How to help my adhd employee with time management difficulties and getting time sheets in on time.

[brie7]

I have a small company. One regular person who has been made into an assistant. and depending on the project up to 12 other people at one time. I'm trying to accommodate this assistant with her ADHD, but as a business person, it is so frustrating. I need to track multiple jobs on a time sheet and multiple tasks, and have her fill it in daily. I tried google spread sheets.That is not working. Searching for an online time sheet program that will work to show the depicts the client project that she is on with and the designated task is hard enough, making it user friendly for someone with ADHD is making me crazy. I want to help her, but I don't know how and I need to run a business. IF anyone knows of any software please let me know. I'm also open to reading more literature on how to work with employees with adhd.

Problem two. She is rarely on time. I have moved her up to an assistant position, but when you have an assistant who is always late, and sometimes makes a team wait on her, and me pay for a team to wait that is hard. She, as an assistant, sets the mood of the team that is under her. If she can arrive late, others feel they can as well. I want to support her, but this is hard.

Employer trying to go the distance for someone I believe in.

[Lovinit]

That’s awfully kind of you to care so much this person. That you in your gut believe she’s capable of doing an amazing job for you but right now you’ve got some issues with her. Is she aware of these problems? Does she feel it’s a problem and does she want to improve/ correct the problem so she can fly and succeed? Is she making any effort to come up with ways to fix the issues so things can run smoothly? I’m sorry I didn’t fully read and understand what she’s not not doing correctly except for the showing up late. Showing up late part is very disrespectful it the people on the other end feel like she doesn’t care enough to show up on time. As a teenager and young adult I was always late to family functions and my parents gave me a lot of shit for it. Once I was diagnosed and medicated for adhd I was better about being on time. As far as work though medicated or not I was always 10-15 min early. Being a great worker has always been very important to me.

I think if she wants to do good with you she needs to learn what she needs to do to accomplish what you want from her. For me the best way to learn how to do anything is to be shown how to do it and then to do it. I learn by doing it and the more I do it the better I get especially if I have someone who is watching me and can help me where I need to improve.

I know a lot of people with adhd have a problem being on time. But that shouldn’t be an excuse. I hope you can say something to her that makes it sink in that she needs to be on time. What I always do is set a billion and one alarms if I need to. 15 min alarm before I have to leave me house 5 min whatever. I don’t think about what time I need to be there I think about what time do I need to leave my house to get ther on time.

[Daen]

What an awesome boss you are! Wish there were more like you about.

I agree with Lovinit - having ADHD means you need to do daily stuff differently; rarely does it mean you're totally incapable. Your employee has to take responsibility for how she manages her ADHD - as it doesn't sound to me as if she is. Is she having issues with her treatment - although in most places questions like that have to be phrased carefully to avoid litigation.

When you say fill in the sheet daily do you mean once a day? If so, maybe increase the frequency with which she does. I find breaking down the time spent on different things to help; it is much easier when it's project based though.

I set a time for how long to spend doing whatever needs doing and set an alarm on my phone and any other device I might be using. Then I move on to the next thing. Personally anything more than 1-2 things on a to do list tends to be counter-productive; maybe setting time limits and only saying what needs doing first then second (remind of next task after first) etc? Also try using colour coding?

[Asdadhdocdabl]

I have the same problem. Try scheduling everything 1 hour ahead of actual time this way she's not late and might even be early. I have asked my employees to schedule me 2 hours earlier than they need me so that I can be on time. 1 employee says they can't accomidate me and the others are being more helpful but it is so challenging. I want to work I just literally can't make it on time I am 37 and this has always been a problem for me. Hope you consider it. And let us know. With love #adhdocdasdcptsd

[hldb]

Thanks for caring for your employee. The online trackers are for me, one more thing for me to fail at. I need an old fashioned calendar and checklist. However, ask her to try to keep the online program always up on her desktop. Ask her to set 30 minute alarms on her watch/phone/computer to remind her to input data into the tracking program. She can also have a check list next to her computer to check it off each time she is doing it. The being on time thing is always going to be an issue because time management is a huge challenge for some people with Adhd. When you need her somewhere on time giver her a thirty minute earlier time to be there. When and if she shows up early tell her you wanted to catch up or pregame before the crowd arrives. : )

[CoffeeMaster]

Hi! I'm new to this group and diagnosed last year.

Congratulations for your inclusiveness and accommodation for your employees.

1. Is the employee diagnosed officially with a neuro-psychological test?

2. Does the employee have a doctor and follow-ups?

3. Does the employee take medication?

4. Does the employee see a psychologist?

5. Does the employee have an ADHD coach?

I think the employee needs a structure at home and work.

Maybe a coach could help. Is your business open to developing an HR policy about inclusiveness? You could offer to pay a part of coaching when the employee shows an invoice. Does the employee have insurance? It could pay for a psychologist.

[shashadowwa]

It's actually great that you take care of your employee so much, but it's worth noting that ADHD is not an excuse for such behavior, and you need to let her know that she has to do something about it instead of supporting it.

[OliverMCW]

That's true, ADHD shouldn't be an excuse, and I think if you're willing to improve the situation with your employee, it would be better for you to talk to her about it and let her know that she needs to improve herself. You can start using apps like traqq to get productivity reports, I discovered it here traqq.com/blog/time-trackin... , and as I know, it's widely used by companies to monitor their teams and employees. I know that it can be hard to support such employees, and you need to think about your company's success as well.

[Knitting20projects]

a) Visual timer - for work projects so she can “see” time

b) do not have her manage any team/employees until she’s managing herself

c) physically placed in quiet less distracting area of office

d) she might need to be moved into a different job if possible- this has lots of planning, organizing, time management, and planning and breaking down large tasks into smaller tasks and planning each step of those to get them done and organized cohesively into the ultimate functional whole by X later date (which her brain can’t adequately plan for). Truly, she may not be ready for this without a diagnosis, medication, an ADHD coach, etc. Maybe there’s a creative job she could do instead, and a customer facing one with more flexibility? Eg website design or customer engagement etc Sorry to sound pessimistic. I just don’t want to see her fail spectacularly or you suffer endlessly.