At my facility, there are several managers to cover three different units that care for both short-term and LTC residents, with myself being included. The teamwork and collaboration among us is generally good, with all of us willing to pitch in and help out when someone else is essentially drowning. With that said, there is one manager that has work habits that have not gone unnoticed. This manager stays at work very late every day to ensure that work gets done. While this is great, it also means that she shows up to work after everyone else as well. Because of COVID restrictions, our facility continues to complete virtual provider visits using iPads. Providers typically like to perform visits earlier in the morning, around 8am or so, and this manager is aware of this. When she consistently shows up at 8:30 am or later, providers are either left waiting or one of the other managers has to complete visits for residents she is responsible for. Additionally, when she shows up later on, it ensures that she does not get stuck with the staffing phone in the mornings. All of us are responsible for the staffing phone, but it is always passed off to the manager who shows up first in the morning, whether or not that is the same person from day to day. The staffing phone inconveniences everyone from getting their work done due to the frequent call ins. It is highly known that this colleague dislikes having the staffing phone. In addition, this colleague often has to be reminded that there are team meetings to attend or patient care conferences. Even when she is reminded, she is almost always absent, stating that she had other resident duties to attend to. She always seems to "have other priorities," even though these meetings should also be priority. By missing these meetings, answers are left unanswered and she sometimes misses key information regarding resident care. With that said, her patients seem to be well-cared for and she does good documentation in regards to the tasks she is completing. Just curious if anyone else has ever worked with someone like this? Were there any approaches that were effective in assisting them to adopt behaviors that meet the needs of everyone? Or, if not, how would you approach someone like this?
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
Having the staffing phone go to the first person to arrive is a sure way to make sure everyone is late. That's a silly system right there. I would suggest a rotating schedule where everyone gets a turn. If she doesn't show up, you hand it to her the minute she comes in the door along with all the messages left, for her to deal with.
I also strongly suggest all of the managers sit down together and have a nice lunch (socially distanced of course) and talk about how things are going. Grown ups should be able to talk about stuff, so talk to her about this. Tell her its been a burden and you need her to keep the hours she is supposed to. Ask her to. See what she says.
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
21 hours ago, Nurse SMS said:
Having the staffing phone go to the first person to arrive is a sure way to make sure everyone is late. That's a silly system right there. I would suggest a rotating schedule where everyone gets a turn.
That was my first thought. It is a disincentive to arrive early. "Thanks for coming in. Here is another assignment." It could either rotate daily, or once a week.
Unless someone above her makes it an issue, it won't become one
This. And she knows it. She takes advantage of the fact that her supervisor(s) don't care to make her correct her behavior. Work with someone like this quite often. All the observations do is to accentuate the negative vibes felt by those who do what they are supposed to do. But then, the supervisor(s) don't care about that either.
Playing Devil's advocate. Are you and the others willing to stay late and complete the tasks that she does later in the day? Perhaps she has an agreement with DoN, and DoN just isn't saying- I've worked with more than one spineless manager who makes agreements with people, but then when others complain, won't address it. I've been the one to come in later and stay later. Others complained, but then didn't want to take a turn staying late. Suddenly, complaints stopped when they thought they may have to be there into mid to late evening, instead of at home
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
1 hour ago, caliotter3 said:
This. And she knows it. She takes advantage of the fact that her supervisor(s) don't care to make her correct her behavior. Work with someone like this quite often. All the observations do is to accentuate the negative vibes felt by those who do what they are supposed to do. But then, the supervisor(s) don't care about that either.
I usually agree with you Cali, but this is a lot of conjecture for a big picture that we don't get to see. There are a lot of reasons why this may be going on. It's so much easier when people just talk to one another. Maybe she's a slug, maybe she isn't, but until everyone gets it out in the open, nothing will get resolved. Why do we find it so hard to just talk about stuff like this?
I've talked until I'm blue in the face, mostly as a nurse taking care of another nurse, like we all should do, in many situations over the decades and it does no good. I highly doubt there is an exception in place here. So I don't assume that there is. If so, it would not be a state secret. And the OP would be just as aware of it as all the others in the workplace.
Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.
3 hours ago, GrumpyRN said:
Sounds like someone who does not like their homelife. Work is better.
This brings back memories. My mother was a night ICU nurse for years. With her seniority, she could have gone to any shift that she wanted. I strongly suspect that she worked nights because my father worked days, and it cut down on the amount of time that she had to deal with him.
This brings back memories. My mother was a night ICU nurse for years. With her seniority, she could have gone to any shift that she wanted. I strongly suspect that she worked nights because my father worked days, and it cut down on the amount of time that she had to deal with him.
Been there, done that. In fact, when I find myself spending endless hours at work, I know a relationship is over...
Nurse SMS, MSN, RN
6,843 Posts
Having the staffing phone go to the first person to arrive is a sure way to make sure everyone is late. That's a silly system right there. I would suggest a rotating schedule where everyone gets a turn. If she doesn't show up, you hand it to her the minute she comes in the door along with all the messages left, for her to deal with.
I also strongly suggest all of the managers sit down together and have a nice lunch (socially distanced of course) and talk about how things are going. Grown ups should be able to talk about stuff, so talk to her about this. Tell her its been a burden and you need her to keep the hours she is supposed to. Ask her to. See what she says.