I've been asked by a fired some some guidance on how to deal with an individual contributor who smells of alcohol. Reaching for the feedback model my first question was how does his behaviour impact his ability to perform his duties. The person is employed as a delivery driver. Is smelling of alcohol a behaviour "when you come to work smelling of alcohol..." or could it meat with an "I don't small of alcohol" response?
To complicate matters the individual is currently going though a personal crisis with a very ill parent which is taking its toll on him.
I've queued up the managing through a personal crisis cast for a re-listen on my commute tomorrow but would welcome any more advice I can off to my friend.
Cheers
Mike
Previously, on MT forums...
I'm not sure how it managed to end up in my search results, but I spotted http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-4060 in a search I did yesterday, and it certainly seems to fit the bill. I'm sure people have some updated guidance, but it should at least get you thinking in the right directions.
You have two issues
The first issue is to let him know you care about the burdens in his life. This happens through o3s and your follow up on how things are going in his life.
The feedback I would give would be
"ask... When I smell alcohol when I am near you here is what happens: I wonder if you are drinking, I wonder if you are increasing the company's liability. Can you do things differently?"
Don't downplay the fact that as a delivery driver his drinking is a real risk to the company, others on the road and your direct as well. I wonder what YOUR legal liability is if you suspect drinking and allow him to keep driving.
Feedback Shot Across the Bows
I'm presuming that the driver is not delivering drink or anything that smells of alcohol so this isn't just transfer.
I think your friend should give the feedback on the direct smelling of alcohol, making sure that they do so at a time when the direct does actually smell of alcohol. That way if the direct does come back with "I don't smell of alcohol!" they can point out that they are standing next to the direct and can smell alcohol. They may want to consider swapping the word 'Worry' for 'Wonder' in the feedback suggested by MFCULBERT, a delivery driver drinking (a not unreasonable deduction from them smelling of alcohol) is worrying, as a fellow road user as well as as an employer. Drinking, at times or to the extent that the direct is showing up to work smelling of alcohol, is a worry for any manager who actually cares at all about their directs as it can have an impact on health.
It may be worth bearing in mind that there are other things that smell similar to alcohol (many cleaning products) or can cause someone to smell of alcohol (some medications when released in sweat can be mistaken for alcohol, if the person is diabetic and not controlling their blood sugar they can sweat ketones which can be mistaken for alcohol &c).
Your friend may need to check their HR manual, many companies have very strict rules about drinking at work (which includes having an alcoholic drink on a lunch break, even though it's not usually paid time) or showing up to work with alcohol in your system, in particular driving or safety critical jobs. One of my previous employers also employed train drivers and had everyone on the same terms and conditions. As a result of this showing up to work with a measurable amount of alcohol (or other intoxicant) in your blood was a dismissal offense unless you could show that it was unavoidably there (e.g. you were on a medication that contained alcohol or would give a false positive for alcohol or other intoxicant, you were not expecting to have to go to work and had notified your manager that you may have alcohol in your blood and been given a waiver &c).
Stephen
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"Start with the customer and work backwards, not with the tools and work forwards" - James Womack