Your company provides electrical maintenance, troubleshooting, repair, and upgrade services within a 150 mile radius of the home office. One problem that has dogged your sales people for a few years is sometimes there seems to be some special skill needed, but your company can't provide it. This has meant not taking on a given project that would gain your company a foothold with a new client.
Your boss recently hired a person he described as an “electrical superstar” and made you his supervisor. This person has an array of skills that open new doors for your company. It seems like he can do anything related to PLCs, computers, controls, and robotics. He's also a Level III thermographer and has a mind-blowing list of certifications.
But there is a fly in this particular ointment. He does not like to wear safety glasses in the field, even on sites where the client has a robust safety culture. It's not just the glasses, either. He has not yet made his 90-day probation, and you have already recorded several unsafe acts he has committed — and those are just the ones you know of. Other crew members have expressed concern, and three have said they do not want to go out into the field with him again.
You have on several occasions asked him to stop work and tell you how he can do the task more safely. His attitude was not cooperative. When you started writing him up, your boss called you into his office and told you the company really needs this guy. Then your boss said, “If you annoy him and he quits, that will cost you your job. Understood?”
So how do you resolve this dilemma? Your boss is not thinking clearly. Nobody is so important that a company can't fire them. The new employee — superstar or not — is a liability to the firm and to himself. And now your boss is a liability, too.
While it's usually a losing battle to “take on” your boss, both of you can have a good outcome if you “manage up” instead. Go start another discussion with your boss. Appeal to policy, first. Ask, “Is it the policy of this company to deliberately put its employees in danger?” There is only one correct answer, and if your boss does not give it this conversation is over; you need to bring your case to a higher authority within the company. If your boss gives the correct answer, then ask for his help.
“Help me to understand how any company without such a policy will permit an employee to willfully disregard the safety of other crew members.”
Now a discussion begins, but this time with the company policy just recently mentioned. This takes advantage of “recency,” a factor that heavily influences how people think.
Rather than having as a thought reference the sales this new hire might bring in, your boss has as a thought reference the safety policies of the company and the safety of company employees. It would also help to point out that a single safety catastrophe due to this employee's conduct could cost not only potential new clients but also existing ones.
This new employee may have thought an A+ on skills could cancel out an F grade for safety. But there is a certain minimum grade needed in each area. And for safety, it's a very high minimum.
Once your boss is back in reality, then you and he need to have a conversation with the new employee. If company policy permits, give him a week off without pay to think about it.
