All About AIDS

No, this one’s not caused by the HIV virus. AIDS or “As If Doing Something” (but not actually doing anything) is a common disease in the office, at home or even at school. Aside from being common, it’s communicable, too. That is if you hang out with people with “AIDS” too often. As a boss, teacher, or parent, we need to help people with AIDS.

Today, let’s focus on employees with AIDS. How do you know if someone has AIDS? Here are the symptoms:

Symptoms

• Tearfulness over too much concentration on the computer screen but not typing anything
• Preoccupied with non-work related stuff: constantly checking text messages, emails
• Low energy levels (walking too slow)
• Too many trips to the photocopying room
• Yawning every 2 minutes

Bad Effects of Having Employees with AIDS

• Slow to no progress in the tasks assigned to them
• Affects productivity of the entire group due to missed deadlines
• Financial loss (paying someone for doing nothing)
• Source of conflict among employees

What to do?
First off, scream, just kidding. Seriously, the best thing to do is to talk to the person with this problem. If you’re not that person’s boss and you feel awkward doing so, you may want to tell this to the person’s direct supervisor/manager and let him do the dirty work. However, if it’s your job to confront the “patient,” it’s best to prepare. “What for?” you may ask. Well, you should be ready because you have to know what to say. You can’t just drag another person’s name in this situation or not know anything about what’s really happening. You have to focus on the behavior and not the person by providing facts. You don’t want to call anybody a slacker right then and there. You’ve got to state some facts. Example, the report given to you was incomplete. Identify the missing parts. Ask what happened. If he/she was given enough time and resources to complete it, ask for an explanation why the report is still incomplete. This way, you’re not branding or calling anyone a slacker. They can’t hate you for stating the facts. But for sure, they will hate the situation their in. Then instead of explaining the consequences of their actions, why not ask them what do they think would be the result/s (of slacking off). More often than not, a person with AIDS knows this. And just in case they don’t know, state any company policies they might be violating and the disciplinary actions related to such violations.

Offer to help.
This is one thing that most bosses forget. Sometimes, once their done highlighting what’s wrong, they forget to do to offer help. “How can I help you so that this will not happen again?” This is great because you’d be setting expectations that employee will not repeat the behavior and that you’re also available in case he/she needs help.

After coaching, now what?
Don’t end the coaching session without documenting your conversation on paper. Write what you have discussed, what you agreed on. And don’t forget to sign. That will be your contract. So when the same behavior is repeated in the future, both of you can go back to your contract and proceed with due process (ahem, like issuing a memo).

What’s next?
It’s advisable to make your presence be known especially when working on a project with someone with AIDS. Stopping by his/her cubicle unexpectedly would help. Just check on their progress from time to time and ask if he/she needs help. Don’t forget to provide feedback about their work (good, if bad, what will make things better). This way, they’d be on their toes all the time because they’ll never know when you’ll pop up again.

AIDS is not a chronic disease but it is easy to acquire it. Let’s prevent this from spreading and let’s help those who have it.