Reality bites
One of our core values is accountability. Many people see that just within the bounds of putting their hand up to an error of some sort, but actually it is meant as more than that. It is a recognition of each person’s contribution having an effect on their lives and on their place in the company.
I currently have a battle with one particular member of staff who has a specialist skill set for which they were – in the good old pre-recession days – able to rake in considerable pennies. Our payment to them is based on those days, with the result that they take home, pro-rata, more than any member of the company, myself included.
As the recession has bitten in deep, it is this area of the company that has suffered the most. Sales here are at an all-time low. I cannot afford to pay this person for doing another job, when it would be twice the going rate and twice to three times as much as anyone else would charge.
The result, therefore, is that this employee is being laid off, while I am just about able to keep everyone else in work. I have explained to them that they are delivering inferior quality in comparison to other firms, yet charging more.
Their reaction to being laid off is to take it as a personal attack, apparently preferring to believe that I am instructing our salesforce to sell anything other than that person's particular product! It is that absurd. Any wild accusation is apparently preferable to taking responsibility for earlier greed and laziness getting just deserts in current tighter markets.
With irresponsible and crazy attitudes like this – so detached from the current economic reality – it is hard to care about the welfare of some staff.