黑洞社区

This week, an employee is soliciting work for himself.

Q: Employees touting for work in my time

We run a small groundworks company. We have a small team. One lad is an excellent worker, will work his b off doing manual and machine work, but he seems to think he can override us and last week one of our clients told us that he priced up some fencing work for her in his own time - own materials, etc. How can we stop this kind of behaviour without losing him?

chasingmytail

A: Sack him! No one is irreplaceable!

Steven H

A: Unless you have a clear policy in place that allows you to 鈥渟ack鈥� workers for soliciting jobs then you will succeed in nothing by taking Steven鈥檚 route. The first thing you need to do, of course, is talk to the offender. Nobody has to be nasty - it just needs to be made clear that it is against company policy. If there鈥檚 no policy in place then one has to be brought in. FAST!

PeeBee

A: It may be worth looking at this from his point of view. Perhaps he thinks he鈥檚 not appreciated. Has he had a performance review? Does he have defined responsibilities? If he鈥檚 as good as you think, is there any chance for promotion?

Karloff

A: Offer him a 1% commission for any extra work he brings in, and watch the money roll in.

John Kay

A: I concur with what most of the other posters have said. I recently lost a good carpenter for this reason - his argument being that he could do better on his own. He is, of course, quite right, which is why I鈥檓 running my own business.

hoof hearted

Q: Ha, he鈥檚 just told my husband he can鈥檛 afford to live on his current salary of 拢8ph at 21 years old (living at home). Been offered 拢9.50. Plus the cheeky git wants the van free because he knows a few boys who get theirs free - NO WAY!

I like the incentive idea but I鈥檓 not sure we can afford it, and we won鈥檛 be able to offer large lump sums.

chasingmytail