View Full Version : Boss with possible memory problems? What to do?
Hi all. I'm currently working as a temp at a company. I think my boss (an older lady) is having memory problems and I'm not sure what to do about it.
After the latest incident yesterday, I talked to a full-time co-worker who has been there about a year, and she has noticed the same things as me. She is about ready to quit over the situation.
Incident that made me very concerned: Yesterday, she wanted me to put together a chart. She drew the outline of the chart on her whiteboard while we talked about it. Then I went to work on it, and she went out to lunch. When she got back from lunch (about 60 min later), I showed her the completed chart - that looked exactly like her outline.
She looks at it a bit baffled, says "um, and what is this supposed to be telling me?".... I answered her seriously, telling her why it was set up the way it was and what we had been trying to show with it. She says "where did you get this framework?"... I tell her, the whiteboard in her office... she goes into her office, looks at the whiteboard for a bit, and then comes back and asks for the printout.
Then she calls me into her office and we have the EXACT same conversation we had that morning, with her asking the exact same questions.
Other incidents: She schedules meetings, and then never shows up to them (same day). Doesn't even matter if she puts them into her calendar. She has even scheduled two meetings in her calendar for the exact same time and then doesn't show for either of them (happened Friday).
She asks you for things, then when you tell her the answer or bring her what she asks for, she looks confused.
So, I'm a temp. Is there anything I can do? Just try to work around it for the next few weeks until my contract is up?
Edit to add: Thought of another thing. Everyone of her direct reports have to save all their files as 'Read Only: Password Protected' because otherwise she will randomly change numbers in them, and save over the original file.
As a temp, I would not get too invested. The full time employees have established methods of communication and may have additional facts. Compassion might be the word to use in this situation.
Yeah, if it were me, as a temp I'd just work around it. Hopefully one of her longer established employees has a way of expressing concern to the right person be it HR or whomever.
As a temp, I would not get too invested. The full time employees have established methods of communication and may have additional facts. Compassion might be the word to use in this situation.
Probably isn't anything else that can or should be done. She could be very close to qualifying for retirement and co-workers are keeping a tacit agreement to make sure she can get to that point.
Probably isn't anything else that can or should be done. She could be very close to qualifying for retirement and co-workers are keeping a tacit agreement to make sure she can get to that point.
Not really. Coworkers are all ready to quit. One said to me as she was leaving to get lunch "I may be back...." and I believed her. The person who held that job before her? Left for lunch one day and never came back.
There is a very real possibility they will all quit in the next month.
The reason I'm seeking advice is more to keep me sane. I should have been done with this temp contract June 30th, but they keep extending it. Just found out today its been extended AGAIN! The only reason I'm staying as sane as I am is because I'm a temp. I keep telling my self, 7 more days etc, but then it keeps getting pushed out....
Going to HR won't help. This is a small, privately held company, where all the managers are the co-owners.
When someone has a memory problem, it may have several causes. Often, the person undergoing this experience has no idea of what is going on.
As mentioned above, compassion would indicate that an employee research the options available to deal with this. An Alzheimers or mental health office would have some ideas on how to approach this. It seems a shame that people would give up their jobs for this. How would the same employees act if someone was having heart problems?
It may be a safety issue or company risk that can be avoided.
Does this manager have a manager herself? It may be Alzheimer's. It may be something else. Either way I think it should be brought to someone's attention. My own feeling, temp or not, is that I would have to raise it with another manager or even with the person themselves. I couldn't stand by and watch while someone disintegrated like that, nor let them damage the company by their inability to do the job and high staff turnover, nor keep covering up for them. It's just wrong on too many levels.
iris lily
7-21-11, 11:37pm
If she's that far gone mentally it's almost certain that her business partners know. That is, if they are in the same building and have daily contact with her.
If she's a partner rather than an employee, its even harder to know what to do. Since you are certain that there is mental impairment there (it's not possible that you are only imagining it) then it does sound like you should report this to someone.
Um yeah I would find the appropriate channel to tell what you see and stick to concrete issues like repeating conversations. Hopefully someone knows her personally enough to contact family or a close friend. Also contacting someone with elder resources in your community may help to advise you in how to handle this. What I know from my mother who ran a senior daycare for people with alzheimers and dementia is that often pointing out memory loss can make the person angry at times. However if there is a memory issue it would be good if a more permanent employee or friend could address it as it will affect a lot even if she is retired. I know there are privacy and other issues in the workplace, it may be that others know about a medical issue and are not at liberty to share.
First, start documenting everything you discuss in an email. Then, look for opportunities to visit with the one of the other managers about what you've noticed. Keep it low key, confidential and casual. Sometimes, if someone has been slipping for a while it's hard to notice when they are getting worse because you just get used to having to accommodate them. Having an outsider's perspective about just how bad it's gotten can be a wake up call. If after all that nothing happens you might want to visit with your manager just before you leave saying you noticed she has some memory problems and you are concerned.
First, start documenting everything you discuss in an email. Then, look for opportunities to visit with the one of the other managers about what you've noticed. Keep it low key, confidential and casual. Sometimes, if someone has been slipping for a while it's hard to notice when they are getting worse because you just get used to having to accommodate them. Having an outsider's perspective about just how bad it's gotten can be a wake up call. If after all that nothing happens you might want to visit with your manager just before you leave saying you noticed she has some memory problems and you are concerned.
Thank you, that is a good idea. Her manager is in the same building, but doesn't see her everyday, or even every week. I didn't even meet her till I'd been here for 2 months. I think the problem is short-term memory so you wouldn't notice it unless you talk to her frequently. A more concrete list of what I've noticed is probably better than the confused account I wrote above.
You're a temp. Tell your supervisor at the temp agency, as they may have a relationship with the worksite.
When I worked as a temp, the agency was my employer, and I was encouraged to bring any problems to them. Since the company you're working at contracts with them, it wouldn't be inappropriate to discuss this with someone at your temp agency. You probably have some kind of language in your contract about what to do in case of HR problems.
I am suprised no one has thought that the management may be well aware.
Perhaps the employee has even told them they are in treatment for some type of health issue or that they are having trouble with a new medication.
I agree with Redfox and Kay LRZ. Compassion can only go so far in this situation. People who are having memory problems can make those who work for them look really bad, and it's in your best interests to inform the temp agency in case they receive a complaint about you regarding a problem her memory loss has caused.
Ask me how I know.... I came in one morning and found my laptop missing from the drawer where it's locked up on weekends so a cleaning crew can come in. I thought I might have accidentally stored it in a different drawer, so I opened the project manager's drawer and his was there, while he stood at our work table a few feet away, puzzled as to why he couldn't log on to (what he thought was) his laptop. Our laptops have our names on the lid, BTW. It's only one instance of memory problems and inattention among many, and he unfortunately covers up by implying that either my coworker or I screwed up. (Note that my coworker has been through two courses of chemotherapy for two different types of cancer in the past year, and her situation brings me to tears. It's not at all the same as having memory problems.) Like your situation, the regional manager is so overworked he only comes around every two or three months and not for long enough to notice the problem.
I'm leaving, retiring at the beginning of September, and I'm not sure I would have done so if there was a chance I could get a better boss. However, the place where I work, a government agency, is under pressure to maintain a certain staffing level. They never fire anybody for poor performance, which leaves me with a choice of two project managers in my region, both of whom are five cans short of a sixpack. I'm outta here.
I am thinking the management probably knows and this may be why they are using temp staff -- easier to cycle people in and out that way than it is to go through a regular hiring process and have people leave in frustration a week or two into the job.
What is really the saddest about this is that no one is doing this woman any favors by ignoring/covering over her condition. If she were to seek treatment early, it might be possible to delay the process of decline.
I would also raise it with the agency, and ask for a reassignment. In the meantime, document EVERYTHING important. I worked for a psycho boss who would deliberately undermine me for awhile, and I ended up using email to document just about everything. "Per our phone call just now, for the next two days I will be working on the following. I will use the attached notes/outline that we agreed on as the framework for developing this project. I will send you results by xx on xx. If you have any further comments or additional questions, please email me ASAP." It only takes a couple of minutes, and really works as a CYA strategy because if there is any question you can pull up the email and say "see, this is what we agreed on, or at least my understanding of it, and you didn't reply so that is how I proceeded."
lhamo
dado potato
7-27-11, 9:33am
When I was in high school I had a summer job, and my boss was an ex-boxer. It was unnerving to try to meet his expectations, because he would forgot to tell me to do certain things, and then would chew me out for not doing them. I coped by trying to comprehend all the tasks the job really involved, and doing what needed to be done without the boss telling me to. He chewed me out less often as a result. When he did, I tried to tell him I understood what he was telling me, and assured him, "I'll get right on that."
It was also embarrassing when he didn't remember my name, and referred to me as "the tall boy".
I coped with the embarrassments by laughing it off.
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