. Way better than many others who have attitude problems. Be patient and go slow. She will eventually get a grip on her job.
- Perhaps it is just wrong match of scope vs abilityThe employee not able to cope can be stressful tooYou can discuss with HR to see if she can be posted to a vocation she can handle first, and build from there. Post to a vocation that she can shine than something to drown herIn an organisation, we utilise the strength of each staff so as to complement each other
- Is the company you are working for a family owned businees? She may be one of the family so HR decided to look the other way.
- Have a gentle honest conversation with her. Ask her for her honest answer whether she wants to continue in this line of work /can see herself doing this long term. If yes, then she’ll find a way eventually to do well. If no, you might be doing her a favor by having the convo with her. Tell her you notice she’s tried hard but this line of work might not be a good fit for her. Personally, at the end of the day, if you think she’s a decent human being, then it matters whether you do it in a compassionate kind manner.