re: Older employees that work hard but get nothing done?

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He works hard but can't ever complete a task. Instead of calling a meeting to get everyone on the same page, then move forward, he sends out countless emails for people to review various redlined documents. Since the response time is very slow to zero on that he's always got tons of things lingering.

Also when he sends me his weekly report it's 2-3 pages of long descriptions of shite he's working on. Everyone else's is a realistic 3-4 bullets of updates.

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well send him an email of your comment above. then have a sit down meeting with him showing examples of updates from others as all you expect him to send you, then explain exactly how to modify his work habits.

obviously his isnt up to date in his work or communications habits and needs someone to help him adjust. its not his fault he is old and outdated so he needs to be retrained in these skills and if you do this he might surprise you and become one of your best workers.

dont be an age profiler and prejudge him as untrainable when you havent even tried to retrain him, he obviously isnt suffering from a lack of work ethic

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Smart millennials have an advantage that they don't understand right now... because so many of you are shitty, you can stand out very easily just by simply having a positive attitude and doing basic shite like showing up on time and working late every once in a while, volunteer to do some extra shite. You can soar..... that's why it's ok for yall to take a low level job fetching coffee, you move up quickly if you do basic level shite outlined above.

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Unless you work somewhere with terrified management teams scared of the Young guns.

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Don’t forget the “networking”, they spend more time on social functions than actually working.

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O frick yeah, as soon as they finish a given task, they head for the back room to check their cell phones.

Send him an email in all caps. He'll understand it better.

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How do you deal with these?

An older guy moved into my group a couple of months ago and is a big headache. He works hard but can't ever complete a task. Instead of calling a meeting to get everyone on the same page, then move forward, he sends out countless emails for people to review various redlined documents. Since the response time is very slow to zero on that he's always got tons of things lingering.

Also when he sends me his weekly report it's 2-3 pages of long descriptions of shite he's working on. Everyone else's is a realistic 3-4 bullets of updates.

He's a nice guy and been with the company a long time but he's almost more trouble than he's worth.

I've tried to set examples of how to complete stuff for him, but he's just not getting it. Any advice?

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PortHudsonPlaya

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Not sure his age is any reason for his work output. That you infer that shows a little bit of immaturity on your part if you ask me. The irony here is that while you mention his age and conflate it with his relative capacity to do the work, you go on to mention that he asks folks to review things via email and provide feedback.

So he’s using a much more modern means of trying to accomplish his work than having meetings which you prefer but his age is the first and most prominent thing you mention? If anything he’s embracing new school methods to get work done at his age...and it’s humorous you’re missing it.

Obviously you relayed info to us about setting an example. I don’t see where you mention in the OP that you’ve discussed his throughput issues from a process improvement perspective directly. I’d start there. As long as he’s been explained in advance what his expectations for throughput is for his position.

If you haven’t done that, this is kinda on you.

If you have, then try leading him to water another way. Give him statistics for the group he works in that show average throughput timeframes. Show him what his coworkers-without specifically pointing to any one or the other-average from the time a task hits their desk to the time it leaves their desk.

Then ask him to compare his statistics to theirs...and ask him to compare and contrast his strengths and weaknesses by comparison. Let him know you wanna do the same and compare notes.

See if he arrives at the same place you do, and then suggest specific ways that the rest of the group avoids the drag on efficiency where he’s getting stuck in the weeds. It may be a bit more complex. But your job is to fix it. Regardless of his age or yours or anyone’s really.

But if you don’t directly address issues or provide feedback that he can use to help himself then you aren’t doing your job from the sounds of it. Whether it’s work processes or process improvement in general...or helping him focus work reports and feedback you ask him to give you. Your job is to help him meet-if not exceed-your expectations.

Right?

Give him the boot.

Honestly this is why I only hire millenials, they're much more efficient with technology and very personable from working at Starbucks

If you're looking for an employee I can send you a resume!

Middle management

Congratulations on your success in life