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The original was posted on /r/bestofredditorupdates by /u/Direct-Caterpillar77 on 2026-08-17 04:00:03+00:00.

my new hire turned from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde

Originally posted to Ask A Manager

Original Post  Jan 27, 2016

I’m a manager at a large nonprofit. The budget is tight and I am short-staffed. I finally was approved to open up a position with the understanding that it would be a 90-day trial period and at the end of that period the organization would evaluate how well it worked and then decide whether or not to make that person permanent, non-exempt.

I hired a guy who had great experience and great references and was amazing in the interview. For 90 days, he was great – fast learner, very motivated, put in extra effort, reliable. I was happy he was working so well and my bosses were happy that they approved my staffing proposal.

Towards the end of the 90-day trial period, my hire started asking pretty frequently about being made permanent. Neither I nor my supervisors saw any reason why that shouldn’t happen. He had been great and I was so incredibly relieved to have the help. So at the end of the trial, we made him permanent, with benefits, PTO, vacation, the whole lasagna.

Since then it has been a NIGHTMARE. He has become a completely different person. He has only been permanent for a month. The very first week, he called in sick three of the five days. He comes in late and leaves early, is constantly making mistakes, he refuses to read or answer his emails, is rude to my other employees and upper management, and has hung up on patrons. I’ve gotten a lot of complaints.

I met with him twice to address these issues. At the first meeting, he said he was just confused about time off, organization policies, etc. I was confused since he did fine for three months, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and did some retraining, etc. But mistakes kept happening, he continued to miss work, and he stopped even trying to get along with the others. I met with him a second time in a much more serious tone, but I also asked him if there were any issues outside of work that might be the cause. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the day and night difference in him. He did not like that and said there weren’t any outside issues that were any of my business and then became very antagonistic and defensive. This meeting ended on a rather sour note.

Now I’ve been hearing from my other employees and also upper management that this new hire is complaining about me and the organization constantly. I heard from my direct boss that the higher-ups are getting concerned.

While writing this email, I got a meeting request. I just met with our payroll and HR manager because not only is my hire somehow in negative sick leave and PTO, but he has apparently been using his lunch hours to barge into her office and argue about his time off, trying to get the organization to pay for it for various reasons. Oh, and he tried to access bereavement leave to cover a vacation.

I am beyond mortified.

I fought so hard to get this position approved and I desperately need the help. I’m afraid that this will turn my higher-ups off to keeping this position and they’ll do away with it. And I am frankly embarrassed that I hired this guy. I feel like a failure. I’m disappointed I let my bosses down, but I’m also disappointed in myself for not being able to clamp down on this guy’s shenanigans.

Any suggestions on how to talk to my higher-ups to keep the position, or how to deal with this hire? I’m at my wit’s end.

Update  April 21, 2016 (3 Months later)

I wanted to sincerely thank you and your readers for your insight and commiseration, it was a huge relief to hear what everyone had to say; especially knowing that everyone felt it was as bizarre a situation as I did! I’d love to supply everyone with an update that has a bittersweet, but ultimately good, resolution.

I took your advice and went to my ED a few days after you posted my question. I just laid it out for him; I told him about the 90 days being fine and the ensuing nightmare once he had been made permanent. I told him about my concerns for the position, both with this guy in it and what would happen if he were let go. And once the conversation got going I also ended up sharing how embarrassed I was for my hire’s behavior, both toward patrons and the full staff, and the fact that I had brought this guy onto the team. It ended up being a great conversation about my role in the organization and it was a relief to know that my director was just as baffled by this guy’s behavior as I, and all the AAM readers, were. As a side note, a lot of readers assumed this was a younger hire out of college, but that is not the case. It makes this whole situation much weirder and I probably should have mentioned in the OP that Mr. Hyde is in his early 40s and was coming from a similar position he had held for many years at a sister organization in another state.

For legal reasons, my ED and HR decided the best course was to put him on a PIP. Not what I would have wanted but there it is. When I met with Mr. Hyde to discuss the terms of the PIP, he handled it as gracefully as you’d expect – by initially refusing to sign it, demanding to get his lawyer involved, but eventually signing albeit with a very poor attitude.

Enforcing and tracking the PIP was just the worst; it was a lot of extra work that compounded my already heavy workload. And while Mr. Hyde was generally improving on trackable issues by making fewer mistakes, his attitude and general professionalism got as low as it could go. It was difficult to manage however because a lot of the ways he did this were in grayish areas. For example we don’t have a mandatory dress code because we are all adults who know that when you come to work you look presentable and, well, clean. He would come in smelly gym clothing or filthy t-shirts and jeans – to the point where visitors would comment on the office smell. He would take his breaks at the worst times possible, leaving my other reports to deal with the fallout. He would speak on the phone with donors in a snarky, sarcastic tone using terms like “ma’am” or “sir” to address them. His responses when these issues were addressed were about there not being a dress code so how was he to know, how he had to take breaks by law and didn’t realize it was a problem, or how his tone with donors was just being polite, etc. I hope this makes sense – basically he was doing his job in the most passive aggressive way possible. Professionalism was included in the PIP and I just have to assume he didn’t take that portion, or me, seriously.

I was incredibly frustrated but hadn’t realized how frustrated my team was until one asked to meet with me. This report is one of the most passive, patient, and empathetic people I’ve ever met and , so I was completely floored when he asked to make a formal complaint about Mr. Hyde. In short, I had no idea some of the things that were happening when I wasn’t watching Mr. Hyde and of course my team was not aware of Mr. Hyde’s PIP. But the information this other team member brought to me was enough that I met with my ED that same day and asked for immediate termination regardless of preserving the position. And that is exactly what happened. Mr. Hyde was terminated and I did lose the position. But, as your readers commented, just having the toxic element gone has been completely reinvigorating. My team is so much happier and what seemed like a heavy workload previously is now approached by everyone, including myself, as worth the effort to maintain our workplace morale and overall sanity.

But here’s the real kicker. Earlier this month I attended a conference and happened to run into my counterpart at the organization Mr. Hyde came to us from. I couldn’t help myself and had to ask if they had had any issues with him since I had gotten such a glowing recommendation from his supervisor (which wasn’t my counterpart). Turns out they had numerous problems with Mr. Hyde but his supervisor was unwilling to fire him and was apparently thrilled when I called for the recommendation. He hadn’t known Mr. Hyde was looking to move on and gave me a great recommendation in order to pass him off without any unpleasantness on his end.

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP

DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

Dang she got played be previous supervisor and the new hire.