Q: We had a wonderful intern last year. He was a self-starter, thorough in his work and went the extra-mile. So when he graduated we hired him full time.

The problem now is that his performance hasn’t met our expectations. He rushes tasks and completes them poorly. I’ve talked to him about it and he doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously.

Because everyone on our team works from home we only come together in person about once a month, I’m concerned that he might not be cut out for working remotely (although it was fine while he was an intern).

Was this hire a mistake?

A: Managing a completely remote team is a big challenge. The fact that you’ve been able to do that successfully so far, gets you well deserved kudos.

It was smart to hire someone whose work product and work ethic were known to you. Before we call this a mistake, let’s figure out what factors might be affecting his performance.

Here are some reasons he may be faltering:

When he was an intern, what he did for you was only a slice of everything else he was doing (i.e. schoolwork, attending classes) and he wanted to impress you as a future employer.

The first job out of college can sometimes disappoint our big dreams. Now, the work is full time and may seem boring.

Working from home and managing your own time can be challenging (here I speak from personal experience), especially if you are a twenty-something who’s never had a regular job in an office. There’s so much temptation for distraction (social media, internet, watching c-span) that it’s almost naïve to assume he’s using his time wisely.

He may lack self-awareness and be in denial that there’s a problem.  

So what to do?

I’d say you certainly need to increase the amount of supervision and guidance you are providing. I would start with daily video calls (Zoom.com offers a free option) where you can set priorities and expectations for the day, week and month. This will force him to formalize a work schedule and will allow you to notice when things get off track so you can both make a correction.

I’m confident you’ll see improvement once you both figure out the right amount of hand holding required. For now I’d say this was not a hiring mistake.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com