6y
The time period between 2013 and 2015 presented many challenges and I made numerous mistakes in managing my staff that has taught me a great deal. Since then, I have changed the way we hire and terminate employees along with greatly improving the work environment. I feel like I have become better at assessing the skills of an applicant and have adjusted the workload for each individual to match their abilities.
Unqualified Responsibility Assignment: During that time period, I hired a young man still in business school to help manage and grow our operation. I thought a great deal of him and even attended his graduation. Having high hopes for him and the work we could accomplish together, it was an exciting time. He was bright and ambitious but had little to no experience in managing people. It was a risk, but I thought it would work. Feeling that his strengths would heavily outweigh his weaknesses, I split his roles between mine for HR and the other admin processes. His employee management role (HR) would be limited to hiring and training and I would be responsible for reprimand and termination. At the time it did not occur to me how negatively this would affect the relationship I would have with the employees he hired. It ended up that much of the interaction I had was typically only when things were not going well. When I recognized this and wanted to change it, he did not accept the responsibility and passively insisted that I continue handling the corrections and terminations. It was a tough spot for both of us and I felt that too much was invested to make a hard requirement. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
Limited Time at Office: There were times when I would only be at the office for a few hours each day because I was operating an organic farm simultaneously. This was only around 4 months out of the year, but this is also why I had a “manager” and office staff to run things and support our clients. My GM had a great relationship with the employees because most interactions were positive and encouraging. When he was having a problem, he came to me. He would ask me to terminate people rather often and I would give him the decision. He did not want to let anyone go himself nor did he thing the individual could be salvaged. I suggested ways he could handle whatever the issue was and give them another opportunity. He resented this and would not make a fair or solid effort. So, I would also meet with the employee directly and offer ways to help or other suggestions. I don’t like to terminate anyone anymore than the next person and felt that all possibilities should be explored… but once the GM had made up his mind, it was only a matter of time… and in that time, the employees would build resentment towards me. Being unaware of the conversations he would have with them, it wasn’t until later that I learned that I was being portrayed as someone to be feared… and if this was not explicitly stated, it was implied… as if seeing me was like having to go to the principles office. During that time period we had an enormous employee turnover of over 20 people.
Help Wanted Resources and Requirements: At the time, we did not require drug testing. We also use other screening tools to eliminate unreliable or unqualified people before the hiring process continues. We no longer use “Craigslist” (which we used exclusively) to find help and that has also made a big difference. I didn’t realize how many people were addicted to prescription drugs and we later learned, directly and indirectly, that many of our struggles in management were a result of employee abuse and addiction to prescription and street drugs. This time period was the height of the epidemic and had we drug tested, it may not have made any difference. It’s unfortunate to learn but by not using Craigslist, we were able to “weed out” the perpetually unemployed substance abusers.
I made plenty of other mistakes too but have learned from them and am better today because of it. Everyone that has worked for us from the first day of business (March of 2004) have always been paid everything that was owed and, in some instances, more. It may not have been as quick as they would have liked and there may have been deductions for advances that were not paid back… but everyone was always paid. I am thankful for all those that have helped us over the last 16 years and look forward to many more years providing exceptional service to our clients with a great support team. Please contact us directly if you have any concerns or questions. I welcome you to talk with our current staff members candidly.
