Here is a true story:

A few years ago we had a whiney employee - and business was bad. This was November of 2001 when the economy was in the toilet.

We had secured financing to fund our future but we had a 2 month gap where we had to survive on our own funds. We had no choice but to cut costs.

We got all the hourly employees together and told them we were cutting them to half time temporarily. We also told them we (the owners) we not taking any form of payment for 2 months.

We then took the whiney guy aside - he was in sales - and told him we had to cut his salary in half but we'd double his commission for this time but we wanted him to work full time. So literally he got a MUCH better deal than anyone else in the long run - our sales cycle is like 6 months anyway.

He flat out refused to have a pay cut - so we fired him - we had NO choice but to cut costs and he wasn't willing to be part of the team where everyone was taking it in the shorts.

So anyway - he clears out his desk and left. After he had left we went out and our employees were all smiling and cheering. Seriously - an hour after we cut their pay in half for two months - they were more happy then I had seen them in a long time because the whiney guy was gone.

Moral of the story: Keeping someone like this around is BAD. BAD BAD BAD. Do your due diligence but fire them ASAP if they do not turn around.

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for your feedback - sounds like i have really hit a chord here.

Personally, I have always managed to get great results by pat on the back motivation, with very rarely a few harder words in appraisals about performance - i think that usually it has more impact from me, as I am not usually a 'bossy boss'.

That really sucks! So many people I worked with either did a great job some of the time - like this guy - or a consistant crappy job. Either way, preferential treatment seems to always be givin to those half-assed workers. I think people will walk all over you when there is no repercussions for their actions. You can't get mad at this guy for giving you amazing results once in a while instead of everyday like you had the right to expect from him - you let him know it was ok not to by offering him special options that weren't given to the other employees. An off day every once in a while is also to be expected - we are only human, but it's those who tough it out through those times who deserve the break when they reach an unfortunate obsticle in their life. You know, there is always a college kid out there you knows those cutting-edge technologies or is willing to learn. And please remember those employees who give it their all everyday... and let the know you appreciate it!!

Preferential treatment is given to such people for good reason. Profitability!

In many cases, especially in niche arenas, there are no college kids, nor are few people willing to learn what might be an incredible difficult task. As an employer, why would I want to spend 1-2 years training 3-4 new hires to replace 1 screwey superstar. If I am forced to, sure... but I am not gong to take that big of a financial hit unless there is no other way.

The problem is that the daily guy who is consistant often times provides minimal value beyond the day to day activities. In other words the average employee.

The superstar fireman who comes in for the kill sucks at the daily stuff, but will recieve the lions share of praise... and when it comes time to get rid of someone as a function of finance, I will generally let go of the daily good worker over the infrequent superstar. This assumes that I can manage such an individual. Eg, if they are a whiner, no way! I won't put up with it.

This is not to say let someone get away with murder, one does have to tow the line, and there are some bare minimum standards that have to be upheld for legal purposes, but outside of that, a lot of slack can be given for key performance, even if its intermittant.

If we take it a step further.

Who would you prefer to operate on you, a top notch surgeon with terrible beside manner who rarely shows up for meetings and constantly cusses and screams, yet has a 95% success rate. Or a very nice easy to manage surgeon, super polite, always on time, but has a success rate of 60% (which is still better than a national statistic of 50% for a given difficult operation).

Granted, outside of a niche area, this discussion is moot. If you can hire a newbie, and get them up to speed in a couple months, why deal with the BS. If you need 3-4 newbies and a couple years, it makes the decision much more difficult.

Gillian
I think your approach is a good start. Just be sure to be pretty hardcore on your decision. I wouldn't go so far as to zero tolerance, as that can lead to almost an equal level of the problems encountered by letting the guy walk all over you via letting most anything go. If things do rise up occasionally, allocate 10 minutes at the end of the day or at noon to talk with him. Be sure he knows you will, and that after the 10 minutes end, personal talk time is over no matter what, and either its back to work, or time to go home. He may come to appreciate this stance as well. Just explain it upfront.

One other possibility, is to check into offering an EAP with your local hospital or medical service provider. They can be surprisingly inexpensive, and would offer you a number of benefits. First, it takes the burden off you, Secondly, it might help this fellow, and allow you to keep him on, Thirdly, it might be a useful tool for retention and recruitment of new employees. Fourth, it can improve productivity across the board. I'm pretty hard core, and do not buy into the whole mental health thing as a rule, but when I saw the numbers... it blew my mind. I think it can make a difference.

The only thing I can add is be sure you don't run afoul of employment laws. By giving more slack to the difficult-to-replace employee, or the employee-with more-personal-problems, you could become vulnerable to a lawsuit.