I'm Quitting! You're Fired! Well, let's be rational.....

Today’s blog is for both employees and employers. The bottom line is that it’s better to work it out and stay than it is to find someone new or a new job.

Employers:
What is your cost for hiring and training a new employee? You will want to do this for each type of employee you have as the costs may be different depending upon training and recruiting. How long do you have an employee before they “paid for themselves”? This could be that their service paid for the cost of hiring, training, and retaining or it could be that they are self-sufficient, bringing in funds to match their own salaries 1:1 or better 5:1. As your employees stay with you over the years, do they become more or less valuable? Evaluate this too.

Make sure you know how much employees actually cost you before you haphazardly get rid of them. Make sure you know how long employee retention benefits you. When is it the easiest time to replace an employee for an equally qualified candidate? How do you put a price on institutional knowledge?

There are all kinds of questions to consider before knowing when to “let go” of employees.

I often see employees released over an improper fit with the workplace climate, or over a lack of communication and mutual understanding. I can tell you this, I’d rather have worked it out to save my company the thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) that it will cost to have a “poor fire”. (I call a “poor fire” a situation where someone was let go when they could have been saved.)

Take this decision very seriously, more so than you have. And, have the numbers to back it up. Know what the cost is to you, your company and the team the employee worked on. It’s usually easier to let them go- but it’s very costly. With a little work, you could have a satisfied employee, team and company. Try it.

Employees:
If you are dissatisfied at work, I encourage you to work hard to work it out rather than leave. Leaving is the easiest of the remedies but it’s also the most costly to you. How much did you spend on landing and holding this job? Add your hours, your actual costs (mailings, travel, meetings, literature, etc…) and your time spent in the position to understand your investment. Don’t just throw that away- especially if this is a pattern of what you normally do. It will show on your resume and a wise HR person will recognize it right away.

Rather, I suggest you make sure you’ve talked with your supervisor about your professional frustrations. Talk with a nonbiased party to have them look at the situation and offer suggestions. Remain professional at all times and confront the conflict in an open and “solution-driven” way. Don’t just look to fuel conflict. Look to resolve it with the other party/ies. Focus on other things for a few weeks (personal hobbies or throw yourself into a work project) to take your mind off of it. Have coffee with a friendly and open colleague in another company to see that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Every position comes with pros and cons. S/he may have suggestions for you too.

Whether you are the employee or the employer, don’t throw in the towel too soon (as >70% do). Recognize your investment and work on it, like any other relationship. Give it the respect, professionalism and resources it deserves to be wildly successful. Remember, most things can be turned around.