Re: Help me keep track of the time I spend writing, with meetings, and with Graphics.

[SB <sylvia -dot- braunstein -at- gmail -dot- com>]

The problem is the one of the chicken and the egg.
So, yes, we are severely understaffed and yes, there is a lot to do.
In the end, I took quite a bit upon myself to get the things done. But then
when I complain of the speed and the fact that I don't understand, he pulls
the company policy story. It is true that it is a problem but he had a more
than reasonable deadline to finish this document and again, he is not making
it. I am not saying that a person has to function 100% all the time. People
have better days than others and sometime one's private life is adding to
it. This person is somebody I could consider as a friend and yet, I do find
myself frustrated and have been rejecting the idea of stopping to employ
him. I tried to talk to him many times and got frustrated at him many times
too. I really think he is very smart but I don't think he is putting much
effort in this. He has been freelancing and possibly not in companies who
have a high workload as here and I am not sure how he got away with working
like this. I mean, if he has personal problems, then I would be more than
happy to take on most of the work but I don't know what is going on and why.
He has 9 kids (and a wife) that he is supporting and I feel really bad about
doing something but I can't get him to work more efficiently and I have no
idea how to resolve that.

However, this seems to be a chronic problem with him and it is not that he
does not put in the hours. So what is actually happening there?

I have never checked the hours on his Excel sheet and if I had to, I would
not know how I could because he works partially from home (so do I so that I
don' t get constantly interrupted and can get work done). So, this is a big
dilemma for me.

On 1/29/08, Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Well-said. If a freelancer is underperforming that much, the only
> questions remaining are:
>
> 1. What steps are you employing to correct this.
> 2. If the steps don't work or aren't already working, how long will
> you wait before cutting the cord?
>
> And Gene is right. The exit strategy for a full-timer is more involved
> and complicated.
>
> On Jan 29, 2008 1:48 PM, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> > Yes.  There will be just as much chance for a poor-
> > performing in-house employee to take advantage of
> > lax management as there is for a freelancer.  The
> > only difference is that moving the poor-performing
> > in-house person out the door is more difficult and
> > represents a bigger black mark on a manager's
> > scorecard.
>
> --
> Bill Swallow
> HATT List Owner
> WWP-Users List Owner
> Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter
> STC Single-Sourcing SIG Manager
> http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
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