Category: Corporate Games

How To Make Employees Quit

Billionaire alien
and overall horrible being
Elon Musk told his minions
to physically return
to the office of HIS choice
40 hours a week.

“Anyone who wishes to do
remote work
must be in the office
for a minimum
(and I mean *minimum*)
of 40 hours per week
or depart Tesla.
This is less than we ask
of factory workers.”

“If you don’t show up,
we will assume you have resigned.”

“Tesla has and will
create
and actually manufacture
the most exciting
and meaningful products
of any company on Earth.
This will not happen
by phoning it in.”

This threat,
worded as an insult,
is clearly
an attempt
to make employees quit,
to reduce headcount
without having to pay severance.

In some countries,
like Canada,
this would result in
huge
and costly lawsuits.

But the USA has very few
protections for workers.
And it is a viable
yet extremely unethical
tactic.

The best and the brightest employees
will leave.

The employees who are as unethical
as their leader
will likely sabotage the company
on the way out.

The employees who are left
will be bitter and unhappy.

I wouldn’t recommend
this tactic
for reducing headcount.

Great leaders
want to retain
their talented employees
and build loyalty.

Praising Partners

Once a year,
I go through my list
of people I work closely with
and I send letters of praise
to anyone who has helped me
in any way
over the past year.

I do this for everyone
but this especially matters
for people
who work for an employer.

These letters are usually added
to their files
and can be used to negotiate
raises, promotions, title changes
and other incentives.
They could save the person’s job
and/or could change their lives
for the better.

I do this EVERY year.

I’ve been sending one person
letters of recognition
every year for over a decade.

And she has been using them
to negotiate better pay
every year for over a decade.

If you want to change
someone’s world for the better,
send them a letter of recognition
when they help you.

Shared Desks And Project Managers

Many companies are trying
hybrid work arrangements.

Employees work in the office,
for example,
for 2 days a week
and from home for 3 days a week.

This setup usually means
employees share desks.
They don’t have
permanent spots in the office.

For some roles,
this is a great setup.

Salespeople, for example,
are accustomed to being mobile.
to working from anywhere,
surrounded by a variety of people.
They often approach others.
Others don’t tend to approach them.

For some roles,
however,
this is a terrible setup.

I was once forced into this arrangement
on a temporary project management assignment
in a large company.

Hours out of my day
were spent explaining to team members
where I was seated.

People I didn’t know
regularly overheard our conversations,
learning the details
of a ‘top secret’ product launch.
And YES, a competitor
launched a similar product
before we did.

It was a disaster
and, going forward,
I always asked future employers
if I would have a permanent desk.

Shared desks don’t work
for every role.
Consider offering
permanent desks
to those who need them.

The Hidden Costs Of The Job

A loved one is a high level salesperson.
He deals with executives
and often drives them
to and from dinners
and other events.

He can’t do that
in a Hyundai Accent.

He has to drive
a luxury sedan,
something that executives
will feel comfortable spending time in.

That’s a hidden ‘cost’
of his job.

Another loved one
is a marketing executive
for a cosmetics company.
She is constantly elevated,
on stage
making presentations.

Quality shoes,
for her,
aren’t a luxury.
They’re a requirement.
EVERYONE looks at her shoes.

They are a hidden ‘cost’
of her job.

Before you accept a job,
uncover the hidden costs
that come with it.

Ensure the increase in salary
more than compensates
for the increase in costs.

If A Company Messes Up Your Pay

You are a new employee
at a company.
Payroll messes up
and you don’t receive
your first paycheck.

What should you do?

Talk to Human Resources,
payroll AND your manager
immediately
and ask them to write you
a rush check.
This will likely be designated
as an advance.

This is normal practice
at many companies.
I would often be responsible
for hunting down signatures
for these rush checks.

It happens often
because mistakes happen often.
This is part of
working for humans.

If a company doesn’t agree
to do this,
consider it to be a red flag.
It means they don’t care
about their employees
and there is a likelihood
it will happen again.

If you are a business builder
and this happens
to one of your employees,
don’t wait for them
to approach you.
Write them an ‘advance’
immediately.

You do NOT want to gain
the reputation
of not paying employees.
All vendors, suppliers
will be cautious
if that happens.

Write them an advance.
Preserve your reputation
and your relationship
with your employees.

Layoffs And Respect

A jacka$$ of a CEO
fired 900 employees
all at once
over Zoom.

Letting employees go over Zoom
isn’t an issue.
Remote workers
are accustomed
to doing almost everything virtually.

The disrespectful act
was firing all of them
at once,
not giving them the courtesy
of a one-on-one meeting,
forcing some of them
to breakdown emotionally
in front of their peers,
completely ravaging their pride.

That was cruel.
That was hateful.

And, in many countries,
that inhumane treatment would result
in company-bankrupting lawsuits.

If you have to let employees go,
inform them of that
in semi-private surroundings.

Leading Vs Managing

As business builders,
we are both leaders
and managers.

We lead,
innovating,
offering new products or services
to the world,
striving to inspire others,
to convince them to support
our visions.

But we also manage,
assigning tasks,
telling people what to do,
supervising processes.

Both roles are needed
but they are very different.

Seth Godin
shares

“Management uses power and authority
to get people to do tasks
you know can be done.
Management is needed,
but management is insufficient.

Leadership is voluntary.
It’s voluntary to lead
and it’s voluntary to follow.
If you’re insisting,
then you’re managing…”

We should know
when we are leading
and when we are managing.
They require different techniques,
different mindsets.

Taking Initiative Is Rare

We’re business builders.
We take initiative.
That often isn’t even a debate within us.
We simply do it.

But there are many people
who don’t want to take initiative
at all.

One of the theories
behind the low vaccination rate in the US,
for example,
is
taking or not taking the vaccine
is a very important decision
and many people don’t want to be
responsible for it.
They don’t want to be
the person
who gets it wrong.

They don’t want to take initiative.

As Seth Godin
shares

“On one hand,
giving someone else authority
over our effort
is challenging,
because they might not be aware
of how much we have in reserve
or what else we’ve got going on.

But the alternative
is emotionally taxing:
Taking initiative.

Instead of calling it
“taking initiative”
perhaps it would be more accurate
to say “giving initiative.”
Because it’s in short supply
and we need more.”

As we build our businesses,
we’ll need to align
with people
sporting all sorts of levels
of initiative,
from those requiring instructions
for even the most basic tasks
to people who thrive
working on their own.

We have to place the right people
with the right levels of initiative
in the right roles
to be successful.

Look for initiative.
Learn how to recognize it,
how to test for it.

Finishing Strong

When I hosted
dinners
in the Before Times,
before COVID,
before social distancing,
I would spend
the most time
on the dessert.

That was the last bite
in each guest’s mouth.
It would be remembered
the clearest,
the best.
I wanted it to be awesome.

When I complete projects,
I give the people
I worked with
a small gift.
If we’re meeting in person,
I’ll bring in muffins.
If we’re meeting virtually,
I’ll send them
things like $5 gift cards.
And I’ll write them
nice notes,
thanking them.

We might have
had our differences
during the project
but they usually remember me
favorably,
often as being ‘classy.’

The last interaction
with you
is likely
how people
will remember you.

Ensure it is
the impression
you want to leave.

If There Are No Repercussions

If there are no repercussions
for doing something,
we will continue doing it,
especially
if the reward for success
is huge.

And a stern talking to
isn’t a valid repercussion.
Toddlers ignore this.
We adults often
do worse than that.
We mock the person
delivering verbal reprimand,
further eroding their credibility
and leadership.

If we believe
the person might have been unaware
the act was bad,
sure,
outline the repercussions,
give them a warning.

But if they clearly knew
that an act,
like storming the Capital,
was bad
and they did it anyway,
there has to be
serious repercussions
or it will happen again
…and again
…and again.

Is delivering repercussions
fun to do?
Nope.
But it has to be done
or we will lose control
of the situation.

It will be chaos.
And it is d@mn difficult
to build a successful business
surrounded by chaos.

Be a leader.
Deliver those repercussions.