The Company Comes First

Gloria is a good employee.? Okay, so she’s late to work a couple of days a week, or maybe a little more.? She’s pretty good with paperwork and only makes three or four mistakes on our forms, not that bad.? She hasn’t quite got the computer knowledge we need, but you can’t expect everyone to be a fast learner.? Everybody here really likes Gloria, all day long she’s going from one workstation to another conversing with our staff.? She’s really a fun person, I like her a lot.

Rodney is a mighty good salesperson.? He almost always hits at least the minimum mandatory sales budget for the month.? The Operation Manager and the Warehouse Manager complain about him because his client orders always seem to come in late.? That’s not fair, those managers are just sticklers for the rules.? Rodney spends a lot of time with each of his clients and can’t always get his client’s orders in on time.? All of his clients think Rodney’s a great guy . . . only a few of them have complained about late orders.

I know Henry is the slowest warehouse-worker we have, and he often pulls the wrong products.? He’s not the most likeable person either.? But you know if I fire him his replacement could be even worse.

So, what should you do with these employees??

Gloria:? You need to let Gloria know that being on time is not optional.? Make her understand her mistakes are causing a problem and she must doublecheck all of her paperwork to eliminate the errors.? And even through it’s nice that she’s friendly with the other employees, she needs to stay at her desk and make sure all of her paperwork is completed without errors and in a timely manner.? Tell her she has one-month to correct these issues.? If they are not corrected, that will be grounds for termination.

The Company must come first!?

Rodney:? Inform Rodney that he’s spending too much time shooting the breeze with his clients.? He has to have all his orders turned into the office by 4 PM.? Also, his sales must continually be at or above the minimum Sales budget. ?Inform Rodney that he’s wasting too much time at his client’s office’s and that’s causing him to miss the cut-off hour for submitting his orders.? Because his orders are delivered late to his clients, his clients are ordering elsewhere, where their orders arrive on time.? That’s a reason for him not reaching his sales budget.? Tell him he has one-month to correct these issues.? If they are not corrected, that will be grounds for termination.

The Company must come first!?

Henry:? Inform Henry that his work performance is below the company standard and his errors in pulling stock are impacting our delivery times.? Tell Henry he has one-month to correct these issues.? If they are not corrected, that will be grounds for termination.

The Company must come first!??

“If I fire him his replacement could even be worse.” Wow, that’s the kind of negative thinking that could easily send us back to the Dark Ages.? Instead of thinking that way, tell yourself, “I’ll have to do a better job of interviewing and checking references.”? Then there’s a very good chance your replacement will be far superior to the employee vacating that position.?

And always remember; The Company must come first!?

Of course, you’ll always be warm and friendly with your employees.? Being a tyrant is never the best way to run a company, nor is being overly social or too emotionally attached to your employees.? When the company has good employees who know their job and do their job, and respect, not fear their superiors, the company will stay in business and grow, and your employees will never have to be concerned about unemployment.? But if, because of poor employees, the company suffers and eventually bankrupts, well, I guess you know what’s going to happen to the employees.

I’m also assuming that you’ve already retrained or made sure that Gloria, Rodney, and Henry are well trained employees prior to considering their termination.? Termination is the last option you should consider, however, you must remember; The Company must come first!?

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For additional information about David Richman, review his Linkedin Profile to see what others say about him, or contact him directly at (818) 368-1308 or email him at [email protected]. And if you haven’t already done so, take a moment to join David’s Linkedin network.? You’ll be glad you did.