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Dealing with staff paranoia


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I need help. I have a member of staff who I believe to be paranoid. If she goes out of the room to the toillet and the other staff are quiet when she returns she makes a fuss and says that other staff have been talking about her ....not true.

Also she likes to know everything about everyone and everythung and this is all beginning to get me down....feell I cant trust her.....

Any ideas please......

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Hi how long has this been going on. Does this person fully engage with the rest of the team. Have you had supervision discussions on how she feels in her job role. This might open up why she feels or appears to seem paranoid. It could be that they have low self-esteem generally and need support to feel valued.

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Thanks Fredbear..... its been worse in past couple of years and she appears to be confident to speak to parents....I give praise where its due...I do think she feels threatened if someone new comes in but wants to be in the middle of things all the time . She can be a good worker but even comes out with things like ..' None of the children like me'.

I have noticed that she wil come and stand near my office door if I am on the phone or stand and look over my shoullder if I am doing some work ( and no I am not paranoid lol ).

We had another employee but due to financial situation had to let her go.

When she was working the paranoid one and other employee worked exceedingly well together And I give praise but since she left the paranoid one says she didnt like her and wouldnt be happy if she came back. So I feel she is trying to manipulate me as manager.

The lady that left was very keen wanting to go further with her training but the paranoid one wont go further as she needs to do English and maths ( She is only a level 2).

I am taking on an apprentice soon and she wil be working for next to nothing and is willing to do anything to help herself and the group.

So dont know what to do.

Staff appraisals are due so going to give that a go again..see if she brings up anything.....wish me l

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Sorry to say that in appraisal if she doesn't bring it up you must.

Keep it simple and factual. Give her examples such as "I have heard you mention that you don't think the children like you. What makes you think that? " it is likely to be a bit confrontational but you have to talk about it or you will end up so resentful and in a place you don't wNt to be.

If she gives reasons you may be able to explain them "Jack didn't say hello that day because his grandad had gone back to Australia" or whatever you can think of.

If she can't give reasons then you do have to take the bull by the horns and tell her that you find some of her comments worry you and that you want her to enjoy her work what can I do to help?

Take a deep breath and get the words out. You really do not want to continue working in an atmosphere. It will rub off on the children.

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I also think you need to 'nip it in the bud' but that can be easier said than done.

I had a paranoid member of staff and she wore all of us down in the end .. she had 1 person who she perferred to spend time with but she herself ended up a nervious wreck because of the others paranoia ... as a manager I tried to talk to her put things in place for her (she wasn't dealing with the workload well) and then to find out that she was talking behind my back saying that I wasn't supporting her that she'd been 'told off' it just wasn't true ...

It was an awful 4 years of working life that made us all hate our job in the end she left (of her own doing) and the feeling was amazing ... a cloud lifted from all of us, an experienced and much loved member of staff returned (she left becuase she couldn't stand the atmosphere)

Deal with it before it starts to stress you out - good luck

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Goodness me Wendy that is similar to a member of staff I have although she is more anxious then paranoid , you must discuss in supervision , my deputy and I took the chance when she had been off sick and did a return to work to discuss our concerns, emphasis that she is a great worker and need to beleive that but she is also a team member and needs to be part of it.

As for children not liking her we have that too . Outer one flits and spends too much time worrying about what to do then just doing it, it is wearing at times but when she good she great I just have to keep reminding her of it.

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