Management is done trying to find a place for employee

Hello, I should probably know how to handle an issue that management is having with an employee, but I am curious how you would respond to the below email sent to me last night.  Management has not documented any of these attempts to find a fit that works. And this employee is a very nice person and always smiling.  I wish we had a position that he could work in.  We are a CNC Aerospace manufacturing company in California.  Your advice is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks - Sairah

Management email below:

"I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with "name omitted". We've tried him in detail, packaging, QC and Assembly. We've realized that his eyesight is too poor for him to handle the work in Assembly. He also resisted instruction from the more experienced assemblers. 

He doesn't like the heavier, dirtier work of Detail. Patty only wants to use him to wrap parts going to OSV. Matt has found use for him to do some thread gaging, unwrapping parts, and other low-skill jobs. But he's also been unable to learn how to chase a thread and other slightly more skilled tasks.

He's been very unhappy with me since I removed him from Assembly, but we cannot afford to have poor quality output. 

What should we do with him? If you guys can keep him occupied, fine. If he can't find a place to settle where he can be useful, I'd rather let him go."

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    • Lynesha Oby
    • Assoc HR Business Partner, Coaching & Consulting
    • Lynesha_Oby
    • 1 yr ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello, regarding the statement ‘vision is too poor for the job’. Is there a current vision exam, in which all employees are required to complete & pass prior to working in that area? I would err on the side of caution to ensure these moves are a result of the accommodation process. I work in pharmaceutical manufacturing and understand the importance of vision as it relates to quality. We have departments that require 20/20 vision, with or without corrective lenses. I wonder if it could be resolved from that perspective, especially if that is an area the employee seems to enjoy. It appears the organization is attempting to accommodate. I would recommend going through the interactive process to accommodate within the assembly department, especially if this is the position they were hired for. 

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  • Hi, Sairah!  It seems there are several individual tasks the employee can adequately perform.  Is there some sort of hybrid role that could be created to accommodate these individual tasks in combination?  I obviously don't know much about your business structure but it seems like a potential solution if at all feasible. 

    I agree with Lynesha that the employee's vision is a bit sticky.  If they employee has vision benefits, perhaps some education, assistance and guidance in utilizing them could help?

    Good luck!

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