How can I politely ask a new hire not to talk so much?

Question

I hired her 2 weeks ago, she is a great worker, great with customers, but she will never stop talking. Shes like a 3 or 4 year old. she talks nonstop about nothing. I hide in the bathroom to get away from her. Please help me. Thanks, Stray cat

Answer 1

I have to agree with the people who said to have a "mini" review with her to tell her first, how well you think she's doing with customers, etc, and then address the chattiness.  Let her know you've noticed she's very chatty and wondered if it came from nervousness or anything like that.  Let her know it can be distracting, especially when there's work to be done and ask if she can ease up a little.  It sounds like you're a nice person, and so is she.  People may not have told her about her chatting just because she seems so nice and they didn't want to dampen her spirit or curb her enthusiasm.  I think as long as you're straight forward, while still being gentle, it should work out fine (and be easier for you to confront!).  Good luck.

Answer 2

You are obviously are a nice person and by the sound of it she is ok too. You don't want tp lose her as you say she is a great worker & pleasant with customers.

Firstly, tell her this and put her confidence up. You never know she may talk a lot because she is nervous as she is new and wants to impress you.

However if she doesn't srop talking after a while and you still like her just say to her "Hey NAME, you are lucky, you can work & talk at the same time, I can't do that, would you mind not talking while I do this bit of work, we can have a chinwag after" or words to that effect

hope it works  

Answer 3

Definately try a joking approach first. I totally agree with the second post. She might take it well or she might be offended, but she will get the point. If she still gabs, pull her to the side and suggest her talking is interfering with her work.

Answer 4

Take her aside and talk with her alone. Tell her you want to review her work because she is new. Tell her about the good things first and make sure you say in sincerely. Tell her, "Oh. One more thing. There is so much going on around here that I am not able to always listen to you when you chat. Can we have less chatting?"

Answer 5

I would try and joke about it.  See what her response is and if possible turn it into a serious conversation.  Or suck it up for another two weeks and then have a "first month"review with her and tell her that she is doing really good work but you have heard comments that she talks to much.  

I have a feeling if she talks that much that she has probably been told that before.  

Answer 6

I guess shut the F up would be too rude, huh? ;)

I have a similar problem at work with one or two people. It's hard to do it without offense. They don't even realize they do it. They're natural chatterboxes. I don't have a real good answer for you, but if you find one, let me know!

Answer 7

You could try saying things in a joking way, like: Do you ever give you mouth a rest?  Is your pause button broken?  

Answer 8

Sounds like you wanted to hire a mute.  You are rude probably and not a people person.  You'll eventually try to fire her cuz you're jealous of her.  If the talking doesn't affect her working then why tell her to shut up?  Just cuz you don't wanna hear her?  Try being more like her.  She's probably great!

Answer 9

Firstly, have they removed your claws?

If so, you could be in trouble.

If not, however, I suggest you begin scratching her furniture, go into her room and wreak havoc, pee on everything (EVERYTHING), when they feed you, knock your foodbowl over, and most importantly, when they're sleeping, stand on their chest and pur loudly, nuzzle their face, they might find it cute, but most likely they'll get more annoyed and attempt to sling you across the room by your tail, so watch out.

Good luck.

Answer 10

WOW, I can't stand people who talk too much. Just say that you have to concentrate on work and you can't do it while she is talking.

Then maybe she will get the hint.

Answer 11

Oh i feel your pain.I not only have to work with this one guy,but i made the mistake of going for supper after work one day with him.I'm not kidding when i say,he actually followed me to my car outside of the restaurant and kept talking even after i left and said i had to be somewhere;he held me up by my car for another 45 mins,which would be okay if he ever said anything useful or interesting.Just tell her to shut the F.....K up and do her job,seriously.I did this and no more chat or friend,but who cares.

Answer 12

You should just tell her that since she has been working 2 weeks you would like to have a little meeting to let her know what she's been doing well on and what she could work on, and that this would be a good time for her to ask you any questions she has to go over any concerns. Compliment her on the things she does well, and then say I have noticed sometimes you get a little chatty and I just don't want it to interfere with your work so it might be best to cut down on it a bit. then thank her for doing a good job.

Answer 13

Maintain silence. Don't pay any attention. Automatically her murmurings will stop.

Answer 14

Just stop responding her to her when it's non-work related. It works for me.  

Answer 15

Compliment her on her work habits and then tell her you prefer a quite environment, there really is no polite way to tell someone to shut up  

Answer 16

tell her out front, shut the h**l up

if she says no

then whip out teh nerf gun and pop away

Answer 17

It's never easy to criticize an employee’s behavior, especially when the employee is new to the organization.  Start the review by providing her with praise and positive feedback for the areas she is doing well in that you have observed.  Then, let her know that she needs to be less talkative and anything else she needs to work on, along with suggestions on how to make the necessary improvement(s).  Make sure that your tone throughout this one-on-one is one of encouragement versus one of annoyance, and be sure you do it in private.

Answer 18

Whenever she tries to talk to you and you don't wanna listen, politely say "I don't mean to be rude (name), but I really have a lot of work to do here. Can we talk about this later?" That should do it.