Overcoming Employee Challenges
An employee of 20 years – we’ll call him Mike – just walked into your office and handed you a resignation letter. Nothing personal, he says, but he just wants to pursue another line of work. He did so after never letting on that he was unhappy with his job or the company. What should your response be?
First, know this: The resignation letter is probably not going to say the real reason he is quitting. Neither will it say anything negative about the company or you. That’s because he wants positive responses to any reference calls and letters you may receive.
So, what do you do? I would accept the letter and thank Mike for his 20 years of service and let him go. You don’t want an employee that doesn’t want to be there, dealing with your customers, handling your products, or worse, your money. And you don’t want him badmouthing your company either. Stuff like that gets around in our industry.
Some studies show the actual cost of hiring Mike’s replacement – taking into account advertising fees, head-hunter fees, training costs, and the cost of mistakes made by newbies – could be more than a year’s salary. It’s time to have a meeting with Mike’s manager and find out where you went wrong and correct it.
Don’t beat yourself up over it. There are some people that are never pleased, have sour dispositions, are not honest with themselves let alone with their employer, or are downright lazy. It’s better for you that they leave on their own now, than to have to fire them later.
Large companies have things like HR departments, attorneys on staff, exit interviews, and a ton of so-called company benefits, to deal with situations like Mike’s surprising departure, or the quitting of others. HR departments and the like are not readily available to small to medium-sized companies like ours. What we do have, that larger companies don’t have – at least at Landscape Warehouse – is the ability to treat our employees and customers like family.
Family members get to know one another very well – their likes, their dislikes, their hobbies, their plans for the future, and even their financial needs. Shared in a setting of caring and trust, this helps us to learn what is really going on with our employees both in the workplace and elsewhere. Not to spy on our co-workers, but to assist us in dealing with “family members” in determining such important employment issues as the positions they are most suited for or would like to learn, skills they might gain that would help in their work, and special needs that might bar them from certain kinds of tasks.
Of course, at Landscape Warehouse we adhere to standard employment rules and best practices, such as making sure our employees know what exactly is expected of them, what opportunities there are for advancement, when the next company barbeque is happening, and when the next fishing trip will be. OK, I just threw in the last two, but it is to say that working at our company can sometimes be fun as well.
Message to Mike, the fictitious former employee: If the company you just left is anything like ours, you have just blown it big time.
– José Robles, owner, Landscape Warehouse