From 1975 until retirement in 1995 I edited three magazines – entirely responsible for editorial content. I also had powers of hire and fire. During those twenty years, I fired two journalists, put a third “on warning” which I later withdrew, and I also fired a secretary. Is this a poor, possibly brutal, record?
The secretary, on probation, hadn’t proved satisfactory with a manager I didn’t hold in high regard. My immediate manager asked if I cared to take her on. I felt sorry for her, reckoned I could “tutor” her out of her shortcomings but I was wrong. She was agreeable, not even lazy, but quite incompetent. It was a losing battle. And we were a very small team. At a formal confrontation she was represented by her trade union; I provided carefully researched evidence after which my immediate manager did the tough stuff. But I was the one who felt she had to go.
By moving to other magazines I inherited the two “fired” journalists . One was a crook (breaking into my locked desk for confidential information), the other young, unqualified, irresponsible and wrongly appointed. In recommending their departure I discovered senior management had hoped I would do exactly this.
The “warned” journalist may have been older than me. Experienced, yes, if not in any demanding position, plausible, but psychologically unreliable. Given to flattering me quite cleverly. He interviewed an executive but couldn’t produce an article. Somehow this was resolved but the stain was there; a comparatively minor opening occurred and he left.
Firing journalists for “contractual” faults is comparatively easy. Firing them for “bad journalism” is more difficult. Reasons tend to be subjective and hard to explain. Later, happily, I chose better staff, worked with them and directed them to good positions. Proud of that.
Having sacked and been nearly sacked, I can think of nothing positive from either side of the fence and it’s to your credit when this happening it passed me by while living under the same roof. At least you didn’t follow the current PM’s lead, get the incriminating information, dither about and then hope for an impromptu resignation….
ReplyDeleteOS: I remember "nearly sacked". At the time it seemed as if it might have been a close-run thing. On reflection it would have been a shocking miscarriage of justice had it gone that way. Needless to say, I'm glad that didn't happen. As to dithering I can - hand on heart - say I had no misgivings. True I felt sorry for the secretary but looking back I'd given her a second chance which - given her incompetence - she was not really entitled to. That thought has encouraged me to tackle this subject but from a different perspective.
DeleteMy later life as an area manager in Local Government meant there were almost impossible hoops to go through to even get to the formal "warning" stage of the sacking process. - Initial warnings (with written proof), Subsequent "formals" with union rep. present, then more such. No one really got "sacked" from local government, just transferred to another post where another poor bugger of a manager took on the problem.
ReplyDeleteIn earlier life I had the exalted post of assistant office manager with a firm of industrial bankers who lent money to a chain of TV rental and cycle shops.
The office manager discussed his opinion with me that a member of the clerical staff should be sacked. Sometime later he said he would be off on the Friday and ordered me to do the sacking process with the poor bastard. He wasn't up to the job - just did not have any intellectual capacity for it. But he had a wife and two small kids. It was my first sacking interview and no doubt my immediate boss was giving me "experience" (or was copping out of an unpleasant task). I have always remembered that experience from over 60 years ago.
Avus: You're not the first to complain about "unsackables". But what one must remember is that the sackee is nearly always at a disadvantage (for various reasons) and needs some kind of built-in protection. However the points you've made have reminded me this subject is nearly always tackled from the sacker's viewpoint and rarely includes considerations which deserve wider examination. Hence another post on the same subject.
ReplyDeleteI never fired anyone being a small art glass studio but I did have two employees quit. One part-timer when we were just getting started good. He didn't like not knowing what he would be tasked with doing until he got to work and I figured out something for him to do. So one day he quit and he did it by slipping a letter under the door to the studio criticising how we ran our business. About a week later a mutual friend told us Harry wanted his job back. Sorry, no way. If he had just quit, telling us to our faces that he didn't want to work there anymore we might have reconsidered but he wrote all his complaints and criticisms down, thought he could run our business better than we did. It's amazing really how many people we encountered over the 40+ years we ran a successful etched and carved glass studio who thought they knew how to run our business better than we did.
ReplyDeleteThe other employee who quit worked for us full time for about 8 or 9 years. He and my partner did not get along and he also thought he could run the business better than we did. He quit in the middle of a big job and went to work for a competitor which only lasted a couple of months. I lost track of him but eventually word got around that he had tried to make a go of it on his own. Got three jobs, took deposits on the work and then faded into the sunset. Took their money but didn't produce the work. So much for being better at it than us. We carried on for another 25 years or so until we retired.
ellen abbot: In fact, the all-American success story with a few pinches of salt to add contrast. I stood out at one of the US companies I worked for because I was the only one with any real and/or varied journalistic background. And needless to say, despite the fact that they were all better educated (or, at least, educated for longer) than me, I had a far larger vocabulary. Strange that. Having someone tell you that they knew how to run your business would have provided a fine opportunity to crush them linguistically. But I get the feeling you wouldn't have needed any help from me.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that genuinely surprised me about Americans was that a vast majority yearned to work for themselves, to run their own business. In the UK such entrepreneurial spirit is quite rare. Mostly the US office environment was quite exhilarating; I suspected I would enjoy myself; lacking any influence I worked hard and persuasively to get there; it was six years of fun. And, of course, there was baseball.
Were you a neighbour I'd get you to etch some glass. Thanks for calling.
Never sacked anybody but did toss out some "F" grades. Sadly, they were often to people already teaching children.
ReplyDeleteMarly: But did you employ anyone? If not, that would explain the non-sacking. I think some of those Fs attempted to teach me. I hope I broke their mean-spirited hearts.
ReplyDelete