I have recently joined an IT company as HR. It is a small-sized company, comprised of 10-15 employees only. The company has 2-3 senior employees, working for the last 10-12 years with it on a high pay scale.
The issue is, these senior employees don't take their work responsibilities. They leave bugs in customer projects for no reason (maybe intentionally, because they are experienced and knowledgeable).
These employees know that the company needs them, cannot fire them. And if they will get fired, they will get another good job very easily!
How to handle it? How to make them responsible for their work?
From India, Ganganagar
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The issue is, these senior employees don't take their work responsibilities. They leave bugs in customer projects for no reason (maybe intentionally, because they are experienced and knowledgeable).
These employees know that the company needs them, cannot fire them. And if they will get fired, they will get another good job very easily!
How to handle it? How to make them responsible for their work?
From India, Ganganagar
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The point here is to make the concerned senior employees work as per their job description, and for that purpose, they should be pulled up. This exercise is to make them mend their ways and not to send them out. Still, if they fail to correct themselves, certainly they should be shown the exit, that's all. Here, their high degree of employability cannot be a point to countenance their willful failure to perform their job as described. The poster should remember that a proper dismissal on the ground of grave misconduct or wanton failure to work is a stigma that will affect such an employee's employability throughout his future career.
From India, Salem
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6185From India, Salem
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Thank you, Umakanthan.M. Please suggest ways to motivate them to perform error-free tasks. Informal discussions have been held several times by the management previously. Somehow, the company also relies on them. Situated in the (not so big) city of Rajasthan, experienced and knowledgeable candidates are very rare to find.
From India, Ganganagar
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From India, Ganganagar
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This needs a change in work culture and individual attitude. Both are time-consuming processes and cannot be attained swiftly. Yet, the process of change has to start, and there is no better time than the present to start with. So, you need to take positive steps as well as negative steps on what is acceptable behavior in the organization now. But for all this, you need the top management support and commitment.
You need an intervention by an expert (OD Consultant), it appears. Since you are a very small setup, you may plan a combined summit of all employees which could be the ideal occasion to bring a consultant into the picture and chart out a new course.
From India, Mumbai
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You need an intervention by an expert (OD Consultant), it appears. Since you are a very small setup, you may plan a combined summit of all employees which could be the ideal occasion to bring a consultant into the picture and chart out a new course.
From India, Mumbai
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Dear Aariesrora,
This is in addition to the views expressed by other learned members. You say that your company needs these employees. It appears that they too know this and have been taking undue advantage of it. However, sometimes the leadership of your company has to bite the bullet. You have been lenient with these seniors all along, but this lenience cannot continue time immemorial. Customers expect flawless service, and if it is not provided, then the business is bound to suffer. Has your MD calculated the cost of customer dissatisfaction vis-a-vis the cost of retention of these employees? I am sure the former outweighs the latter.
Talk with MD and start thinking of arranging the replacement of these seniors. As you employ the new persons, make sure that these old seniors report to the new ones. Temporarily the MD should withdraw from the operations; however, from the backend, he should support the new employees. When the right time comes, check out these old seniors.
Tell your MD that he runs a business enterprise and not a charity center. Business growth and expansion should always be on the mind of the leadership. But this can happen provided he does not think from his heart and not from his head. Therefore, the time has come to take the unemotional and dispassionate view of the situation.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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This is in addition to the views expressed by other learned members. You say that your company needs these employees. It appears that they too know this and have been taking undue advantage of it. However, sometimes the leadership of your company has to bite the bullet. You have been lenient with these seniors all along, but this lenience cannot continue time immemorial. Customers expect flawless service, and if it is not provided, then the business is bound to suffer. Has your MD calculated the cost of customer dissatisfaction vis-a-vis the cost of retention of these employees? I am sure the former outweighs the latter.
Talk with MD and start thinking of arranging the replacement of these seniors. As you employ the new persons, make sure that these old seniors report to the new ones. Temporarily the MD should withdraw from the operations; however, from the backend, he should support the new employees. When the right time comes, check out these old seniors.
Tell your MD that he runs a business enterprise and not a charity center. Business growth and expansion should always be on the mind of the leadership. But this can happen provided he does not think from his heart and not from his head. Therefore, the time has come to take the unemotional and dispassionate view of the situation.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
From India, Bangalore
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Dear friend,
Like every individual, every organization has a lifespan - mostly longer than that of the individuals who run it. Therefore, nobody is indispensable in the long run. Just because of their senior positions, if some employees wantonly fail to discharge their duties, it amounts to insubordination that would always culminate in incompetency. No use in keeping the incompetent employees for long. Whatever the location of your organization, it is not so difficult to find proper substitutes in the long run.
From India, Salem
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Like every individual, every organization has a lifespan - mostly longer than that of the individuals who run it. Therefore, nobody is indispensable in the long run. Just because of their senior positions, if some employees wantonly fail to discharge their duties, it amounts to insubordination that would always culminate in incompetency. No use in keeping the incompetent employees for long. Whatever the location of your organization, it is not so difficult to find proper substitutes in the long run.
From India, Salem
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Dear Madam,
You need to adopt a strategy to shake the seniors out of their cozy and secure positions. The seniors have to be clearly told by the MD, once and for all, that they need to change their ways and work as expected of them, or else harsh steps will be taken. Give them a 2-3 month timeframe. Start looking for replacements now and inform them that moves to replace them are underway.
Also, explore if their job profiles can be changed, and each one can be assigned to distinct teams/targets to create a competitive culture. Find out if, among the three, the most deserving can be promoted with more distinct responsibilities, while the other two report to him.
You may consider these approaches with the objective of making them feel that they are not indispensable. Eventually, if they do not mend their ways despite your sincere efforts, and it is detrimental to the organization, then you have no option but to replace them one by one.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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You need to adopt a strategy to shake the seniors out of their cozy and secure positions. The seniors have to be clearly told by the MD, once and for all, that they need to change their ways and work as expected of them, or else harsh steps will be taken. Give them a 2-3 month timeframe. Start looking for replacements now and inform them that moves to replace them are underway.
Also, explore if their job profiles can be changed, and each one can be assigned to distinct teams/targets to create a competitive culture. Find out if, among the three, the most deserving can be promoted with more distinct responsibilities, while the other two report to him.
You may consider these approaches with the objective of making them feel that they are not indispensable. Eventually, if they do not mend their ways despite your sincere efforts, and it is detrimental to the organization, then you have no option but to replace them one by one.
Regards,
Vinayak Nagarkar
HR and Employee Relations Consultant
From India, Mumbai
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A good team leader always takes responsibility for the performance of their team and won’t throw any responsibilities. but bad manager is opposite. A clear-cut sign of a bad manager is to don't take their work responsibilities
From India, Pune
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From India, Pune
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When seniors shirk responsibility and duties, it sets a bad example for juniors. In such a situation, the view of MD has to be taken and seen how he views it. If he is in agreement with your views and examples of showing poor work culture, then steps can be taken to change work culture. Fix targets and MIS reports on targets - how much achieved and shortfalls with reasons. Being a small city, talent may not be readily available, but discreetly look around for likely replacements. Communicate with them in a discreet manner and try to find out what is the secret of their taking it easy? These factors, if any, can be discussed with MD, and if truly an issue, steps to redress them will be ideal. A kind of shaking up will be needed to wake them up. If you are not getting replacements due to the place being small, equally these seniors also will not get suitable jobs. Start pinning responsibility for errors which shake customer confidence. Once they know MD will not leave things in the same manner - where come easy go easy - habits persist, they will change. Keep communication lines open, and MD should interact frequently and monitor them also.
From India, Pune
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From India, Pune
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