You may have heard the saying “Hire slowly. Fire quickly.” It is sage advice guiding us to take the necessary time to hire the right people the first go around, and removing unfit employees quickly.
But entrepreneurs get confused around one facet of “hire slowly.” They conclude that you should only hire someone new when your current employee can’t handle a single ounce of additional work. That’s a mistake.
If an exceptional employee crosses your path. If they represent a game changer to your business. If they are excited to join you, you are thrilled, and they will help elevate your business to the next level. . . then for God’s sake, hire them. Hire prematurely.
I would like to add some things from my personal experience on this topic.
+ I recommend that if you want to hire somebody without officially registering him/her as an employee – do it only with family members – or with very good friends that you know for minimum 10 years. Don’t ever do it with other people – even if it is tempting – or you will get into big trouble. Register them officially as your employees.
+ If you get an idea that you should fire an employee – and you notice yourself thinking about it constantly – stop to think and fire that employee – as quickly as possible.
+ If an employee says a single word behind your back that is against you, discriminates you or makes fun of you – fire that employee as soon as possible – and do it in such way that every person in your company knows why this employee has been fired.
+ Don’t trust employees who serve you often excuses. It is improbable that a single person has so many weird things happening in his/her life – these excuses are all lies.
+ Don’t train employees. If they can not do a task properly – don’t hire them. If they are already working for you and you notice that they can not do tasks properly – don’t train them but fire them. If you happen to want to train an employee a task – do it in exchange of lowering his/her salary. By training him/her you are giving him/her valuable knowledge and you shouldn’t do it for free. If an employee doesn’t accept lowering his/her salary in exchange of learning a new task – fire him/her immediately.
+ Don’t let employees who have bad results in the present talk to you how they will change for good in the future – these are all fabricated lies. Let only past and present speak for itself. Fire them as soon as possible.
This is AMAZING feedback, MTX. Great, great tips on firing quickly! Thanks.
I have experience, regrettably, in all the areas you mention. And agree with each.
– Mike Michalowicz
“MTX says : Don’t train employees.”
Really? – Don’t train employees? Fire, Fire, Fire ?
I agree with many of your statements, but the last two betray your heart – you are building a team based on fear and domination, and not on building up and getting the best from yoru team. Weed out early people who don’t fit – Yes, but then invest and develop them so you get the best from them. It should be a win-win with your employees, not a win-lose.