5 ms·

> How many hours per week are you spending helping him? And how long have you been helping him? Probably 1/4 to 1/2 of my working day every day. We're a small

> How many hours per week are you spending helping him? And how long have you been helping him? Probably 1/4 to 1/2 of my working day every day. We're a small company, ~7 ppl, I'm the CEO. I'm not a great designer, but some of the stuff he/she sends back is just amateurish. It ends up mostly-amateurish-but-shippable if I spend forever with him on it, but other designers I've worked with in the past have delivered much higher quality stuff for much less, and with way less headache. I think it may just be a sheer talent thing at this point, and I don't know how to instill talent. > based on what? People I've worked with in the past, including the person I'm going to hire to replace this person. I guess you'll just have to trust me on that though. I recognize we hired a decent performer when we wanted a top performer. If you know a way to unilaterally avoid that I'm all ears. And yes, I am willing to pay for a top performer. What I am not looking forward to now is actually firing this person.

blazespin 11y ago
3 months severance and letting them resign with dignity generally eases the transition.
sheepmullet 11y ago
> What I am not looking forward to now is actually firing this person So give him a fair severance and get it over with quickly. It's the best you can do. Chalk it up as a learning experience and a good reason to hold onto top performers :)
cat-dev-null 11y ago
For all employees, don't just hire people permanently, even if you or someone else thinks they're a great fit, "try before you buy". Definitely work with someone on a temporary contract basis, and renew it, before hiring, even a first employee, and then don't re-up a contract if they don't work out. If they need benefits, that's cool, you probably should be taking care of people. Next time, check out their portfolio at the phone-screen step, because each designer's tastes and abilities vary widely from individual to individual. Run it by enough people on the "search commit" (which might be just be founders and another couple folks) for input, because you need buy-in to dispel any appearance of 'PHB CEO is arbitrarily hiring people without due-diligencing them and foisting them on us'. Because each hard fire makes the the hiring manager and other interviewers look bad, and it hurts the candidate... trial run (without abusing that indefinitely) and be nice & professional should be the HR-focused mindset. If you absolutely have to fire someone, do it now, do it yourself... It's a bandaid that's gotta come off, because putting it off just wastes your time and theirs, when they can be elsewhere possibly improving and someone else with a better fit could get going sooner. Be direct, honest and talk about next steps. Give feedback if they can take it and possibly help them if it, as long as doesn't put you into any HR/legal hot-water. Perhaps it's "We've discussed it and determined we have an irreconcilable mismatch in terms of design quality and taste. We're bummed that we're gonna have to let you go." Also, have someone else impartial (before you get an HR manager) do an exit interview to see if they're going to bad mouth you, if they have useful feedback or if they're anything your shop can do to help them transition elsewhere.
- cat-dev-null 11y ago
  Addendum: I assume repeated feedback was given several times, not just expecting mind-reading. Document each instance of HR issues/feedback in your own notes in case they try to make a legal claim in the future.
- sheepmullet 11y ago
  > Definitely work with someone on a temporary contract basis, and renew it, before hiring If you do this make sure you pay contract rates for the contract period or good people (at least in the dev world) will avoid you like the plague. E.g. My contract rate is $120/hr for contracts of 3 months or less whereas my full time salary is ~$120k/year. If you try and offer me $60/hr (120k / 52 / 40) I'm not even going to look at your job.
- sheepmullet 11y ago
  > Because each hard fire makes the the hiring manager and other interviewers look bad Spot on. It can harm your reputation to fire a solid B. Make it rare.
- zerr 11y ago
  In terms of emotions - isn't it the same whether you do not prolong a contract job vs fire the permanent hire? The difference seems to be just a paperwork...

blazespin 11y ago

3 months severance and letting them resign with dignity generally eases the transition.

sheepmullet 11y ago

> What I am not looking forward to now is actually firing this person So give him a fair severance and get it over with quickly. It's the best you can do. Chalk it up as a learning experience and a good reason to hold onto top performers :)

cat-dev-null 11y ago

For all employees, don't just hire people permanently, even if you or someone else thinks they're a great fit, "try before you buy". Definitely work with someone on a temporary contract basis, and renew it, before hiring, even a first employee, and then don't re-up a contract if they don't work out. If they need benefits, that's cool, you probably should be taking care of people. Next time, check out their portfolio at the phone-screen step, because each designer's tastes and abilities vary widely from individual to individual. Run it by enough people on the "search commit" (which might be just be founders and another couple folks) for input, because you need buy-in to dispel any appearance of 'PHB CEO is arbitrarily hiring people without due-diligencing them and foisting them on us'. Because each hard fire makes the the hiring manager and other interviewers look bad, and it hurts the candidate... trial run (without abusing that indefinitely) and be nice & professional should be the HR-focused mindset. If you absolutely have to fire someone, do it now, do it yourself... It's a bandaid that's gotta come off, because putting it off just wastes your time and theirs, when they can be elsewhere possibly improving and someone else with a better fit could get going sooner. Be direct, honest and talk about next steps. Give feedback if they can take it and possibly help them if it, as long as doesn't put you into any HR/legal hot-water. Perhaps it's "We've discussed it and determined we have an irreconcilable mismatch in terms of design quality and taste. We're bummed that we're gonna have to let you go." Also, have someone else impartial (before you get an HR manager) do an exit interview to see if they're going to bad mouth you, if they have useful feedback or if they're anything your shop can do to help them transition elsewhere.

cat-dev-null 11y ago
Addendum: I assume repeated feedback was given several times, not just expecting mind-reading. Document each instance of HR issues/feedback in your own notes in case they try to make a legal claim in the future.
sheepmullet 11y ago
> Definitely work with someone on a temporary contract basis, and renew it, before hiring If you do this make sure you pay contract rates for the contract period or good people (at least in the dev world) will avoid you like the plague. E.g. My contract rate is $120/hr for contracts of 3 months or less whereas my full time salary is ~$120k/year. If you try and offer me $60/hr (120k / 52 / 40) I'm not even going to look at your job.
sheepmullet 11y ago
> Because each hard fire makes the the hiring manager and other interviewers look bad Spot on. It can harm your reputation to fire a solid B. Make it rare.
zerr 11y ago
In terms of emotions - isn't it the same whether you do not prolong a contract job vs fire the permanent hire? The difference seems to be just a paperwork...