August 18, 2011

Hiring anyone during these challenging recessionary times can be risky to your bottom line for many reasons. The cost associated with recruiting, training, payroll and providing benefits is dramatically higher than it was just a few years ago. In a recent Career Builder survey, over 20 percent of small businesses stated they would be hiring in the second half of 2011; although that is good news, I can tell you from personal experience that sometimes relieving a difficult employee from duty may be just as advantageous as hiring a new star.

Years ago, we had a client service staff member at my payroll service company who was both intelligent and well spoken and did a solid job on her core responsibilities. The issue was that she did not play nice with others. Remember when you were young and there was always some neighborhood kid who was usually causing a ruckus and encouraging the good kids to join in? Well, employees can also cause this type of discord, if not more. There are various ways to deal with individuals like this to try to correct the issue, but they are not always effective in solving the problem.

When I hired this individual, my company was just 3 years young and our hiring practices were not very rigorous. We did not have job descriptions, a good handbook or a solid interview process in place when bringing in a candidate for a particular position, and so what initially looked like a great hire turned out to be the wrong decision. So, if you are currently in the same position, the first thing I suggest is getting your procedures in place to mitigate the possibilities of hiring a problem child (adult) in the first place. If it is too late, and you already find yourself being suffocated by the negative issues an employee is creating, listen close.

My employee would react incredibly negatively to whatever procedural changes we instituted and would quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, make her disagreement known to the entire staff.  Although I certainly don’t mind a difference of opinion, there is an appropriate way to express feelings and an inappropriate way. This staff member chose the inappropriate approach every time, and her negative wave of energy washed over many of our solid employees. We were concerned about the possibility of an all-out mutiny!

We tried corrective measures. First, we scheduled private meetings, trying to get to the bottom of her displeasure and open opposition to management. I think she believed we were a union shop and could rally the troops to stage a movement or strike. During the meetings, she reversed all her behavior and denied any problems, stating that she liked her job and believed in the company mantra. Somehow I could see where this was going. We frankly told her that we would like her to be supportive of management and that we valued her capability to do the task at hand, but we pointed out that her increasing disruption to the office could not continue.

At first she complied. Weeks would go by, and then the negative behavior would return, even after we did our best to quell the brewing storm she was creating each time. Believe me; we looked very hard at our own management style to see if we were the problem. As employers we do our best to select individuals with the best characteristics. Having varied personalities certainly makes for a more diverse workforce and generally better atmosphere—but not this time.

At one point we even offered to have this person work from home to try to accommodate her personality. The final straw came when this person literally organized several long-term and good-standing staff members to participate in inappropriate office chatter. We had had enough. We fired her.

There was a sigh of relief in the office, and you could literally feel the cloud of negativity lift from our small operation. After several weeks, most employees confided in us that the person had been causing more disruption than we even knew about and that her meddling made the others feel uncomfortable. When I asked staff members why they had never came to me or to the manager to talk, they stated that they were concerned about some sort of retribution from her. Wow!

Here is what the release of the excess baggage did for our organization:

1. Refocus

Instead of constantly reacting to negative situations, we were now able to concentrate on the productive, hard-working staff members who understood our plans and were on board with initiatives that improved client services.

2. Time

We actually saved time, money and energy—not only that of managers but of other staff members, as we assimilated the ex-employee’s clients into the workload of other clients and created better ways to serve clients more efficiently using less staff.

3. Mental energy

The amount of brain power, worry and concern we had expended over this situation had sapped us of energy that was needed to grow the business. We took this newly regained energy and turned it toward generating new business for the company through expanding ancillary product offerings for our clients.

4. Education

Armed with this new knowledge, management could now focus on more productive tasks and could work on ensuring that our internal procedures—especially hiring—were operating exactly as they should.

The old adage of “buyer beware” could not be truer than when it relates to human beings. When we hire new individuals at an organization, it behooves us to be very measured and meticulous in our approach. Small business owners already lose sleep over the market conditions, the general economic climate that they have very little, if any, influence over and much more.  By getting rid of the proverbial excess baggage in your organization, or not hiring them in the first place, you and your organization will reap untold rewards.

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Join the conversation ( 1 )

• Bill Corbett Jr. 9 months ago

  

  Rob Basso makes some good comments here and proposes some sound strategies. Letting and employee go is one of the most difficult tasks small business owners face. Often letting them go will allow a company to grow and more efficent. Addtion by subtraction. Bill Corbett @wjcorbett