Dear hrent,
Please do NOT take such innocent acts so seriously. Such acts at best can be called "SILLY" and should be addressed accordingly.
I would be upset if disciplinary action is taken in such instances.
You have stated that the concerned staff was a perfromer until about a year ago. Of late his/her performance has dipped.
The fact that he/she has it in him/her to perform well, (he/she has been a good performer in the recent past) should be motivation enough for you to talk to him/her and find out what went wrong and try to understand all the "why's" and "whats".
Believe you me, you will certainly find the answer.
About sitting in the Boss's chair, I am sure a bit of serious counselling will help in sorting out this very innocent gestures of 'attention seeking".
I am totally with Raj and agree with his observations.
I am confident that with a bit of personalised counselling this staff member can easily be salvaged.
Best Wishes,
Vasant Nair
PS:
I will narrate a true life experience in a union dominated environment in a manufacturing unit of which I was the HR Head.
We had a high powered delegation from Russia visiting our plant. We had to put up s a great show.
The workers toilets were generally in a very bad shape with wih "PAAN " stains all over the sinks and toilet area.
We had to keep the area absolutely clean.
I took pictures of the toilets when they were VERY dirty and again when they were VERY clean (after they had been thoroughly cleaned).
I called for a meeting of the Union members and showed them the two sets of pictures.
A task that once appeared almost impossible was successfully completed with this very simple exercise.
The battle was won and we had clean toilets almost always after that.
All I am stressing on is that with a little bit of imagination we can cross hurdles which ONLY appear to be tough/impossible.
Cheers!!!
Vasant Nair