When you take a day off and something goes sideways at work

[Ycarene]

I run a line at where I work, I have two people under me that are supposed to be able to run the line when I'm gone. In two instances i've taken a day off and errors were made that required disposal of a lot of product. If you were my boss what would you do?

[Deleted]

Depends.... where the errors made due to wrong/insufficient instructions on what to do during your abscence?

You know the saying "Fool me once, shame on you... foll me twice, shame on me" ? This could possibly apply here... they made the error once. Happens. But did they make the samme errors as the first time? If that's the case, it is (partially) your fault since you should've instructed them correctly after the first time to prevent errors from happening again.

Of course, ths could also be the case of raw bloody incompetence... in wich case, well, they're just not capable of doing your job. In wich case it's you boss' job to find suitable replacement for the time of your abscence.

[Deleted]

I would have your subordinates retrained.

[Radio]

I'm going to assume that you have power of supervision over these two when you are present.

1. In the first instance, I would investigate the incident, if the error was caused due to:
a) the employee's accidental negligance, I would either give a direct warning to the employees or ask you to warn them
b) the employee's intentional negligance, I would initiate (or have you initiate) disciplinary action on them depending on the severity
c) the employee's lack of ability, I would ask you to get them up to speed, probably through training

2. In the second instance, assuming it was at least a couple of weeks later (time to train/warn/discipline them), if the error was caused due to:
a) the employee's accidental negligance, I would initiate (or have you initiate) disciplinary action on them depending on the severity
b) the employee's intentional negligance, I would sack (fire) them
c) the employee's lack of ability, I would investigate the steps you took to get them up to speed and determine if it was due to poor training on your part or poor retention on the employee's part

In the case of the a's, I'd also like to investigate if there's any parts of the process or of their knowledge formed through training that could lead to high rates of accidental error. Such as overcomplicated processes or imprecise instruction.

In the case of the b's, I'd also like to understand why they were intentionally causing problems. Maybe they were unhappy with you in particular for some reason so intentionally caused issues when you weren't around to spite you?

In the case of 2c, I'd only consider a warning or disciplinary action (or even management training) for you if your training/management methods are found to be woefully inadequate.

[Blueobelisk]

Run the line making...?

Depends on your pay. I might blame you for giving poor instructions/taking the day off/leaving at a critical time. More than likely I'd train 2 new people under you.

[Deleted]

Making mistakes happens, learn from them and make sure the people under you do aswell. If you're going to fire people for making mistakes, then prepare to fire a lot of people over the years or buy a couple of robots.

[Valerean]

I'd probably leave the formal warnings/disciplinary action unless it was intentional damage / someone being a total fuck-up, and just ask you to make sure it never happens again.

Can be pretty simple at the top sometimes

[Deleted]

For me it would come down to why there were mistakes, are these people trained enough to do the job or just poor at it?

Depending on your level of management over them it might still be your issue...

For example if you haven't trained them to deal with these situations / problems, then problem sits with you. If you have trained them as much as possible but errors are still being made, why are they still there?

Is that a call you can make? If not have you flagged it to people who can make that call?

Difficult to say what I'd do as your boss, it depends on the extent and cost of the mistakes and your direct responsibility; could be everything from the "you fucked up, fix it and never let it happen again" talk to being fired...

[Deleted]

Had a similar thing like this last year, I had to take a couple of months off for surgery. Went through everything that had to be done with the person who was going to be doing it, I made her do it herself with me supervising for a week or two before I left, and I printed out a super detailed manual with screenshots and instructions on how to do everything and when everything needed to be done by.

She still fucked it up.

Fortunately I'd done enough to instruct her beforehand that it didn't really come back on me

[poser765]

They are essentially your employees? If I was your boss I would come to you for an explanation of what happened and how to fix it. It is your fault in an abstract way because you are responsible for your employees...even when you are absent. The shit always runs down hill, and it doesn't skip. You get shit from your boss, and the employees who messed up get shit from theirs who is you.

Employees are responsible for themselves, and bosses are responsible for everyone. it sucks, but that's why they pay you the big cheese.

[Ycarene]

Run the line making...?

Depends on your pay. I might blame you for giving poor instructions/taking the day off/leaving at a critical time. More than likely I'd train 2 new people under you.

Ice cream.

I'm going to assume that you have power of supervision over these two when you are present.

Sort of, It's kind of a greatest among equals thing, I get better pay and coordinate the line, but they handle the stuff that the normal line workers can't.

For me it would come down to why there were mistakes, are these people trained enough to do the job or just poor at it?

Depending on your level of management over them it might still be your issue...

For example if you haven't trained them to deal with these situations / problems, then problem sits with you. If you have trained them as much as possible but errors are still being made, why are they still there?

Is that a call you can make? If not have you flagged it to people who can make that call?

Difficult to say what I'd do as your boss, it depends on the extent and cost of the mistakes and your direct responsibility; could be everything from the "you fucked up, fix it and never let it happen again" talk to being fired...

The first instance was really something that got messed up in a different department that didn't get caught by them. In that case, I'm not really sure being there would have made much of a difference.

The second instance, one of them pulled the wrong mix into the wrong tank making darker vanilla and lighter chocolate (we were making Neapolitan). Instead of stopping and/or consulting with the supervisor or lab, they continued to run. Keep in mind, this is a product that we have made numerous times and this person has dealt with the mix then too.

[ItachiZaku]

Execute them.

Replaced with robots.

Obviously, if it always happens, they need to be written up, suspended, terminated, or some other type of citation. Their haphazard attempt at work does nothing but put production behind and cost the company money. These people need to be made aware of what happens when they undermine my authority.

[Deleted]

Not happening to me, but a friend of could tell you stories about it. Even whe she's on official holiday or sick at home, people phone her up to help them with stuff at work.
Makes me wonder what they'd do if they DIDN'T reach her. Prolly running around like hens with their heads cut off.

[Deleted]

i took two weeks off, in the first week everything went to shit because they didn't arrange proper cover for me and expected one of the girls there to pick up everything i do. everything went south and the manager tried to shift the blame.

[Blueobelisk]

The first instance was really something that got messed up in a different department that didn't get caught by them. In that case, I'm not really sure being there would have made much of a difference.

The second instance, one of them pulled the wrong mix into the wrong tank making darker vanilla and lighter chocolate (we were making Neapolitan). Instead of stopping and/or consulting with the supervisor or lab, they continued to run. Keep in mind, this is a product that we have made numerous times and this person has dealt with the mix then too.

:O What ended up happening?

Btw I don't think I'd fire someone over that.

[Citizen T]

:O What ended up happening?

Btw I don't think I'd fire someone over that.

Why not?

I've worked on production lines before and there are almost certainly QC checks done after each step of production. The fact that they continued to run shows that either A) they blew off and didn't do their required QC checks or B) willfully decided that even though the QC check failed, it was better to chance not getting caught than to admit a mistake was made and perhaps be disciplined for the mistake. Either of these shows poor judgement that can have huge affects on the brand and thus cause the loss of sales.

What if the mistake had been something that caused some kind of bacterial contamination? People could potentially die from this type of poor judgement.

[Tailswipe]

Things always seem to go haywire when I take leave during the year. I end up working from home instead of enjoying myself. Now days I save all my leave for the builders and Easter holidays when our offices slow down to a virtual halt.

[Drendith]

Couple times I've had it where I take a sick day or just a random vacation day from the job and the workload suddenly gets ridiculous. Either there's an influx of a lot of paperwork or someone derps pretty damn hard and the task has to be redone the next day.