Employee warning?

newacc2015

nadroir wrote: »

Just talk to her. These days people get so caught up in sides and forgot to talk. A good chat to explain your worries and you may turn her into best employee you ever had. She can't learn if not told her mistakes. If not then your can fire her with good reason and clear conscience. Would people have kids kicked out of school cause got homework wrong?

I totally disagree. I have worked in retail and a hostel. The employers never made it clear what the rules regarding staff areas are, as you should know that staff only areas are staff only areas. You should havent to be told, that you dont invite friends in for a chat in the middle of your shift. It could have been OPs employee that told her friend to lock the door. Personally I would fire her for leaving the stock unattended. This is the only instance that OP knows about. There is a chance this has happened before

If the employee lacks the most basic cop on. TBH I would just find another. This is a business. You cant afford to have basic level employee messing up sales. At the age of 21 you shouldnt be learning the most basic rules of retails by mistakes and learning not to do them again ie leaving stock unattended, having conversations with friends. This is common sense you should have already.

davo10

davo10 wrote: »

If your employee is contracted to work certain hours, she neglected her duty by closing early thereby potentially impacting your business. Allowing a non employee to interact with a customer on your behalf is another breach of duty.

Unfortunately in this cases your employee's poor judgement and. dereliction of duty is hard to overcome and though it is a hard lesson to learn, termination of employment is the appropriate action.

To the earlier poster who said viewing the camera is a breach of employee rights, only if the employee had not been made aware that cctv is present and only if it is present to record what the employee does. In this case the camera would seem to have been directed toward the door so it is a security device .

Did the employee know what a 3rd party (friend) did? The original post makes it seem that the employee was not in sight of the door when it was locked and may have been unaware

Clearlier

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Did the employee know what a 3rd party (friend) did? The original post makes it seem that the employee was not in sight of the door when it was locked and may have been unaware

I think that this is worthy of clarification. Everything in the OP suggested to me that the employee was unaware of her friends actions. 90% of the posts in this thread seem to think that she either did the actions her friend did or was complicit.

davo10

Lau2976 wrote: »

. They don't reopen the permises and stay until she was meant to actually close up.

Seems the employee was complicit.

Jack GrEnglish

Give a friendly warning and keep a closer eye on him/her.

Sacking is far too extreme.

IrishLoriii

Personally, I think its extremely unfair to fire her because of a
friend's doing. I think you need to take her aside, explain that there
was a complaint made (I wouldnt necessarily say who it was to prevent
negative vibes in the future), that you reviewed the CCTV and were
dissapointed by what you saw. Explain that you've thought long and hard
about what to do about the situation but as she has only just started
your going to treat it as a once off mistake that will not happen again.

Tell her your going to give her another chance to prove herself but if any problems
happen within the next 2-3 months again your going to have to reconsider her
value to your business. I would also drop in a comment about loitering and chatting
with friends while on the job as she is there to work..yes it could have been
about art but I highly doubt if it was it was so important that the shop needed
to be locked! I hope it all works out for you!

jimmycrackcorm

ESForum wrote: »

You have actually already breached data protection laws by viewing the CCTV footage.

CCTV can only be used against staff when A, Its clearly outlined to the staff in advance that it can and the reasons why and
B, Its being used based on prior events or reasonable foresight ie watching the till due to concerns for staff thefts.

Your situation is not a reasonable circumstance nor would I assume based on this thread that you have forewarned your staff.

see: https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Case-Studies-2008/732.htm#6

Not correct. The DP case study was about covert CCTV specifically used for entrapment, not normal CCTV.

If I were the OP I'd have to be sure that the employee absolutely knew the closed sign was up, as she went to the back, when she came back she may not have noticed the sign changed coming back.

coffeepls

I thought about the situation that happened, as the OP has described, and I think that the 'friend' that put up the 'closed' sign and spoke to the customer may have been the instigator, but the employee did not choose to change the sign back. The friend must've said it to her after it was done.

Anyway. From what I can read, this is a small business and the OP trusted this girl. That trust has been compromised. Maybe it was a one off foolish thing that happened, but the OP will think twice about letting her have control of potentially shutting shop early. She obviously does not appreciate her job and the responsibility that goes with it. At 21 years old she should know better. To be honest, I work in retail and she would be let go in my work. But it's up to the OP. Tell her what the customer said, rather than what is known to have happened on the cctv. See what she says. Base your judgement on her response I think.

Diamond Doll

Wow, that's some "friend". :eek:

I would say it to her. Rather than mentioning the CCTV, I'd just say that the customer told you she was asked to leave by your friend, and then observed the friend putting up the Closed sign. And that she mentioned it to you as she was aware the friend didn't actually work in the shop. Then decide your next actions based on her reaction to that.

Presumably the friend must have at least confessed to her afterwards? As surely she'd notice when leaving that the sign was already up?

I'd feel bad for her losing her job after it when it seems there's a good chance she didn't realise what her friend had done at the time.

If you do decide to keep her on, definitely make a rule that friends aren't allowed visit her when she's working. Similar rules were in place in any retail job I've ever worked in.

Lau2976

I spoke to her this morning. She apologized and said that she hadn't realized that her friend had done it until it was closing time. She assured me that the friend in question appeared unannounced and that if it happened with anybody in the future she'll tell them to leave.

I'm happy to leave it at that for now. I wouldn't trust her alone in the store necessarily but if it wasn't for an emergency I wouldn't have left her alone anyway.

Thanks for all the help guys!

As for CCTV, she's aware of its presence and it's mentioned in her contract.

C.K Dexter Haven

Lau2976 wrote: »

I spoke to her this morning. She apologized and said that she hadn't realized that her friend had done it until it was closing time. She assured me that the friend in question appeared unannounced and that if it happened with anybody in the future she'll tell them to leave.

I'm happy to leave it at that for now. I wouldn't trust her alone in the store necessarily but if it wasn't for an emergency I wouldn't have left her alone anyway.

Thanks for all the help guys!

As for CCTV, she's aware of its presence and it's mentioned in her contract.

Good outcome there Lau2976

Jack GrEnglish

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

Good outcome there Lau2976

The lad did exactly what I told him to do. Vindication!

Chemical Byrne

You're being taken for a fool op. Sure what else would she say only she didn't know the friend did the sign change.
She has gotten away with it and now she will run rings around you unless you sack her.

Chemical Byrne

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You're being taken for a fool op. Sure what else would she say only she didn't know the friend did the sign change.
She has gotten away with it and now she will run rings around you unless you sack her.

Proof not required in your house?

Ashbx

Well done OP, I think you handled it well. Just make sure she doesn't take the piss in the future....she's had her warning now!

Aye Bosun

I think you did the right thing OP, I was in a similar situation when I was a student, a so called friend popped into the shop and while by back was turned they put something in their bag. It was seen on CCTV and of course and rightly so I got the blame. But the owner of shop had chat with me and I explained I didn't actually know the person but went to junior school with them, they saw me though the window and popped into say hello. I was initially sacked but requested my boss to check my references properly and after a few phone calls to my old employers I was re-hired..only to work there for another 5 years and ended up as manager of the store.

All I am saying is that there is 2 sides to every story, this seems likes a genuine mistake on the employees part, you can be sure as hell she's going to pick up her game now too!

One thing I would think about doing is extending the probation period for her, just in case all is not as it seems, you will still have an easy route to dismissal.

km991148

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You're being taken for a fool op. Sure what else would she say only she didn't know the friend did the sign change.
She has gotten away with it and now she will run rings around you unless you sack her.

Think thats a bit much - we have no idea what the employee is like really - OP done the right thing and now employee knows if any further p-taking then its time to go..

seamus

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

You're being taken for a fool op. Sure what else would she say only she didn't know the friend did the sign change.
She has gotten away with it and now she will run rings around you unless you sack her.

Or...if she was complicit it's far more likely this is the kick in the arse she needs, now that she knows the owner is watching and isn't afraid to address issues with her.

Even though it's not been said explicitly, only a complete idiot wouldn't think that this unofficially a final warning.

KevAVFC

in my first job when i was 17 i was responsible for closing up , i was only there a few weeks 2 months at most and my cousin dropped in an hour before i was due to finish and close up, on my own for the first time , looking to go for a round of golf. The shop was quiet enough so i gave it 20 minutes and shut up shop , taking stands and stuff in while there was one last customer there.

My manager caught me on the CCTV gave me a serious talking to and docked my wages a full hour for that day, to this day i would say it is still the most important lesson i have learned in any job i've had. I never left that job early again and i gained a whole new appriciation for how lucky i was to have it.

No doubt what your employee did was out of order OP but maybe give her the benefit of the doubt there could be a good employee in there who just needs a wake up call.

LegacyUser

For those saying I am incorrect about the CCTV, the data controllers comments in their findings that I linked was:

"In the case of this data subject, her personal data was further processed in a manner incompatible with the original purpose. Furthermore, the data subject's personal data was not processed in accordance with the requirements of 'fair processing' as she had not been informed by the data controller, at the time when the data controller first processed her data, of the purpose for which it intended to process her personal data."

The data controllers decision was not reached because the cameras in question were covert but on the grounds that unless staff are warned that the cameras may be used in discipline and under what circumstances, their use is a breach of data protection.

The OP states that the CCTV is within the contract so I assuming that means the contract allows their use for discipline which is fine and dandy

vixdname

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

is she working for you less than six months? If so you're within your rights to give her a (figurative) boot up the hole out the door with no formal procedures.
That's what I'd do. Either that or dock her the average takings for that particular weekday for period they closed up early.
I'd be doing the former, that is simply unacceptable. At the very least I think you should shout at her.

Less than 6 months (or is it a yr), you can sack anyone for any reason (except the holy 9 discrimination categories). You can decide you don't like someone's hairstyle, their shoes or the way they looked at you and turf them out on the street.

"You should shout at her".... are you serious ?
You do realise shes not working in a Dickensian work house where employers could roar and shout at their employees ?
This is the 21st century where employees wont take that kind of s**t from anyone.
OP should definitely show her the CCTV and ask her her opinion on it, to get her side of the story and make a decision then based on what is heard.
Have the P45 and wages owed up to date on hand just in case of termination or hold back if its decided to give her a 2nd chance.
If it were the employee that closed the shop, I'd sack her there and then, but her friend doing it is another matter.
Is it possible to look at footage from any other dates she was on her own in the shop to see if it had happened in the past ? If so and it happened again, say goodbye to her but stay calm and dont give her any ammunition to throw back at you i.e. bullying her (This means no shouting at her like Ebinezer above recommended.