Oh Henry! (part 2)

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Preparing for confrontation

Henry, Maintenance Manager at Focus on the Child residential home, is in trouble. He was overheard in the Millpot Café discouraging three men from volunteering at the home. He has been summoned to a meeting by Siobhan, the general manager.

9.00 am: Siobhan stares at the snow, sips her coffee and eases the tension from her shoulders. “I’m really dreading this meeting,” she frets. “I hate handling disciplinary problems." She lifts the phone to Linda at head office, looking for advice.

Linda listens as Siobhan briefs her. “Be careful,” says Linda. “It’s hearsay – you’ve only got Joan as a witness to what happened in the café. And Henry’s got 18 years’ service. Are there previous warnings on his file? Oh – and did you get round to updating the employee handbook? The new one has something about employees not rubbishing the organisation in public.”

The tension in Siobhan’s neck tightens to a headache. “No, there’s nothing on his file – he’s just had a few verbal warnings. And I’m afraid I forgot to update the employee handbook following the change of ownership. I haven’t had a moment.”

“Well in that case,” says Linda, “my advice is to quietly suspend Henry on full pay for a few days, get the whole story, then see him again.”

Christmas is cancelled?

Siobhan carpets Henry in her office. “Look Henry, it’s been reported that you were bad-mouthing the home and our team in the Millpot Café yesterday. This is really serious. I’ve got to investigate further. So, I’m suspending you on full pay until next Monday. Let’s meet at 10 o’clock and deal with it then.”

Henry, whose hand is still sore from his recent accident, is caught completely off guard. “Stuff your suspension! I’ve had enough of you! You sack me and I’ll have the union down on you like a ton of bricks!”  

As he storms out of the building Henry bumps into two of the children. “When’s Santa coming? Will there be a grotto this year, like you promised?” Henry, seething, barks: “No chance! Christmas is cancelled here. I’m off.” The children stare at him, horrified, and rush off to tell their friends.

The full picture

Shaken by Henry’s outburst Siobhan takes three paracetamol and heads for the Millpot Café where, the manager has told her, Bill and his two mates lunch most days. Sure enough Bill is there and Siobhan approaches him tentatively.

“Hi, I’m Siobhan, General Manager at Focus on the Child. I gather you might be interested in volunteering with us? You and your friends spoke to Henry about it yesterday? I’d be interested to hear what he said?”

Bill confirms that Henry was, to say the least, discouraging, and that they had been having second thoughts about volunteering.  

“Look,” continues Siobhan, “there’s been a misunderstanding. We are looking for volunteers. Why not come up to the home next week and I’ll show you round?”

“OK,” says Bill. “By the way, how’s Henry’s hand?”

“Henry’s hand?”

“Yes, he had this nasty gash. Said it happened when he was up a ladder...”

Walking back to work, Siobhan feels uneasy: “I seem to be out of the loop here. Why didn’t I know about Henry’s injury?”  

At the home, the rumour mill is working overtime. Was Henry suspended? Had he resigned? Pete, the office manager, asks Siobhan: “What’s up with Henry? Is he sacked? How will that affect the grotto?”

“What grotto?!” Siobhan blanches.

“Henry’s been making a grotto for Santa Claus. It’s a surprise for the kids. He’s been working on it in his own time, in his shed.”

Friday, and an uneasy Siobhan rings Linda, saying she has the full picture now. “I want to play it low key, so I’ll see Henry on my own.”   

Seeing sense      

Over the weekend, Siobhan walks her dog on the common, her mind whirling. “I’ve got to face it, I’m not squeaky clean. There’s nothing in the employee handbook about not criticising the organisation in public. I didn’t know about Henry’s injury. Or about him making a grotto on his own initiative. And the children are so excited about the Christmas party. How am I going to turn this round?”

Meanwhile Henry, in the pub with his mate George, is sounding off. “I’m going to get the union onto this! They’ll be sorry!”

George tries to get him to see sense: “Look at Bill and his mates! They got made redundant, even though the union did its best to save their jobs. I’d cool it Henry. Lose this job and you’ll find there’s nothing else out there, especially these days.”

New year’s resolutions

10 o’clock, Monday morning and Henry sidles into Siobhan’s office.

“How’s your hand?” she asks Henry, solicitously.

“Be all right,” mutters Henry. Siobhan, wisely, doesn’t take Henry to task for failing to report an accident. She goes over the incident in the café and to her surprise Henry is not belligerent, but instead agrees with her summary.

“I think we can repair the damage as far as Bill and his friends are concerned,” says Siobhan. “I’ve invited them to come and look round. They’re really keen to volunteer, and I’m going to invite them to the Christmas party. If they get CRB clearance, they could start in the new year helping with some of the basic maintenance jobs.”

‘Replacing me? ...That mean I’m sacked?’ bleats Henry.

‘No! It means you can concentrate on the more skilled work.”

“Oh...yeah. That’d be good,” says Henry, deeply relieved. “Look, I was bloody mad last Wednesday. Felt taken for granted. What matters to me, to all of us, are the kids. They’re worried there won’t be no Christmas party. No way I would want that to happen.”

“No, absolutely not. But you do realise the lasting harm you could have done to Focus on the Child’s reputation, Henry? I’m going to have to put a written warning on your file. I think we can mend our fences with Bill, this time. But, after Christmas, I think we both need to make some good New Year resolutions.”

Henry grunts, noncommittally. At last the woman’s making sense...

Have your say

• How explicit should your employee handbook or contract of employment be about not criticising the organisation in public?

• Was Linda right to suggest suspending Henry?

• Would Henry have had the right to be accompanied by a colleague to the meeting with Siobhan?

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum.

Past episodes

Catch up with past episodes of Millcaster Tales.

Lots more Millcaster to come in the new year!