The Seven Deadly Sins In Managing People
Sin #3 - “Have your Unemployment Compensation Ducks in a Row!”
Bart’s problems as an employee were legendary to this southwest five-store retail chain. His insubordination was bad enough, but his terrible attitude toward customers was even worse. But the real sin is that this problem performer had been allowed to stay employed with these problems for more than a year and a half!
Finally, management fired Bart and was determined to not pay unemployment because of his poor attitudes while on the job. However, another sin committed by management was that there was no paperwork to back up their judgment of Bart’s behavior.
Keep in mind that the state unemployment officials who could be involved, if the Bart’s of the world seek compensation, will often have more identity with the “alleged victim” of management abuse. After all, they’re state employees who may not understand or appreciate the challenges of owning or managing a business. Some of them may see you as an “enterprising owner” with lots of money, power and “greed”!
In Bart’s case they felt that Bart was poorly trained, not given warnings, and did not receive performance evaluations because there was no paperwork to the contrary that management produced at the unemployment hearing. Worse yet was the fact that the hearing judge couldn’t understand that if Bart had been such a problem for so long (18 months!) Why had management waited so long to act? By their inaction, the judge concluded that whatever Bart’s behavior was, it must have been acceptable by management to have gone on so long.