A friend of mine has a business and last October she employed a business development/operations person. The deal on the table was £16,500 pa, monthly bonus based on weekly profits (£200 at the time of interview), a mobile phone and after 3-6 month probationary period, a car. After negotiations she agreed to £17k, monthly bonus as he told her that he had been offered another job at £20 and a car. She told him that as the bonuses stood, he was looking at £19,500 already and when he comes in and gets more work, the bonuses would be unlimited. He promised to bring extra work to the company by using contacts from previous jobs and assured her that he could increase the business. He started work. She supplied him with a laptop (his choice against a PC), laptop bag and a portfolio case. She printed up some business cards for him herself. He was ready to go.
He was asked to get his car insurance upgraded for business use, this cost £50 admin/alteration to policy fee and his premium per month was around £35, which she covered (although she should only have covered the difference in premium. Then, after only two weeks, he started to complain that he couldn't afford his car and that it would have to go back to the loan company and wondered how soon he could have the company car. She told him that it had been agreed that he would have a probationary period first but to be helpful and add an asset to the company, she bought the car and of course covered the insurance. He had a courtesy car supplied by the dealer in the interim. By mid November he was driving a company car after only one month of being employed.
Next, he wanted her to pay for his mobile phone contract as he had the number for years and couldn't really afford the monthly cost. She refused this as there was a company phone that she was paying the rental on anyway and, the number had been with the company for 10 years and was quoted on printed matter, website, etc. She told him to pass his phone to his partner who was on Pay and go. He wasn't happy about that. It has come to light since that he has actually given up his own contract phone.
OK, so then he wanted a contribution towards a suit. She offered him £50 towards a suit even though she told him that in her opinion there was nothing wrong with the ones he had.
Then, he booked holidays for the following year and a couple of days for the current year. She told him to take more days in the current year as he would lose them but he said that he didn't want to take any more days as they didn't fit in with his partner's. After some negotiating, she agreed to carry 5 days over into the next holiday year but said that after that there would be no carrying over as he had 12 months to take them.
She then received an email in early December saying that he was getting chronic back pain and could he have another chair. He said he was off work for months the last time he had it (prior employment) and didn't want this to happen again. She suggested he look at gadgets that offer lumbar support but he told her it was pain across his shoulders not lumbar. She carried out a VDU check list with him and it was determined that he needed to raise his laptop so that his screen was at eye level so a monitor stand, keyboard and mouse was issued to make the laptop into a makeshift PC while he was in the office. She also noticed that he was sitting at an angle and therefore his right arm was being stretched further than his left (cause of shoulder pain?). She recommended that he sit straight facing the desk. It was also noted that as he is quite tall, his chair wasn't supporting his legs under the knee area.Even though she had not agreed to a new chair, she then got an email from him saying that he had been to Staples and had found the chair he wanted and could he order it at £160 +VAT. This being a possible claim and H&S issue she wanted to avoid, gave him permission. Miraculously, his back became better it seemed almost overnight.
Although he has a good attendance record, he started to take time off to go to funerals (3 in as many weeks). After the second, he was told that he would have to book the days as holidays as the deceased weren't family. She would allow him time out as long as he came back to work but he argued that they were friends of his partners and that she couldn't have been left in such a distraught manner. He pointed out that he worked late sometimes and worked through lunch sometimes (which he does) and though it was his choice, felt he put in his hours. She said she would let him have the two days back and asked how he was going to prove that he had made up his hours - he didn't know. In future any funeral days allowed would have to be close family. Strangely, 'Auntie Pat' died the week after (fourth funeral).
Since he started with the company, the bonus levels had dropped and he wasn't getting the £200 a month he was expecting. He said that she had promised this at interview and that it was part of the package. She said that bonuses are not guaranteed and to go and get more work and he would have in excess of £200 if he did what he promised. However, she agreed to give him a minimum of £200 a month bonus but when the bonuses reached £200 plus, she said she would deduct the amounts 'loaned' and once it had been repaid he would see the full benefit. He moaned that he was always on Ops (Operations) and couldn't get out but she told him that Ops would be covered while he was out of the office and not to worry about it.
He was given a £500 bonus at Christmas along with the other staff.
After 3 months, she carried out a review. She asked him if he liked his work, he said he loved it. When asked if there was anything he didn't like he said 'the money'. She told him that companies were offering pay decreases and that he should consider himself lucky that he had a job at all in the current climate (she had taken him off Jobseekers). Although he had brought a new contract in early on, it had dried up. He brought this up and said that he had brought this contract in and the company had gained £4000 and surely that had covered his costs already. She remarked that turnover was not profit. New work was revived from old customers but the level of business had not improved so she gave him an additional 3 month probation and to contact those clients he had approached before as a follow up and ask if they were ready to move forward.
Nearly done!
5 months on, he pulled her to one side and again said that he couldn't afford the pay he was on. She said she was sorry to hear that but there was going to be no more money until his got more work in like he promised at interview, which he denied saying. At the end of the day, why would she have taken him on if he hadnt made promises to improve the business?. Its hardly likely that she said 'yes, come and join our company and maintain the level of business we are at now and I will give you this, that and that! He wasn't happy that she had kept him on an extended probationary period and that he was always on Ops and nothing to give the clients (she has recently ordered new business cards as he thought the ones she printed were inferior, bought desk pads as he had used up the old ones, pens, sticky pads etc., all at great expense She told him not to make that an excuse for not going to see clients as they could be offered at another meeting (waiting for them to be printed etc..) There was some talk of looking at different areas of work that were not already covered by the company. He said he would need software (a database), she said you have Access on your laptop, why not use that.
Little by little he is gnawing at her asking for (and usually getting) more and more. She is now in a quandary. He is good at Ops and does contact a lot of people on the development side but little or nothing is being gained by it and, like his predecessors, seems reluctant to go out and get the business that he was employed to do. She is not wanting to go though the whole process of advertising, interviewing, selecting, training etc again as this will be the third time in two years. She feels that he is constantly begging for something and giving little in return for her 'investments'. Any idiot can see he is making a mug of her but if you were to ask him, he would say he is putting a great deal of effort in.
She has made a decision that she is not going to give in to any more demands and that she will ask him for a decision as to whether he is going to stay and accept what he is currently getting or go. Either way, she needs to know.
Simple question - what do you think she should do - let him go or give him one more chance to prove himself? :|
