In: Operations Management
You are an HR manager in an office of 300 individuals at all employment levels. A member of a management team approaches you regarding an issue they are having with an employee. Donna has been with the company for 10 years, however the manager has noticed a change in Donna's performance. She seems more disconnected, is late more frequently, and seems agitated. The manager has counseled Donna regarding her performance which only seemed to frustrate Donna more, making her feel her job was on the line. As the HR manager, you decide to have a conversation with Donna, and she reveals that she was recently diagnosed with a disability which has made it hard to perform as she usually would. She was ashamed to share this with her manager because she didn't want him to feel she couldn't do her job. You share this with her manager, maintaining the confidentiality of the specifics surrounding the disability.
Describe HR's role in handling this issue, and at least one strategy or approach a HR professional may take to address the disability as it relates to Donna's performance.
An HR's role is very important in this situation and HR must be really considerate about Donna's disability and give her that required concession for performance. Since Donna has been associated with the company for long time and her performance level is also great, hence for her to perform in this manner is justified since she is suffering from disability which has affected her performance. She normally wouldn't under perform on purpose and is herself aware of the situation and her decreased performance level as well.
One strategy or approach an HR professional may take to address the disability as it relates to Donna's performance is to assign her some other job or work which she will be able to accomplish without any problem or chance of under performance. Since the disability has made Donna's performance level to reduce, hence it is important to assign her some job which does not require that kind of effort and is as per her calibre as well.