Firstly, we recognize the situation we've put ourselves into. Allowing one employee to hold us hostage was a problem that sneaked up over several years. We've since been pushing for everyone to better document their processes, and share knowledge across the org where appropriate. However, as we'r...
Regarding number 3: You can't make them do anything. You can ask them to do something. The idea that you think you can "make" anybody do anything simply because you employ them leaves me with the suspicion that this situation isn't entirely the fault of the employee.
And if you're thinking of taking punitive action against this employee, like withholding pay... don't. Unless you're looking for a heap of trouble and a lawsuit. Take the high road.
Yes, by "make" I definitely meant "task with". That's poor wording on my part. They've been somewhat receptive to doing these kinds of tasks, but mostly only for going forward on new stuff. As for punitive actions that aren't termination, that was never on the table.
@keshlam that's fair enough. I'm just very unsure of how we can deal with this while minimizing risk to the company and keeping the rest of the folks happy.
So what's the reason you want to fire that person in the first place? And I debatably belive in slips of tongue when "make them do" is used, it tends to be very revealing of the nature of the relation.
Re point 3: do you have any person sufficiently competent to verify this deliverable? If you have a "very small company" and a bus factor of that person is nearly 1, you may not have any other staff member who can attest that documentation is clean, correct and sufficient. It leaves a huge territory for making something that looks like a tech documentation and is in fact just a piece of rubbish which won't be helpful for future readers. If you don't have sufficient tech skills, you won't be able to distinguish (startup where I work now have been in this situation before).
btw, I know many people find "bus factor" funny, but a family member of mine was working in a small place when the owner's mother, who also worked there, was literally hit by a bus and died. The aftermath was as far from funny as can be imagined. I like to say "circus factor" as in the person runs away to join the circus.
Yeah i was talking about this kind of issue yesterday at work. It seems to me that nearly all organizations have a flawed working logic. We pay more for people who are harder to replace. Yeah but this incentivizes workers to make them selves irreplaceable.Instead we should reward sharing and documentation so as to incentivize the opposite action. This on all levels, if a leader keeps info hidden its bad for similar reasons. So again even bosses should as much as possible share info, even info like we think its problem that you have hoarded info. What can we do to reverse the trend.
@KateGregory I don't think it's actually intended to be cute, but rather to drive the point home to a particular brand of blue sky management. If an employee runs off you can always beg, peer pressure, or offer incredible sums for answering the occasional question over text. If the employee is dead you're not getting anything, full stop.
Firstly I want to repeat the question asked above, about the reason you want to fire this employee. Secondly (and somewhat related) what is the location? (i.e. what are the legalities of any of this.)
What does a very small company mean? <10 people or 30+? With less than 10 people, all have bus factor of ~1. It will be obvious to everyone he is supposed to train/help his replacement.
Yeah, I'm curious as to the reason behind the desire to terminate this employee as well. If it's something serious, like a breach of workplace decorum, instigating a hostile work environment, or clear violation of the law, then I'd understand; however, I've seen wildly unjustified or punitive terminations far more often than I've seen clear breaches of workplace rules, regardless of who sets them.
The act of termination is subject to various laws, based on location, reason, and circumstances; contemplating such a decision puts you up against not only a moral quandary, but also various potential legal questions as well.
Discussion on question by benjamin: T…
Discussion on question by benjamin: T…