This past week, I’ve had a number of MSP members book a call with me to discuss what to do with a bat sh*t crazy employee. The roles and situations differed, but the story is the same: complete disregard for the rules, zero accountability, no follow-through, dissension and drama, coverups, and unbelievable disrespect for the person paying them.
On every call, I’m explaining that no, this is NOT normal, nor is it acceptable.
To me, it’s surprising I have to say that at all. Isn’t it obvious? Apparently not.
I can’t fuss at them too much. We’ve all done it—made a bad hire and kept someone longer than we should. We hope they’ll get better. We hope they just need a bit of coaching. We hope they’ll suddenly pick up the slack after a little “talking to.”
Who are we kidding?
Most of the time we don’t act because we are afraid or anxious about the act of firing them, or because you NEED someone to do the job and don’t have a good replacement. Let me remind you: Keeping the WRONG employee around is a cancer that will undo your organization if left unchecked.
If you’re in a situation right now where you are unsure if it’s time to fire someone, let me give you three surefire signs they need to GO:
#1. You need to beg or babysit them to do their job.
If your employees don’t have to beg or babysit you to get paid, you shouldn’t have to beg or babysit them to do their job, period. The people who were promoted in my company were in the “one-and-done club.” I could ask them to do something ONCE and I knew it would be done—and done correctly. I didn’t have to follow up or double-check. I didn’t have to be a reminder service for THEM. If they couldn’t do what I asked, they came back to me, explained the problem, and told me how they planned to fix it, sometimes asking for guidance. They didn’t wait until I discovered that they weren’t doing the job or that they were stalled and stuck. They OWNED it.
#2. You can’t TRUST them to consistently do quality work.
As the saying goes, consistency is only a virtue if you’re NOT a screwup.
I’ve repeatedly said to my staff: If I have to leave my position at the helm of the ship to check that you’ve tied the knots correctly down below, you’re walking the plank by sunset. Here’s what they need to be TOLD: Their #1 job is to keep you focused and productive on YOUR job as CEO. If you’re having to constantly check their work, correct mistakes, and otherwise prop them up, they are not doing their job, and they are keeping you from doing yours. As my uncle would say, “Five cents holding back a million dollars.”
There are things you, as the employer, need to do to ensure your employees have the proper training, tools, and resources to do their job, but there is a limit. If you hired a SALESPERSON to do a SALES job, they should at least know how to SELL. That is not an unreasonable demand. I wouldn’t hire a private chef and teach them how to chop vegetables or scramble an egg; they should know those basics already. I might need to teach them our recipes, but if you’re running a kindergarten class on the fundamentals of doing the job (and worse, they’re not learning the lessons and applying them), you made a bad hire.
#3. They’re disrespectful and unappreciative.
My late friend Sean Stephenson taught me this one: Sour milk NEVER turns fresh. Once an employee gets a rotten, disrespectful, and bitter attitude toward you, they don’t recover. No matter how good someone is at their job, you cannot afford to retain them. No amount of motivation, incentive, or “talking to them” will take the curdle and funk out of milk that’s gone bad.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that it’s NOT your fault that an employee chooses to underperform and conduct themselves in a manner that leads to them getting fired. They’re grown adults and that’s on THEM. You would not expect a client to cheerfully pay you in full for consistently bad, sloppy, and incomplete work—that’s how business works.
The litmus test has always been to ask yourself this question: If given the chance, would you hire this person again? If the answer is “No,” start looking for their replacement.
Check out how to improve the odds of your next hire being a winner with these 13 ways to secure top talent, straight from other MSPs like you.
