Ask HN: How do you handle an employee who complies but never delivers?

I'm managing a long-term team member who has become very difficult to manage. They appear polite, cooperative, never openly push back. They acknowledge requests, attend meetings, and respond professionally.

But in reality:

- Tasks come back half-done, again and again

- Feedback is acknowledge and then ignored

- Bugs get buried in vague responses like “works on my side”

- Messages are not replied to sometimes, or they claim “was busy, didn’t see it”

- They never say “no,” but everything gets stuck in this slow grind

They’re not openly insubordinate. Just draining.

We can’t fire them easily as they're here for over 10 years they haven’t broken any rules or gross misconduct.

But they’ve made themselves completely unreliable in the last few months.

Anyone dealt with this kind of passive resistance?

How do you actually move someone like this — or do you just sideline them and minimize the damage?