Went through my first experience of firing - or, potentially so - an employee in the last week. I can understand today what a lot of HR managers might be going through when they have to fire an employee.
Ankush is a staff in accounting with us. Though not great, he is picking up fast... at least, better than his brother Rohan, who'd 'betrayed' us for a bigger company after we had literally trained him in the Debits and Credits of Accounting. We taught him our accounting software, MS Office and the basic fundamentals of how to go about the whole data-entry process and as soon as he was ready enough for us to trust him with bigger responsibilities, he left without any warning for a CA firm.
Left in the lurch, my brother and I trudged along till we could find someone again. That meant extra hours in the office...but, of course, we are quite mentally prepared for these speed-breakers now. Our accounting is quite complicated and not everyone's cup of tea, given that we use multiple applications and software to maintain all the data we need.
Anyways, so Rohan calls us one day and requests that we employ his brother Ankush, who is a novice but hard-working fellow. Well, beggars can't be choosers, we thought, as we hadn't found a suitable person just yet.
Even though Ankush came fed with a lot of feedback and training from his brother, we weren't quite satisfied. And frankly, we're tired of having to keep training accounting staff. The earlier incentive of taking on low-skilled people because they come cheap and don't have too many exit options is just not lucrative anymore. We are in that stage of business where acquiring good talent - even if it comes at a slightly uncomfortable premium - is a better idea than the previous one. Of course, I have been of this opinion for a long time, but in family business kind of structure, one has to wait patiently for everyone to ride the same boat. Oftentimes, pulling them on the deck is not the best course of action from synergy point of view.
So we were on the look-out for someone with relevant experience and skill. Samar comes along, has worked as an accountant for three years, is currently in Ops. in another firm out of some compulsion, and looking to switch to accounting again. To top it, he literally tells us he is ready to do anything we ask of him, if only we can help him quit his present job. He just needed to serve a month's notice period. Yay!
All this while, we chose not to inform Ankush that we are looking for his replacement and that he too, better start looking for another job. Well, to be frank, my brother was more of this opinion than I was. Like a lot of times, I chose to be negligent and silent.
So Samar comes along for his first day in office. I was quite uncomfortable, not only because I thought we were doing injustice to Ankush, but also because he had shown quite a considerable improvement in the past one month. I have a hunch he was on to us; he had heard us talking to Samar, though not clearly.
It was in this one month that I noticed what a fear of getting fired can do to an employee. It kicks off the survival instinct. He starts grasping stuff better and faster, starts taking initiatives to become more productive, develops - or at least shows - more interest in the work allotted to him and becomes more obedient generally.
It was also the time when I realized how difficult firing a person is. After all, he was depending on the salary I pay him every month to meet his expenses. Worse, he hadn't done anything wrong. True, he is not up to the mark and we can certainly do better with a more skilled and experienced employee.....but it's not his "fault". Yes, the contrary view is that it is his fault that he couldn't make himself indispensable to us. But we deserve better too. My brother and I are much more qualified and capable than to be sitting in front of computers updating our books of accounts entry by entry! So after some tweedle-dee, tweedle-dum, I am at peace with the fact that he must go when he must, in the interest of M/S Phoenix Creations and in the selfish interest of it's top management. In this competitive world, make yourself indispensable, or be disposed off.
But our manner of doing this exercise was wrong, in my opinion. We should have told him earlier. But my brother was of the opinion that we should wait for Samar to see the whole drill, decide that he still wanted the job and then fire Ankush. Point. But that would give Ankush less time to find a replacement! A small argument ensued and in the end, I told him to deal with the issue the way he wanted... and then realize how wrong his approach was.
My argument was based also on the fact that Ankush was improving. After all, why was this guy suddenly upping his game so much? How could he suddenly develop such sincerity? Surely, something must be very important...
Yes, something was. I believe it was the fear of rejection, of being rendered useless. Of the embarrassment of not having a job, and therefore, a black spot on one's capability.
But after just one day, Samar called to tell us that he wasn't going to join! Why? No answer. I thought he might be feeling like a winner, considering that we were paying him for a desk job what he was getting for a field job! After all, that was what he had told us in the interview, that he didn't like the field-work!
Anyways, so his story ended then and there. And it seems my brother's approach turned out to be the better one. More practical one. I thought we were being selfish. And unjust.
But it seems, being selfish and unjust is good at times. It is even the most practical, obvious and natural course of action at times. I have learnt this earlier the hard way. But I guess I still find it hard to put it into implementation.
