What to do with this employee leaving?

What to do with this employee leaving?

Author
Discussion

AB

Original Poster:

16,969 posts

194 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
It's not worth taking paid advice on this I wouldn't have thought as it'd cost more than just paying him...

We took on a sales rep in January this year. He was OK, tried hard, brought in a few leads but didn't and hasn't covered himself up to now.

When Covid kicked off we told him to work from home, we thought about furloughing him but as work from other avenues picked up we didn't bother. From what I can tell he has done very little from home up to this point and I was considering getting rid of him.

He was AWOL quite a bit whilst WFH, couldn't get hold of him and the excuses were his Mum was ill, his Gran was ill, he'd taken them to hospital etc.

Fast forward to last week, he hands his notice in to his line manager and she calls me to let me know. He's got a new job starting on 27th July, apparently said he's aware he has to give 30 days notice but he'll be leaving anyway.

Paying him up to then isn't a financial issue but more that I feel like he's been sitting at home doing absolutely nothing on full pay since mid-March and then dropped this on us when we suggested it might be time to start showing his face in the office.

What I want to do is write to him this weekend and tell him his last day of work will be Monday. I don't want to pay him until the end of the month knowing full well he'll be doing absolutely nothing, he's not being paid buttons and this as well as employer's NI etc is better off in my pocket than his.

If this isn't an option then I'll be telling him he has to be in the office until his last day and he can lick envelopes or something.


Funky Squirrel

365 posts

71 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
I take it he isn't still in a probation period that can be terminated immediately

shouldbworking

4,769 posts

211 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
No point in penalising him, you've failed to manage him, he's failed to manage himself.. Accept, move on.

deckster

9,630 posts

254 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
You could spend a lot of time and effort in working out how to be petty and spiteful, of course.

Or you could just wash your hands and ignore the whole thing; in three weeks time it'll be nothing more than a bad memory.

Be the bigger man.

Countdown

39,690 posts

195 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
Funky Squirrel said:
I take it he isn't still in a probation period that can be terminated immediately
Notice period would apply.

OP - not a lot you can do. There's a possible argument that he should have been proactively managed whilst he was WFH but it's a moot point now. (And he's an excellent example of why so many Business owners are reluctant to let people WFH. He's probably going to be posting on a different thread about how his boss is "forcing him to come into the office despite COVID19 even though he can work fine from home").

Put it behind you and move on.

h0b0

7,559 posts

195 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
Talk to him and find out what went wrong. Looking at the time lines, and playing devils advocate, it appears he had little time to get into the role before being left at home with no support.

Sales people are social and need human interaction. If your focus was elsewhere then I can see how he would go out of his mind.

Kermit power

28,635 posts

212 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
Legally, as he has been with you for less than two years, you only have to give him a week's notice.

Only you know if you've given him something different contractually that you need to honour.

valiant

10,069 posts

159 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
Draw a line under it and move on.

Be thankful a lazy employee is moving on on his own accord to be someone else’s problem. Yes, it’ll cost you a few quid but the agro saved will dwarf that.


hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
shouldbworking said:
No point in penalising him, you've failed to manage him, he's failed to manage himself.. Accept, move on.
yes Be glad you aren't paying him the full 30 days! Learn the lessons and move on.

Could ask him if he wants to leave earlier? A lot of people like a a holiday between jobs. If he hasn't had a reference yet, and needs one, some leverage there though to agree an earlier leaving date.

J.R.B.

319 posts

191 months

Saturday 11th July 2020
quotequote all
hyphen said:
shouldbworking said:
No point in penalising him, you've failed to manage him, he's failed to manage himself.. Accept, move on.
yes Be glad you aren't paying him the full 30 days! Learn the lessons and move on.

Could ask him if he wants to leave earlier? A lot of people like a a holiday between jobs. If he hasn't had a reference yet, and needs one, some leverage there though to agree an earlier leaving date.
Exactly what I was going to suggest. His new employer might be open to him starting his new role earlier.

Macroni18

444 posts

44 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
quotequote all
I agree with the majority here, it is best to just let the employee leave.
There are many things an employee can do in such cases which can add a lot of work / prove expensive for employers; best to move on even though difficult.

Jasandjules

69,825 posts

228 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
quotequote all
Does he have restrictive covenants? I would be more concerned at this stage as to whether or not he will seek to steal your clients...

bennno

11,515 posts

268 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
quotequote all
AB said:
It's not worth taking paid advice on this I wouldn't have thought as it'd cost more than just paying him...

We took on a sales rep in January this year. He was OK, tried hard, brought in a few leads but didn't and hasn't covered himself up to now.

When Covid kicked off we told him to work from home, we thought about furloughing him but as work from other avenues picked up we didn't bother. From what I can tell he has done very little from home up to this point and I was considering getting rid of him.

He was AWOL quite a bit whilst WFH, couldn't get hold of him and the excuses were his Mum was ill, his Gran was ill, he'd taken them to hospital etc.

Fast forward to last week, he hands his notice in to his line manager and she calls me to let me know. He's got a new job starting on 27th July, apparently said he's aware he has to give 30 days notice but he'll be leaving anyway.

Paying him up to then isn't a financial issue but more that I feel like he's been sitting at home doing absolutely nothing on full pay since mid-March and then dropped this on us when we suggested it might be time to start showing his face in the office.

What I want to do is write to him this weekend and tell him his last day of work will be Monday. I don't want to pay him until the end of the month knowing full well he'll be doing absolutely nothing, he's not being paid buttons and this as well as employer's NI etc is better off in my pocket than his.

If this isn't an option then I'll be telling him he has to be in the office until his last day and he can lick envelopes or something.
I’d take legal advice and be minded to ask him to work his notice up to his leaving date, or offer immediate termination from the date he advised he would be off and not working his notice.

I agree with earlier comments that he should have been better managed earlier if performance issues were evident.

On the flip side, you have at least managed to get rid of somebody you had concerns about.

Muzzer79

9,806 posts

186 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
quotequote all
It’s a couple of weeks’ money - not worth the time or hassle of arguing over it.

His failings over the last few months should have been dealt with at the time, not attempted to be recovered now that he’s going.

Algarve

2,102 posts

80 months

Sunday 12th July 2020
quotequote all
If you're already saying its not worth taking paid (insured) advice then you're playing with fire doing anything other than just letting him leave on his timescale and be thankful a waste of oxygen is gone.

If you want to get involved in a lot of hassle over a limited amount of money you could argue with him and tell him he's leaving before then. Or tell him he's coming in to the office every day.

As frustrating as it'd be to pay him his salary to sit at home doing nothing.... at least he's gone and you've got a totally pain free way out of an unwanted, unproductive employee.

conanius

741 posts

197 months

Wednesday 15th July 2020
quotequote all
As others have said, you answered your own question - you don't think its worth paying for advice - so it isn't worth fighting.

Personally I'd just take back any of his company property now and let him go now.