An employee is complaining to you about his supervisor. He says that the supervisor expects more from him than from other employees. He feels the supervisor picks on him and gives him the most difficult jobs to do. He is quite unhappy and is considering asking for a transfer to a different department. You ask the employee if he has discussed the situation with his supervisor. He has not. As the HR representative, you ask the employee whether he wants you to get involved in the situation, or if he came to see you because he needed a listening ear. The employee responds by requesting help.

Response A

You tell the employee he can most likely take the supervisor’s actions as a compliment. The supervisor obviously trusts his ability to perform well. The supervisor’s actions clearly indicate that he respects the employee’s capabilities as demonstrated by assigning him the more difficult tasks. You thank the employee for bringing the situation to your attention.

You tell the employee that you will talk to the supervisor about some of the ways in which he appears to supervise. The employee responds by saying, “I don’t want you to tell him that I talked to you; he’ll be really unhappy!” You reassure the employee and tell him the entire discussion has been confidential. You assure him that the supervisor will not know who complained to you. When the employee leaves, you think about a class you can recommend to the supervisor on effective supervision and delegation. You set up a time to talk with the supervisor about some general issues in supervision.