Management headache

Does he place many clients in new positions? If not, is it possible to give him a greater commision per client placed and a much smaller base sallery?  This would force him to work as well as become aa sucessful recruiter.

Can't really touch his comp. His father would cover his bills one way or the other. The chick buys him dinners all the time. I can't terminate her, doesn't work for me.

Demotion? Pay cut? Probably both as off the table as termination.

Without the option of termination or the other two consequences I've suggested, you have no real authority over this person. Your boss has put you in an no-win situation.

It really sounds like the only thing that will work to turn him into a successful recruiter is to not be in his fathers employ.

Things I've considered:

• Sending him home for the day
• Denying his activity bonus or perks

I'm looking for a quick, sharp 'ouch' to get his attention.

Wow, that's a tough one, Renee.  I'd fall back on several things:

• Welshy's dead on.  If daddy still casts a shadow, junior is gonna misbehave.  Go talk to dad. 
• Make his comp based on specific performance items.  No perform, no pay.  
• Send him to Corporate purgatory "special projects", and backfill with someone competent, or, when all else fails...
• Better Sex. 

Good luck.  BTW...that doesn't sound too fun.   

I'm in a family business and this pisses me off.  As one of the owners and having grown up in the business we always committed to proving that nobody works harder for this company than we do.   We lead by example.  In two years I've taken exactly two weeks off of work for vacation.  No sick or personal days.  In fact when my daughter was born three years ago I took one day off.  Anyway, people who not only don't help, but hurt their own family's support system really tick me off.

The people who suggest publicizing performance may have a good idea.  Other than that you only have two options.  Deal with it/suffer in silence or tell your boss the situation is unworkable.  I can't tell from your posts how a confrontation would play out in terms of your own job security, so I'm not suggesting it but the bottom line is this all your boss's fault.  Not yours, and not the goofball's.  If he's going to bring his son in he has to take responsibility for his performance/behavior.  Leaving it up to you is unprofessional, especially if he's already aware there is a problem.  He's put you in a hopeless situation and if it's distracting you from doing your best job with your other employees then he's put you in a horrible situation.  Is this something you should discuss with HR, if you have one?  I don't know if there's a boss above your boss or if he's the top of the food chain.

Bottom line:  the kid will never get it while his daddy is his safety net.  You should not be asked to be either the fall guy or his substitute parent.  The dad needs to grow a set and get his kid in line.  Give him my email and tell him I've got an extra can of man in the fridge if wants me to send it to him I will.

Good luck.

Just had a long heart-to-heart talk with El Jefe (my boss/the owner/his father). We have a very good rapport based upon mutual respect and trust and I am always very candid with him. He knows I regularly chew-out Jr. and he has never questioned my actions.

We discussed having a 3-way conversation with Jr. and I am reserving the right to call the meeting; I told him I wanted time to cool off and think things over. He assured me that he would support me and tell Jr. he needs to do as I tell him.  Regarding some of your suggestions:

• We have a new production board (which I designed) that tracks monthly and YTD goal attainment. Call it a Boasting or Humiliation Board - depends on what your numbers look like. I'm encouraging competitive teamplay.
• They already know what their production/activity goals are. I'm quite clear about these matters; I like to set people up to succeed.
• I can withhold his activity-based incentive pay/perks regardless of whether he earned it or not - you must maintain a positive attitude to play. My rules. His commissions I would never touch; that ain't cool.

I think I'm going to ask Jefe to let me hire another recruiter, one with whom I'm well acquainted and would kick the pants off of him and my other problem child. I'm also going to give them much less of my time and expertise, and tend to my own deals.

I'm also going to start tossing him out of my meetings if he gives me any crap.

Now this is the stuff I'm looking for...

For all you know that's what the girlfriend is doing...

HAH! Well... he's got a whole new set of problems brewing there. In exchange for allowing her to control him, he lets her clean his apt/cook meals/buy him dinner/take him to hockey games/uhhh cross-train, I suppose.

Yesterday, she called in sick. Seems she's all depressed/upset because he had a date (not with her) last night. The guys in the office are very vocal in a boys-locker-room kind of way about his dating activities and encourage him quite a bit.