When Your Best Employee Isn’t Your Best Employee

I let go of an employee today. I’m sure I’m not the only person in the United States that had to let someone go this week. Even factoring out Covid-19 related reasons. I took no pleasure in it. I’ve been let go, so I know the potential pain and bewilderment the person is possibly feeling. The impact of this decision was on a personal level. This was the last of the original employees my wife and I hired as we were opening our franchise business several years ago.

My wife has since returned to the corporate world, so it was really my decision. It could have been my manager’s task since the employee reports to her. But I felt I needed to be actively involved. The uneasiness and unknown of what our small business will look like post-Covid heightened this decision. Should we really let an employee go during these times? Plus, I hired him.

The employee is actually very good at what he does. When we first opened up, I was thrilled to have someone of his caliber. He actually didn’t show up on his first day of work. He didn’t think he was on the schedule. And there was his client sitting in the lobby at 9:00 in the morning, patiently waiting for him. It later became a talking point during training and recruiting. The employee accepted the ribbing with a smile on his face. Given his high client ratings he could afford to smile.

Now I was letting him go. Businesses evolve and personnel need to anticipate these changes. There was very little concept of “team” in the beginning. This is a service industry and while the original employees were all very good at what they did, they acted more like 1099s versus W2s. And given the paucity of available people within this job category, it was difficult to be picky. I was thrilled to have them, regardless if “I” was or wasn’t in the word “Team”.

Over time the idea of a group cohesiveness began to take shape. Collaboration and doing one’s part for the whole took on an important dimension. This original hire didn’t necessarily conform to this nascent trend. But he was still very good at what he did. In fact, he consistently achieved the highest customer scores. However, over time, he started to become a drag on the development of the team. And all the successful business owners I talked to stressed the importance of that teamwork. That togetherness.

Now here I am. At least a year late in making this decision. I recognize that is a reflection on me. But how do you fire one of your best employees, who also happened to be one of your first employees? And especially when the funnel for replacements is limited in its opportunities.

When my wife and I went to “university” prior to opening our franchise, the trainer made a very simple statement. I’m sure it is in wide use across the business landscape. To paraphrase, it essentially goes like this — “Your best employee is not always your best employee.”

The person I let go today would certainly be viewed as one of my best employees from my clients’ perspective, based purely on skill and customer service ratings. But he certainly wasn’t my best employee based on internal teamwork and collaboration. I’m not concerned with employees being best of friends but when morale is impacted because someone doesn’t feel the rules apply to them then either training needs to occur, or a change needs to be made. After all, if my business success is totally dependent upon that one employee, then I have bigger issues to solve.

Interestingly, I found the converse of that statement also applies. Early on I had another employee who was clearly not the best based on client ratings and skill set. But an interesting thing happened along the way. This person was diligent, always on time, always learning and took great pride in working with their clients. In time, she developed her own loyal following and while her ratings were never as high as my “best” employee, she truly was a pleasure to have around.

In fact, if there was the choice, I would take the “not so great” employee who accepted the opportunity with passion and really worked at being a team player. When she eventually moved away from the area, we were both saddened at the end of this working relationship. This employee did everything I asked of her and she bought into the system whole heartedly. And it worked well for both of us. She was my “best employee who wasn’t my best employee.”

The lockdown over Covid-19 has given me a chance to reset. As I start to re-open, I look at our current team that the manager has worked hard to mold. I’ll lose some clients because that one employee is no longer with us. But I’ve already lost clients, too concerned about going out at the moment. If I needed to go through the pain of his departure, then I might as well do it now, added into the other challenges we currently face.

Ultimately it is as a team that we will succeed. It is as one collective entity, working together to handle all the new safety protocols and heightened client concerns. And every employee will need to buy into this or the whole enterprise will suffer.

I let go my last original employee today. It was a stressful decision. It was a personal decision. It was the right decision. For the team. For the long term. And despite Covid-19, I’m in this for the long term.