Why I was voted off the islands

I've been voted off several islands in my life. Most of us have. Maybe it started early when you weren't chosen for the elementary school kickball team. Or perhaps you were blackballed by your college fraternity or sorority or your stint as a startup advisor or chief medical officer suddenly ended in one way or another... Canned, fired, ghosted, made redundant, Zoomed off, quietly let go, shown the door, or emailed your pink slip. There are 50 ways to leave your lover.

But which way is the best way to lay off hundreds if not thousands of employees?

How do you know you are being quietly fired? Here are the signs and symptoms.

Here are some of the reasons it happens:

1. You create more drama than results
2. You take up too much oxygen
3. It's all about you
4. Others get fed up dealing with your psychopathies
5. You're an asshole
6. You act like you want to get fired and are disengaged but don't want to say so
7. You are toxic and a bad apple spreading rot to other members of the team
8. You don't have the courage or mindset to fire yourself
9. You waited too long to make yourself disappear
10. Because your boss can. Otherwise, she would have to promote you.
11. You don't play nice with others
12. You don't have the right knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies or values to do the job
13. You are "disruptive"
14. You are not a member of the tribe
15. You blew the whistle or dropped a dime
16. You are grumpy

Here's what to do when your white coat gets the pink slip.

Today, more than a quarter of all “new” hires are in fact boomerang employees: workers returning to a former employer after a stint somewhere else. This phenomenon can represent a threat to retention efforts, as new hires may be increasingly liable to boomerang back to their previous employers, but it also represents an opportunity, as former employees may serve as a strong, known talent base for recruiters. To better understand who is most likely to boomerang, when they’re likely to do it, and the factors motivating these workers to take the leap (back), the authors analyzed three million employee records covering more than 120 firms from 2019 to 2022. Based on their findings, these authors offer a variety of defensive and offensive strategies to help employers capitalize on the boomerang opportunity while mitigating the risks.

I was one of them. Then I had to erase it from my failure resume.

I agree if a hire doesn't work out, it's the fault of the person who hired you. It is never the candidate or hiring manager's fault. Either you did not design the right hiring process or the on-boarding process failed. You just shouldn't have been invited to be on the island in the first place.

Instead of having to manage the effects of getting fired, more workers are deciding to leave the island on their own. Just slip out the back, Jack.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs

Hand made in Denver