Believing these myths may undermine your ability to meet partner expectations AND may also undermine your credibility as a supervisor with your employees and your manager. Please contact your HR Division Partner for guidance and assistance to address these situations.
TRUTH: If the employee shares something that violates policy, is against the law or represents danger to self or others, you must seek guidance from your HR Division Partner immediately.MYTH: When an employee asks that something be kept confidential, a supervisor cannot then share what the employee said with Human Resources.
TRUTH: Term appointments can be ended early for lack of work, lack of funds or unsatisfactory performance. Seek guidance from your HR Division Partner regarding the process required to do so.MYTH: You cannot end a term appointment before the term is up.
TRUTH: You should address behavior or performance issue at any point in an employee’s career.MYTH: Once an employee has achieved career status, there is nothing a supervisor can do to address a behavior or performance issue.
TRUTH: Supervisors are expected to appropriately address performance issues as they arise. This practice helps ensure problems are corrected as they occur and paves the way for termination of employment if performance objectives are not met.MYTH: It’s too time consuming or complicated to terminate the employment of a poor performer so it’s better to look the other way, reassign the employee to another project or find something else for the employee to do for the next 30 years.
TRUTH: Supervisors have many options to address performance and behavior issues, and the time it takes to correct the situation depends upon the issue.MYTH: It takes a minimum of 90 days and a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) in order to terminate an employee's appointment.
TRUTH: Union contracts offer provisions for disciplining represented employees.MYTH: Union employees are protected from any disciplinary action.
TRUTH: The same policies and contract provisions apply to employees whether from an under-represented group or not. MYTH: Employees from under-represented groups cannot be released from employment even when it’s apparent they are not meeting expectations or when there is no work for them to do.
TRUTH: You can continue to address performance and behavior issues in both of these circumstances.MYTH: You cannot address an issue if an employee has filed a complaint or is being investigated for another unrelated performance or behavior issue.
