I lead a hospitality firm in RAK and recently I hired what I thought was a perfect fit for the role of client liaison chief. Unfortunately this new employee's customer service skills are far from polished. They keep saying things are "awesome" and "totally cool" and uses "like" every other word, even after repeated coaching, making a bad impression on customers. What should I do?
AP, RAK
Recruiting the right people for the right role is one of the many challenges a manager faces, and it must be very frustrating and disappointing when after all that effort, your new employee doesn’t seem to be the great new recruit you thought they would be.
To prevent this bad hire from having a negative impact on you and your team, the situation needs to be dealt with fairly quickly.
Starting a new job requires a lot of information to be assimilated in a short period of time, so having a good on-boarding process is essential to ensure that new recruits have adequate support and structures to help them settle into their new role. According to the Allied Workforce Mobility Survey, 30 per cent of companies reported that it takes a year or more for new hires to reach full productivity. It is equally important that the new employee is clear about the goals and expectations within their role. This provides clarity for both the employee and the manager, and eases the way in addressing any unmet expectations.
From your description, it seems that there is some immaturity in how he/she engages with clients. This is not necessarily an indication of age, but rather that of professional maturity. Professional maturity refers to the ability to respect diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences at work and that judgement is driven by facts and mutual consent rather than emotions and instincts. It also stretches to our character at work, how we manage work relationships, value workplace culture and manage ourselves in terms of communication and appropriate formality of language. Most of these social work skills can be improved and developed through support structures such as mentoring and coaching but it will require time – a luxury which you may not always have.
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Read more:
Workplace Doctor: What you can do to support a stressed colleague
Workplace doctor: sincere praise for a job well done is vital
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So what should you do? As a start, confirm that your observations and perceptions are not isolated by checking how other trusted colleagues and team members experience this employee. If you asked others how they thought the new recruit was doing, will their feedback be in line with your thoughts?
Consider whether the issues you are experiencing with this employee could be improved with training, added support or more structured feedback. What were the qualities, attributes and skills you appreciated about this person from their resume and during their interview? You were suitably impressed to consider them a perfect fit, so how can you build on these strengths? In order to help this employee succeed in their role, what tools, resources or reference materials are you able to provide to help demonstrate the expectations you have of them? For instance, you can let the person shadow you on a few client calls so they can observe the level of professionalism, formality and style of interaction the role requires. Follow up with a few role plays in the office across various client scenarios and then begin co-travelling with the person, so that you can observe these skills being applied - followed by a debrief, specific feedback and coaching after each call.
As a last resort, you could terminate their contract as it is likely that he/she is still under probation. It may be difficult to let this person go, not only because you are likely to have an emotional investment in their success, but it may also require courage from your side to acknowledge that your new hire is not working out. Of course, this means that you are back to the recruiting process, which can be both lengthy and costly.
Doctor’s prescription:
Be clear and specific about the behaviours you would like to see an improvement in. Provide appropriate support and constructive feedback in service of developing this person to meet the required expectations. This experience does suggest an opportunity to review your recruitment and interviewing processes and to further develop these so that you can attract the right fit of people to your organisation.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Quercus
MATCH INFO
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
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How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
