Lessons I Have Learned About Hiring and Firing

Article contributed by Lisa Hendrickson, Owner of Call That Girl Computer Support and Repair. Lisa has been a featured writer for Technibble since 2010 and is a contributor in the Technibble Business and Marketing forums.

When I started out in 2007, I started Call That Girl with no clients, but I had dreams of growing an enterprise. I had plenty of time to dream of what I could do with this business. I dreamed of hiring employees and having a staff working the phones and doing tech support calls. Turns out my business didn’t grow as fast as I wanted it to, but I grew steadily with a nice client base of repeat clients.

Eventually though, I ended up burning myself out and was wondering how do I make those dreams of being a big business happen if I don’t hire? I would always get nervous thinking about payroll, insurance, workers compensation, etc. Listed below are a few tips on hiring and firing employees I have used as my own guideline as the boss.

What will their core duties be?

Create a job description that is simple but to the point, my past experience has proven to me that I have hired people that were not as qualified as I liked and it paid off poorly for me. Figure out an hourly rate that you can afford and what is reasonable for your area. If you need to hire someone on a temporary basis or trial to see if they fit in, then get that in writing or consider them a contractor until you know they will work out. (Check your local and state laws on what work they can perform as a contractor). And remember, pay higher and you will usually get a more talented and qualified technician. I have finally figured this out!

Before they start

Outline all of your current processes and procedures. Even if you need to make a few up as you go, get the basics down. Updating your manual of operations is a key factor for building your company. Even if it’s basic information about how to open the store, close the store, take calls in for your clients, outtake processes, how you do tune-ups or virus removals, onsite visit information, etc. All of these are important. If you decide to hire before having this operations manual updated, you should do it as you hire that person. Have them document for you, (kill two birds with one stone).

Training program

It’s not easy to have a training program that sticks, but I have learned that if you have an outline of what you want them to learn and follow it, you can go slow and train them on new things each day. This is why it’s great to have the processes and procedures down pat. They can have the lists ready to follow after you have trained them.

Don’t throw them into the fire day 1

I learned this the very hard way. No matter how busy and slamming you are, do not throw them into repairs day one. They should shadow you for many days. You should start to show them the store and telephone answering procedures first and then they can help out there. If you get them on repairs, you will for sure have them working without a game plan. No data backup problem is worth that. Train them your way, one repair at a time. Don’t forget to document new things that you overlooked in your documentation.

Gentle correction and be firm

As the new employee gets comfortable, you will find them following your lead, but most find their own way to do some of the process and procedures. Sometimes I like the changes they have done because everyone is due a chance to make things better or more efficient. But if they are not interested in following your process and procedures and continue doing things their own way, it’s time to start doing gentle corrections and document.

This is sometimes hard to tell someone, “I’ve asked you ten times to close a ticket the way I trained you, why can’t you figure out that formula”, some employees are just not focused on your procedures when the shop is busy. You may need to sit down and figure it out, make some things more simple, or realize…they will always be a problem for you and they are probably doing more things the way you don’t want them to.

Documenting employee behavior

It’s always recommended that after you have trained an employee and find them doing things you are not happy with, that you document and use the guidelines of “verbal, written and final warnings” but to be honest, that has never once worked out for me. I have documented, but most of the employees I have fired didn’t make it past verbal warnings. There is a thing called reality that is in our favor as businesses, just not wanting to deal with that employee ever again. We have the power to let someone go right now if we chose.

Firing an employee

I have documented employees behaviors and corrections, but I usually want to fire them before the “final warning” time because of something they did or didn’t do… and then I have to take that risk of them collecting unemployment. If I make that choice, I’m fine with paying more later on if my insurance goes up. It’s never been a deal breaker for me, if I need to let go of someone, I do it no matter what. My brand, my business and my mental state are all at risk for one person to stay on and potentially make things worse.

Unemployment

Check your state laws on this one. In Minnesota, we are an “At will” state, but that doesn’t mean that an employee can’t file unemployment. You pay into the system to protect you, so you can hire and fire at will and the employee is protected to get a percentage of their pay.

Article contributed by Lisa Hendrickson, Owner of Call That Girl Computer Support and Repair. Lisa has been a featured writer for Technibble since 2010 and is a contributor in the Technibble Business and Marketing forums.