Document the incompetence, as impartially as you can and with as much evidence as possible, then speak to the CEO. I assume there's a high-level management structure that can deal with it? That said, unfortunately, sometimes it's not worth trying to get rid of people.
If you're in broken shotgun scenario [doesn't work... can't be fired...] sometimes you just have to silo them away doing non-jobs so they can't do any harm.
Nothing screams to me gross misconduct, if anything It does sound like a training issue and is afraid to ask at this point. You should be able to terminate his contract and give him his weeks notice without providing a reason (bit of a dick move tbh and speaks volumes about a company) however the above point could be an issue if he challenges it as part of unfair dismissal looks at if problems were investigated and an attempt was made by the employer to help or offer correction.
Hey Javaman, long time no see. I see where you're coming from, but the guy's a relatively older chap who was hired because he cited a lot of experience. Moreover, he never asks for training (and the company is always keen for people to go on training if they need it), instead, always going silent on issues in an obvious hope that people will stop asking or give up. He also has some very annoying character traits that are frankly unprofessional and he should know better.
Still here, mostly just floating around these days. Just making sure he has had his little friendly nudges to allow correction. Seen a few people get nice payouts back in my days in the Civil Service because procedure wasn't followed and they knew the law inside out and backwards. Wife's place also If attempts have been made to correct issues and it isn't coming out of nowhere then you should be golden to cut loose.
Brief update: I've yet to collate the list of misdemeanors and go to the CEO, but it may be irrelevant as the useless tw@t has surpassed himself today. Some server maintenance was needed, and instead of fixing it out of hours, the idiot decided to do it first thing. The whole company has now been sat around since 0730 not being able to do anything. If he doesn't get fired after this, well, I question if I should stay, frankly.
As well you should. And this is one of the true costs of having a toxic employee: fail to adequately address it and you’ll end up with more than just that one person leaving.
Isn't this sort of thing usually tightly controlled under Change Management, with impact/risk assessments, prioritisation etc agreed downtime windows out of hours with users etc? Usually policies and processes underpinning all this which if your company has them, he will definitely have breached.
That depends on whether the company is using standards like ITIL, which can sometimes depend on what kind of industry it is and what regulatory frameworks they have to adhere to. I’ve worked a lot in financial services companies that are regulated by the FCA, and every piece of seemingly bureaucratic change management nonsense we all grumble about constantly is usually down to some kind of compliance rules. Even if there aren’t formal procedures, guidelines, rules, etc, in place, the IT industry has a specific term that’s used when someone takes down an operational system during working hours with no notice: we call it “a real d**k move”.
This was the background for my post. I've worked in ITIL Service Mgmt for 15 years. (DHCW NHS Wales) We have well defined change processes which are regularly audited, reported on and we have weekly CAB meetings. They are extremely useful for comms purposes and for change managers to be questioned by other change managers on details. Prior to these processes being embedded and normalised as part of the culture, it was like the wild west with major incidents from unplanned changes happening on an almost daily basis.
What’s that? I’ve never heard of that column before, much less submitted multiple stories for publication. Nope, not me, no sir.
Reading this thread, it is a tricky situation. However, possibly the latest gem by this person might have contributed to...the desired solution.
Not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but the most important thing is how long they've been employed. If it's less than 2 years they essentially don't have much in the way of employment rights and can be got rid of relatively easy. If it's over 2 years then you've got the world of performance management to look forward to.
Oh boy, we're having this situation at work too. 9 years in the job, lives roughly 250 yards from the workplace, yet swans in when they feel like it and is regularly 30-45 minutes late, sometimes clocks out late to make up the time, ragingly incompetent, absolutely refuses to do things correctly, throws tantrums when corrected or disciplined, spends vast amounts of time staring blankly into space, sometimes claims to have done work without having done anything. Trouble is that management has had multiple and excellent opportunities to yeet them. But they have chosen to do nothing or have a friendly chat behind closed doors, so they've got no paper trail. If it were up to me they'd be gone purely over the time keeping and now I fear it's hit a point that they're basically untouchable via precedent. Having said that, it's also hitting the point where other people are refusing to be scheduled at the same time as this is person. It's both through personal antipathy but also fear of liability should they get caught up in one of their many, many screw ups. It's all doubly bizarre as other people as bad as this one have been launched with great enthusiasm, yet this specific one seems to get away with it every time.
I've driven a 600~ mile round trip just to turn it off and on again, and they had sent two of their best to meet me to explain the situation. And this was for the Royal Air Force..
In this case they know diddly squat, I doubt they could navigate to their own arse with a map and a flashlight.
