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Fire them. You are obviously paying senior money for a junior. Unless of course you tried to rip them off by underpaying them. Then I suppose it balances ou

Fire them. You are obviously paying senior money for a junior. Unless of course you tried to rip them off by underpaying them. Then I suppose it balances out. Evaluate the hiring process, how did you mess up so bad? Fix it.

ethbr1 2y ago
It's important to take responsibility. HR and the company fucked up. The employee negotiated well and over-sold their skills. I'd sit down with employee, and present options. Start with: You're not performing at the level, technically or with leadership, that we were expecting. Some of this is our fault, for not figuring that out in the interview. So this is going to be an uncomfortable conversation... Option A: We decide you aren't a good fit for this position, part ways, and we wish you good luck in your next opportunity. Option B: We adjust your salary and title to fit with what we've seen of your productivity. We realize this is a hard ask. We also come up with a plan in which you have a training and responsibility plan over the next year to get you to what we'd expect for someone in your original role, at which time we'll consider you for promotion. A lot of responses here start and end with firing, which seems kind of callous to the individual for an HR fuckup. Better to at least present the demotion option.
- teitoklien 2y ago
  > at which time we'll consider you for promotion. This can backfire, is this same training resource made available to the other devs in the team ? , are they being passed away for this promotion by guaranteeing it to the new entrant. The original poster specifically said its a small tight knit personal community of devs, if they could self promote inside, they would have provided training to existing dev itself. After demoting this person, they’ll need to hire a new senior dev, what’s the guarantee they will need 2 senior devs anytime soon ? Guaranteeing a future promotion if training goals are met would be a disingenuous commitment and dangerous for team building if other existing devs are not given equal opportunity to compete for that promotion. It would be even more complex.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    I definitely wouldn't guarantee it. But I think at least extending the possibility seems reasonable, given the fault. If they're outright fired, that says something to the existing team too, and especially in smaller shops where each head holds valuable knowledge, I'm not sure that's the company-benefiting message to send either. Plus if the individual chooses to leave, "I think we all noticed that so-and-so wasn't a good fit for the senior role. We extended them the opportunity to realign to a different level, which they declined" is a message I'd feel more comfortable presenting to the team. "We're not going to immediately shitcan you..." is a powerful truth for retention in small teams/companies. Especially coupled "... but we expect you to perform to your level, and we will address things if we see someone underperforming." I do agree with other comments that do-nothing and ignoring the problem will be cancer to building a high-performing team.
dehrmann 2y ago
I agree with the general consensus to fire them, but if by "senior" OP means 3-5 years and this is a junior with potential, people are so hard to find that I wouldn't worry about misleveling or the salary difference. But the key is someone with potential. If it's a mismatch, cut your losses.

ethbr1 2y ago

It's important to take responsibility. HR and the company fucked up. The employee negotiated well and over-sold their skills. I'd sit down with employee, and present options. Start with: You're not performing at the level, technically or with leadership, that we were expecting. Some of this is our fault, for not figuring that out in the interview. So this is going to be an uncomfortable conversation... Option A: We decide you aren't a good fit for this position, part ways, and we wish you good luck in your next opportunity. Option B: We adjust your salary and title to fit with what we've seen of your productivity. We realize this is a hard ask. We also come up with a plan in which you have a training and responsibility plan over the next year to get you to what we'd expect for someone in your original role, at which time we'll consider you for promotion. A lot of responses here start and end with firing, which seems kind of callous to the individual for an HR fuckup. Better to at least present the demotion option.

teitoklien 2y ago
> at which time we'll consider you for promotion. This can backfire, is this same training resource made available to the other devs in the team ? , are they being passed away for this promotion by guaranteeing it to the new entrant. The original poster specifically said its a small tight knit personal community of devs, if they could self promote inside, they would have provided training to existing dev itself. After demoting this person, they’ll need to hire a new senior dev, what’s the guarantee they will need 2 senior devs anytime soon ? Guaranteeing a future promotion if training goals are met would be a disingenuous commitment and dangerous for team building if other existing devs are not given equal opportunity to compete for that promotion. It would be even more complex.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  I definitely wouldn't guarantee it. But I think at least extending the possibility seems reasonable, given the fault. If they're outright fired, that says something to the existing team too, and especially in smaller shops where each head holds valuable knowledge, I'm not sure that's the company-benefiting message to send either. Plus if the individual chooses to leave, "I think we all noticed that so-and-so wasn't a good fit for the senior role. We extended them the opportunity to realign to a different level, which they declined" is a message I'd feel more comfortable presenting to the team. "We're not going to immediately shitcan you..." is a powerful truth for retention in small teams/companies. Especially coupled "... but we expect you to perform to your level, and we will address things if we see someone underperforming." I do agree with other comments that do-nothing and ignoring the problem will be cancer to building a high-performing team.

dehrmann 2y ago

I agree with the general consensus to fire them, but if by "senior" OP means 3-5 years and this is a junior with potential, people are so hard to find that I wouldn't worry about misleveling or the salary difference. But the key is someone with potential. If it's a mismatch, cut your losses.