HR DIARY, CHAPTER 7: When your subordinate is 'stressed' - Part I

 Swami was a manager with a small restaurant. The restaurant was one of the best places to work for. The environment was just like home and everyone knew and called each other by their first names. There were hardly seven staff members including the cook, security, service staff etc. There was no standardized "job description" as it was not required (and feasible) in such a small set up. In fact, there was no dedicated HR department. Everyone would do the work as per needs and matching skills. But still, the hotel did well. Everyone was able to work in synchronization. The informal culture had effectively replaced the requirement of a rule-based system. 

Raghu was a kind of "General Manager" in this setup. He looked after accounts and liaisoning with government agencies for various licences. If anything was there related to administration, Raghu would enthusiastically take charge. He was good with basic communication and administration in general. 

It was just another Sunday night and the restaurant just completed serving the food to the last set of customers, who were almost ready to "leave". It was around 11.30 PM. Raghu was tallying the accounts before leaving for home. It was his routine-he would do the last calculations of the cash register at the end of the day before leaving for home. 

But that day, Swami noticed that something was wrong. Raghu had been on that task for more than half an hour now. Raghu would generally complete this matching of accounts in fifteen minutes at the most - he was too good at that. Swami also noted some tension on the face of Raghu. Raghu didn't look normal. 

So, Swami asked Raghu if everything was fine. Raghu replied that there was an error of Rs. 532 in today's accounts (That much less amount was there in the cash register). It was the first time in the last six years, that the daily account did not tally. And Raghu was very upset with that. Swami asked Raghu to be relaxed and advised him to leave for home. Rs. 532 was not a big amount and this issue could be dealt with the next day. Swami advised Raghu that it was already too late and he should leave for home. Raghu did the same.

The next day, Raghu and Swami brought this to the notice of Chandu (owner of the restaurant). Chandu knew Raghu and Swami very well. They had been with him for many years. He knew that they would never do anything wrong (corruption). So Chandu asked Raghu to be relaxed and did not pay much heed to the incidence. He asked Raghu to forget this Rs. 532 and move on. 

Everything settled down and everyone got back to his work without much botheration. But Raghu was never the same afterward. Raghu's efficiency graph started going down slowly post that incident. Raghu's absence level also shot up slowly. Everyone, including Swami and Chandu, could easily observe that Raghu was losing his weight very fast and complained of headaches and back pain many times. Raghu also became less talkative and started smoking occasionally. 

It was clear that something was bothering Raghu. Swami, who was relatively very close to Raghu, tried to dig into the details but Raghu resisted. Raghu hinted once that something was wrong "back home" in his personal life. Swmai tried very hard but Raghu didn't share the details of what was bothering him. Even Chandu, who would not generally poke his nose into such matters (positively speaking), also tried to have a word with Raghu, but Raghu didn't share the details.

Meanwhile, all this was going on, Swmai and Chandu discussed, how Raghu's inefficiency was damaging business and also Raghu's own health. Raghu's efficiency was so less of late, that, in the words of Chandu, "he would have terminated the services of anyone else if that person was not Raghu". It was Raghu's loyalty and hard work of years, that didn't allow Chandu to fire Raghu from the job. 

Which immediate actions should be taken by Chandu?

Now, after discussing a lot, Swami and Chandu do not know what to do? How to solve this problem? Should Chandu fire Raghu from the job? of should he ask Swami to invade into the private life of Raghu and find out what was wrong (by talking to relatives of Raghu or by inquiring with the relatives of Raghu)? Would it be ethically OK to invade the privacy of an employee who does not want to share his personal details? Would it be ok to terminate such a stressed subordinate, whose poor performance is damaging the business (but whose past contributions of years have helped the business thrive a lot)?