Human Resources Situation - What Would You Do? Prompt/Question:

In this discussion we will take a look at a situation that you might run into as a manager, and would then have to coordinate with the HR team on a response. A description of the situation is below, along with a PDF attachment. The PDF contains the situation and also the actions you can pick from, or suggest related ones.

Recently you noticed that Mara has been taking frequent breaks to go to the women's bathroom. When she returns to her desk, she is often overly chatty and energetic. Other times she seems anxious and withdrawn. Her work has become very erratic. Sometimes she takes long lunch breaks or leaves early. A co-worker has reported that she thinks she saw some pills in Mara's purse.

Until the past three months or so, Mara has been an efficient, dependable employee. She has worked for the company for eight years and always had average or above average appraisals. She worked well with her co-workers and was well liked. That's beginning to change now. You suspect she is addicted to prescription drugs. Choose five actions you, her manager, should take, put them in the order you would take them, and provide your reasoning for each action.

Include any key points of how you would coordinate your actions with Human Resources (HR).

Click here for the "Mara case" pdf Download Click here for the "Mara case" pdf.

Your responses to other students should focus on identifying the best five actions to take when handling a situation like this one. Make sure to take some time to understand where the initial author of the comment is coming from.

The Mara Case Recently you noticed that Mara has been taking frequent breaks to go to the women''s bathroom. When she comes back to her desk, she is often overly chatty and energetic. Other times she seems anxious and withdrawn. Her work has become very erratic. Sometimes she takes long lunch breaks or leaves early. A co-worker reported that she thinks she saw some pills in Mara's purse. Until the past three months or so, Mara has been an efficient, dependable employee. She has worked for the company for eight years and always had average or above average appraisals. She worked well with her co-workers and was well liked. That is beginning to change now. You suspect she is addicted to prescription drugs. Choose five actions you, her manager, should take, in what order would you take them, and provide your reasoning for each action: Include any key points of how you would coordinate your actions with Human Resources (HR). o Have Mara show you the contents of her purse o Have another employee sneak into the women's room while Mara's there o Speak to Mara privately about how her performance lately has been affecting her ability to do her job o Ask her if she's taking drugs o Ask her why she thinks her work has fallen off o Tell her she must take a drug test immediately if she wants to keep her job o Warn her that she can be suspended or even terminated unless her performance improves o Ask her if she has any suggestions on how she might improve her performance o Explain exactly what you expect from her in order to avoid disciplinary action o Tell her that you'll be keeping a watchful eye on her and her work o Set a specific date, no more than two weeks away, when you will meet with her again to discuss improvements or further disciplinary action o Tell her you will call her in again, if she doesn't show immediate improvement o Tell her this meeting is off the record, but the next time she's called in it will go into her personnel file o Tell her you plan to make a note of this in her personnel file o Write down that you suspect she has a drug problem o Write down the verifiable performance problems and the details of the meeting with Mara o Show your documentation to Mara for her to read and sign o Start counseling Mara as you would any other employee with unsatisfactory performance o Put Mara in a drug rehabilitation program whether she admits to a drug problem or not o If there's no improvement in her performance in two weeks, start disciplinary action o Other: o Other