Asking an employee
to leave is one of the hardest conversations one has to do; it doesn't matter if you are the owner of the company, a manager or a supervisor. One would have had hearts of stone not to feel anything for the person being asked to go.The first person we asked to leave had been with us since we started operating. He had seen what the company had to go through every single day. When we had service demos, he was constantly asked to go. When we expanded and hired more technicians, he was there explaining how we did things...
When we saw his dedication to and concern for the company, we decided to give him an increase in allowances and commissions. We thought it was only fair for him since he was with us since the beginning. Unfortunately, as we brought in more customers; he thought that we were being unfair to him. He began to think that what we were paying him is not commensurate with what he is doing.
We give our car clean technicians allowances and commissions based on the number of cars that they clean.
We explained to him how we divide the sales; from his commissions to product cost to rent. But he was adamant that we give him more.
Furthermore, since he was the first employee, he let his co-workers know that he was supposed to be their supervisor
; a position open to him after meeting several criteria.Things came to a head when we asked for an advance but we couldn't give any. He said so many things bordering on being disrespect. That was the time I asked him to leave.
It was very tough but we had to make a decision...
