How To Keep Your Good Employees And Get Rid Of The Bad Ones

Can’t live with them, can’t live without them

Employees are one of those double edged sword kind of thing. They can be your greatest asset or your biggest pain in the neck, rear, and every other bodily part.

Nothing bugs me more than seeing employees calling the shots and running their managers or owners not the other way around. You’ve heard the term used, “the inmates running the asylum.” That’s what this is.

You may have a great crew and wonder what I’m talking about. But you’d be surprised what goes on in other businesses. You may be one who really thinks they have a great crew but are really being taken for a ride or being robbed blind. If this is you then don’t worry. I’m going to share you some of the most liberating truths you may ever hear.

Life Suckers

Bad employees are never a good thing to have in your business. They are life suckers and demand more of your time, resources and money than your productive employees.

Many managers and owners struggle with this. Several reasons may contribute to this.

The first thing that you have to get straight is the definition and belief you have of an employee and your responsibilities to your employee.

What You’re Not Responsible For

Let’s start off with what you’re not responsible for. You’re not responsible for your employees:

• Work ethics (whether or not he shows up on time, shows up to Work, works hard, etc…)
• Skills and talent.
• Transportation.
• Waking up for work
• Getting ready for work.
• Getting to work.

Hopefully you get the idea. But you know what, I’ve seen employers call, practically beg their employees to come in after a no show because there is no coverage. Or I’ve seen employers pickup and give their employees rides to work. It’s horrible and unacceptable behavior on both the employer and employee’s end.

The Blunt Truth

Here’s a tough truth for some but I’ll be blunt, your responsibility as an employer or business owner is not to provide jobs for people. Now if you’re business has been structured to help people that are less fortunate or typically not hirable than that’s different. If you want to provide jobs for others as a secondary measure then that’s your choice. But you’re primary responsibility is to generate profits for yourself, your family, your investors, and all who are invested into the business.

One of the big reasons for employee problems is because of the ideology that you’re responsible to employee people. Again, you’re responsible to run a business and make profits – PERIOD!!!

You may or may not even be responsible for the training to perform a specific task in your business although it may be beneficial to train and equip new employees to utilize their skills to perform tasks according to your business operation and brand.

Differentiating your responsibilities and your employees makes a huge difference and empowers you to effectively manage your employee and operate your business.

Here’s what your employees are responsible for:

• Coming to work on time for their scheduled shift.
• Have reliable transportation
• Perform the duties they were hired for.
• Perform their duties effectively according to the direction given by their managers.
• Have the skills to perform the duties hired for.
• If company provides certain training, the employee is responsible to acquire the necessary skills from the training to perform their duties.
• And the list goes on…

But It Will Fall Apart…

“But if I fire Joe Bob then my business will fall apart,” you may say. Or , “I can’t do without Jenny R”. Trust me, you are better off without Bob and Jenny. In fact they’re probably the reason you’re up at night stressing about what next bombshell will happen that will have you work all week with no days off because Jenny didn’t show up for her shift. Get rid of them!

Sometimes it starts with just one when all else follows suit. Bob’s been with the company for 10 years doing the same thing causing grief in your business. Let him go.

Most of my clients when they follow my advice wonder why they didn’t fire their problem employee sooner. And they realize how much more enjoyable their business is again.

So how do I fire my problem employee(s)?

Sometimes it’s not as simple as, “you’re fired!” because they be responsible for critical aspects of your business but don’t worry. You have to have a game plan. You’re objective is to take back that part of your business and give it to someone that cares and would flourish under that position.

If you can make an immediate decision now and it wouldn’t hurt business then do it. Don’t put it off. Don’t procrastinate on this. Your quality of life and sanity depends on it. You know that saying, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result”? This will not change unless you decide today that you will no longer allow this bad employee from stealing from you any longer. You are taking back your business or the business you manage today.

Plan For It

If you know it will take a month to find a replacement then plan for it. Write it down on paper and set it in your mind that it will happen within your planned and decided time. Start placing ads for what you’re looking for in the replacement. Be specific in your ad. If you need your replacement to work all weekends and holidays make sure that is in the ad.

Fire Quickly, Hire Slowly

One big mistake managers and business owners make is hiring people out of desperation. Sometimes you have to make spur of the moment decisions but it shouldn’t be a permanent solution. I get it. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. But as long as you stick to riding of your problem employees than that’s fine.

Most business owners do the opposite. They fire slowly and hire quickly. That’s the reason you got yourself in this position in the first place. Make your potential candidate go through hoops and work for his position. I’m not kidding about this.

Make Them Go Through Hoops

My Hawaiian catering business catered Hawaiian food to large corporate businesses and professionals so we had a great reputation among our clients of being not only Tucson’s ONLY Authentic food serving great food but our caliber of service and professionalism was superior to none. Most caterers had bad reputations, late for caterings, didn’t show up, etc… so we really stood out from among the rest.

I got a catering for 1,700 people with a two weeks notice. I needed to hire about 25 people like yesterday. I placed ads in craigslist with something like, “Friendly, outgoing and professional servers looking to serve large catering. Send your resume in pdf format to thisemail@gmail.com.” If someone sent their resume in word format then I knew that they were not a potential client because they couldn’t follow specific instructions.

It didn’t end there. I had them go through 3-4 more hoops. Out of the 150+ responses, I was able to sift through and find very qualified and great employees. The 25 employees I found became my standby employees for other large caterings. I also made the position as attractive as possible and I paid them well which is why someone that was serious would be willing to go through all of the hassle in acquiring this position.

 

Resource:

One trick that I used in this process was to automate part of the process. I automated the process where the potential candidates followed through email merge so that I wasn’t typing out 200 individual emails when they responded. If you’d like to learn more about systemizing your business operation, let me know at 520-392-5923 and I’d be glad to help you.

So qualifying your replacement employee(s) is crucial to the success of your weeding out of bad employees.

 

Stay Calm & Business As Usual

Another thing that you want to make sure happens is you don’t want to let anyone know what you’re doing except your managers. You also want to make sure that they don’t let anyone know either.

You want your problem employee to carry on as usual and continue his behavior. Once you have his or her replacement ready to go then you can begin progressive disciplinary action. I’m not sure what your state law is regarding unemployment but in most states you have to have documentation to prevent unemployment claims if you don’t want to have to pay out.

It will be a piece of cake after this because you’re not at their mercy any longer. I’ve let my replacement know that they were hired to replace and make changes in my business up front. So if the problem employee decides that he doesn’t like the disciplinary action and doesn’t come back to work then you’re covered. The longer the problem employee has been employed doing the same thing, the easier it is to follow up with progressive discipline because he most likely will not be willing to change. However, sometimes one disciplinary action is all it takes for them to turn around because he may have never been written up before in his life. That one change can rattle their cage so badly that they will either quit on the spot or make an instant 100 degree turn around.

Keep The Emotions Out

Remember, you’re in business to run a business that is profitable. Everything else that happens is secondary. You may be an emotional person which is not a bad thing. This is where you have to discipline yourself and stick to the facts, documentation, and your business.

Here’s one take away for you if you have a hard time with this. You don’t owe anyone anything not even a job. Employees don’t go home at night with the responsibility in praying that your sales is enough to pay the rent, the labor, your vendors as well as make a profit. They have only one concern – their life. Nothing wrong with this but differentiating yourself from an employee is important here. You are not an employee. And you do not work for your employees either. They work for you.

Your employees were selected for one thing and one thing only – To perform a duty that promotes and generates revenue for your business. You don’t have to choose a person that doesn’t want to do what you hired them for. If they choose not to do this then they have to go. Simple as that. No emotional decision here. But they have kids. Well even more so they should be at work taking care of their responsibility doing an excellent job so that they have a job to support their family.

Hopefully you get the picture. This is a tough subject for some but it’s a very essential piece of information for the survival of a business. Most business owners and entrepreneurs that have employees underestimate the power of this.

Take Back Your Business Today!

If you have your own story please share it with us. Or if you’re in a situation where the “inmates have taken over the prison” and are looking to take back your business then call me, Ed at 520-392-5923 or feel free to fill out our contact form below with your question, story, or feedback and I’ll be glad to get back to you and help you with your employee situation. Don’t put it off and wait until it gets completely out of hand. I’ve seen many like that. Contact me today below or at 520-392-5923!