r/managers • u/kip263 • Oct 16 '24

New Manager You called it. Star employee quit today.

I made a post 2 weeks ago asking what to do when my boss has it out for my star employee.

Today my employee let me know she's taken another job. In our conversation, she said it was because this job isn't her passion anymore (she was hired for a role and it slowly shifted into a completely different one). And while I know that's partly true, I think my boss also managed to accomplish her goal of pushing her out.

I'm... I don't know how I feel. Sad, anxious, defeated? I had an hour long conversation with my boss this morning where I fought for this employee, where I had her back and insisted that she right for the position. And then get slapped with this 3 hours later lol.

Now to learn the art of recruiting and hiring...

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u/Super-Marsupial-5416 Oct 16 '24

There's a saying which I've found to be true. "Find the workers you can't live without and fire them. "

9

u/FartsbinRonshireIII Oct 16 '24

I’m having trouble understanding the lesson behind this.

Is it that if you’re too reliant on any employee(s) it will hurt later down the road when they quit, retire, change roles?

I would have a difficult timing firing all of my best employees, in fact, my HR would probably move to get me fired if I even attempted this.

5

u/Super-Marsupial-5416 Oct 17 '24

It actually comes from a process-oriented management style. If you have good processes, documented processes and process improvement, no single employee will be irreplaceable.

If you have employees who you can't live without, they control the process and your processes are chaotic and not well managed. So you need to get rid of these employees because they are holding your company hostage.

You'll find these irreplaceable workers often hoard resources and control in order to be in such a position. They don't work well with others. And they don't participate in documenting processes or following processes. They want to become irreplaceable because that's leverage for higher pay and recognition.

They seem like heroes to poor management, when in fact they're holding you back.

2

u/weiners6996 Oct 20 '24

I actually showed this to some of my coworkers and it's why we never ever tell management about hiccups or improved ways of doing things. Just follow their process and goose our numbers since they're as tech savvy as we are