We instruct her to do something, she’d just stare at us blankly. We ask if she understood our instructions, she’d just give that slight nod. Then she goes to someone else and asks that someone what our instruction was all about. That someone wasn’t even around when we gave the instruction earlier.
We tell her to mail document 1 to client A and then call client B to collect document 2, she’d mail both documents to client A. Client A ended up sending a letter asking why we gave them some document belonging to another client.
We tell her to submit some urgent documents in the afternoon, she’d delay it to the next morning because it’s too hot in the afternoon.
We teach her how to do some routine work today, and we have to repeat the same instruction every day to get her to do the job.
We just employed her for a few months, and yet she has already taken up too many days of medical leave.
Just to be sure, we asked the other staff if she had been able to help reduce their workload especially the routine work which doesn’t really require much thinking – they are the ones who had more direct dealings with her. Apparently, they too had given up on her but they didn’t dare say anything to any of their 2 bosses.
So yeah, today I had to terminate the services of one of my office staff. It’s something I hate to do especially when I know jobs are hard to come by, but I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do. No point keeping someone who doesn’t seem to appreciate the job she has when there are so many out there looking for jobs.
A new staff will be joining us this coming Monday.
We tell her to mail document 1 to client A and then call client B to collect document 2, she’d mail both documents to client A. Client A ended up sending a letter asking why we gave them some document belonging to another client.
We tell her to submit some urgent documents in the afternoon, she’d delay it to the next morning because it’s too hot in the afternoon.
We teach her how to do some routine work today, and we have to repeat the same instruction every day to get her to do the job.
We just employed her for a few months, and yet she has already taken up too many days of medical leave.
Just to be sure, we asked the other staff if she had been able to help reduce their workload especially the routine work which doesn’t really require much thinking – they are the ones who had more direct dealings with her. Apparently, they too had given up on her but they didn’t dare say anything to any of their 2 bosses.
So yeah, today I had to terminate the services of one of my office staff. It’s something I hate to do especially when I know jobs are hard to come by, but I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do. No point keeping someone who doesn’t seem to appreciate the job she has when there are so many out there looking for jobs.
A new staff will be joining us this coming Monday.
21 comments:
Firing someone is no doubt an unpleasant task, but it's no point keeping deadwood. You have to keep your sanity, and everyone else's too, intact. Good luck with the new staff, Pi.
Hi Kak Pi Trump,
hehe...sorry! I can't help it!
Mudah mudahan yang datang mengganti lebih baik dari yang pergi tadi :D
Hai Pi.
Actually I'm sad for the lady. Dia tak tahu buat kerja opis!
I pun malu nak ngaku tapi I pun takbrapa tahu office work..tahu er er er!! hahaha
QOTH,
Unpleasant task indeed. That's why we always give them a second chance - tegur dulu. Tapi tegur pun tak masuk, susahlah. We pay them to reduce, not increase our workload. Yep, hopefully the new staff is more reliable.
Naz,
Ni bukan Apprentice lah... sekadar general clerical work je. Trump pandang sebelah mata pun tidak! :)
Mamasita,
You takpe lah, kerja-kerja opis you pakai le secretary ke, sexytary ke, seksatary ke...
Pak Malim,
Tension, tension... kata Pi Bani sambil pakai losyen.
It's a hard task to do... but a necessary one especially when the person is becoming a'liability' to the company and everyone in the company kak...
This is like pahit maung kena telan juga...
hugs.
terpaksa k.pi...i've experience a staff like that before...nasib baik dia sendiri minta resign!
-niasulaiman-
RG,
Semalam dok pecat orang, balik rumah dengar news on TV pasal a sacked employee selamba-ly masuk opis lama gi tembak the former manager who sacked him. Apasal la dia dok buat lagu tu just as I sacked one of my own staff?
Niasulaiman,
Yang ni too slow to minta resign. Itu pun masa bagi termination letter and last pay, I had to bluntly tell her "mulai esok tak payah datang". Takut nanti dia tak paham kalau cakap berlapik.
I am sorry to say this but I believe that no one can be as stupid as the person ur depicting..
A good Boss will try harder to understand their staff..their issues,problems,expectations ,inherent abilities and will resolve mismatches,train and motivate them to reach their full potential.
Now,I see too much of the egoistic,self centered and negative bosses who prefers to reinforce their assumptions without proper evaluations and assume their conclusions are correct.
Unless an employee is a total fraud with a nasty ,devious criminal mind , one should try the utmost to give them the benefit of the doubt.You are dealing with humans with a real life outside the office.
Its cute to be doing a Trump but please do not go overboard and always remember we are Asians,Malaysians..and should be proud to maintain our social mores too.
I have seen worse employees that eventually turns out to be merely diamonds in the rough.
I am no social do-gooder but a person with more than 30 years in corporate life and is a successful serial entrepreneur.And my principle have always been people comes first.
Anonymous,
I am not a successful entrepreneur as you and my experience may not be as wide as yours, but having spent more than 20 years in corporate life, I don't consider myself a freshie either. My firm now is just a small firm where there is quite a close-knit relationship between employer-employee - to the extent that we ask each of the staff of their opinion before we came up with our decision. I have always believed in giving my staff second, even third chances. There was no exaggeration whatsoever in my description of the staff I just fired (you did say you've seen worse employees right?), and the decision was definitely not based on assumptions. This is such a small company that everything that happened, happened right before my very eyes.
Of course, not everybody can be as good as you who can shape even the worst of employees into diamonds...
Thanks for leaving your thoughts here.
Dear Pi
Kak Ani pun ada juga jumpa kaum macam ni. Dah lah tak tau buat kerja, ada ke dia kata yang in addition to the 'cuti tahunan', 'cuti sakit' pun mesti habiskan juga. Hai.... Campur dengan extended lunch break (kalau sales lagilah. Lepas lunch esp hari Jumaat, lansung tak nampak batang hidung dia lagi), coffee break, entah apa-apa break lagi (mekap break pun ada...). Gaji dia agaknya berapa % aja yang halal.
Kak Ani
Kak Ani,
Ni kerja gomen punya orang ke? Rasanya kalau kerja swasta dah lama kena blah. Anyway, I can understand kalau buat hal sekali-sekala because of some family problems or the likes, tapi kalau dah make it a habit buat macam bapak sendiri punya syarikat, adoii... parahlah! Make-up break? Mak aiih... sure lama tu!
Sorry if I seemed patronizing.Not my intention but I have seen too many ppl enraptured with the US management style..and taking it to the extremes to demonstrate their "up to the mark " management gunghoism.
As the crisis unravel..ppl will realise that the US business methods is but a fragile facade for greed and personal glory.And there will be change...more human centric and long term thinking.
My guess is there will be less "firing" if more effort is made at the "hiring" stage to ensure that there is the right fit from both the perspective of employer and employee.
My late father's advise in the 70s that I still bear in mind.."easier to get married then to get new kerani "..
Anyway,you must have considered wats right and had no choice but to pull the trigger.
My apologies please..just an old man thinking aloud and too loud.
Pi, im sure you were not exaggerating and saying/insinuating so is indeed very patronising and uncalled for.
Im sure running your own business AND at the same time volunteering is not an easy task. You need good people to make sure everything runs smoothly. Firing her is the best thing that you could do to your company and other staff. Why should they suffer when the other person not doing her job properly. Redundancy is so 80s!
Anonymous,
Oh, I believe the kind of bosses you mentioned do exist - I've met them too. I myself graduated at a time when jobs were hard to come by, so I started off as a low-ranked employee. I know how hard it can be to please a boss. Employers or employees, they're humans (unless of course, you employ robots - but even these need proper maintenance). Each human have their own weaknesses, myself included. I do believe there are good and bad employers, just as much as I believe there are good and bad employees. True, probably more effort should be taken at the hiring stage, but still, as humans, we do make mistakes.
You're right, any decisions made by employers must not be based on assumptions without proper evaluations. Likewise, without proper evaluation, we shouldn't assume that all employers who sack employees are egoistic, self-centered and negative bosses.
No hard feelings, ya? :)
Farina,
Wei, janganlah marah... :)
I personally dislike firing people, even if it's the last resort. But sometimes you've just got to do what you've got to do.
no bad employer,no bad employee...only mismatch.
i hope that gal will be the last one u fire..the biz world needs freshening and change.
been fun reading the comments..take care and all the best.
Anonymous,
OK then, I shall rephrase that, no bad ones, just mismatch.
I too sincerely hope that gal will be the last one I fire - it's not something I fancy doing.
Thanks again for leaving your thoughts.
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