I was brought up to believe that
you work hard for what you earn, and that you should not expect something for
nothing. My parents arrived to the UK as immigrants from Ireland and worked
incredibly hard for every penny they earned. I was encouraged to work
throughout my university education, having been given the very best education that
my parents could afford. It was a good lesson; very few people achieve great
success without a lot of hard work. One of my father’s favourite quotes is by
famous film producer, Samuel Goldwyn: “The harder I work, the luckier I get…”
In today’s society, we have a
problem with those who claim benefits and social welfare illegitimately. We
also have a problem with those who are obscenely wealthy. Personally, I have a
problem with those who do work and have jobs but have a persistent chip on
their shoulder about how everyone else is luckier than them, how they are so
hard done by and how they are deserving of a much better existence. This sense
of entitlement is incredible; I can’t help but wonder why they feel entitled to
a much better life when they are unwilling to do anything to help themselves to
achieve a better outcome?
Having started my career in the
unforgiving environment of investment banking, I admit readily that I am
probably quite difficult to work for and my standards are relentlessly high. To
me, however, a commitment to high standards and to working hard is a basic
requirement for achieving success. As a junior investment banker, I worked 90 –
100 hours per week almost every week for five years, and then 80 – 90 hours for
week for a further four years. Three years running, I had to cancel Christmas
because of a live deal. I got Christmas Day off but that was it. One year, I
didn’t have a day of holiday for an entire year because I was involved
constantly in live deals so there was no space for a holiday. I didn’t and
don’t expect sympathy from anybody for this. It was my choice and it gave me
the optionality that I have now in relation to my career and has afforded the
opportunity to start my own business. I am grateful for the experience. It was
always abundantly clear that if you didn’t like it, there were thousands of
people who would happily take your place.
Having jumped from the world of
investment banking to being an entrepreneur running my own business 18 months
ago, the most challenging aspect is managing some people who share neither my
ambition nor dedication. At the beginning of my entrepreneurial adventure, I
hired the fiancée of my hairdresser to help me in relation to basic
administrative/PA duties in the hope that she could grow into the business and
have a career or at the very minimum a concrete role as my PA. With the benefit
of hindsight, this was very foolish but I felt sorry for her and I believed she
deserved a chance. Whilst she was essentially an unskilled worker, she was
bright and industrious and I thought that her commitment to furthering herself was
a demonstration of her intelligence as much as any qualification would have
been. There was limited work to begin with but I paid her a fair wage every
week regardless. Increasingly, however, the more fair I was, the more she asked
for. Although there was no more than 20 hours work per week for six months, and
she was being paid for 40 hours, she wanted holiday pay and in advance. When
she returned from holiday, I asked her to attend a meeting and she asked me to
move the meeting as she was very tired after a late flight and it would be
easier if the meeting took place on a different day. Perhaps I had missed
something but last time I checked a job was not designed to make the life of an
employee easier…
It became clear quickly that this
girl was someone who thought that because she said that she was there
to help with anything, this was enough to show that she meant it, even if there
was no intention to follow through with demonstrable action. She played
expertly the card of an insecure young girl lacking in confidence, constantly
thanking me for everything and for giving her an opportunity. Again, it seemed
that by just saying thank you she felt that this showed she meant it sincerely.
I didn’t want or need “thank you” though. I needed someone who was proactive,
efficient and keen to learn.
As the admin tasks increased with
the business, I realised that her attention to detail was not up to scratch. We
missed securing tables at a restaurant opening for clients because she had not
communicated effectively with the PR company; the details of partners and clients
that she had input to my contacts database were misspelled on a regular basis.
Despite asking her to go through the contacts a further three times, the legacy
of the problem remains as I have the Chairman of the Premier League listed as
Chairman of the “Primier League” and whenever I send or receive an email from
Rory Godson, he shows up as “Rogy Godson”. When provided with feedback on her
performance, the girl cried and said she felt that everyone was watching her
and no one believed her. Quite why anyone would expect not to be supervised
doing a job is beyond me.
I began to question myself; was I
being unreasonable in terms of the expectations I had of her? I felt that I had
tried to be fair but I was conscious that my background made me very uncompromising
so I gave her another chance. When she called me at 10:30pm at night,
breathlessly explaining that she was too stressed to sleep and she needed to
know that I thought she was doing a good job, I was stunned at her lack of
either judgement or professionalism. I explained calmly, however, that, while I
thought she was a very sweet girl, I was neither her friend nor her therapist.
I told her that I just needed her to do a good job, and that if she did this
she had nothing to worry about. She said
that she understood and then proceeded to tell other employees that she was
upset because I never asked how she was… Unable to cope with the tears and
histrionics, I passed her off to be managed by my Events team, who found that
she was unable to complete basic data inputting tasks within a reasonable
timeframe. Despite being told repeatedly to ask questions in order to learn and
progress, she never did so. In fact, the only time she asked questions or
asserted herself was to query her managers and explain how uncomfortable it
made her that they questioned her efficiency and productivity.
Just before Christmas, I held a
meeting at our new house. This was foolish. The day after the meeting, the girl
wrote me an email, explaining that she thought she deserved a pay increase. I
refused the request on the basis that she was still not working anything close
to 40 hours per week and had delivered zero added value to the business. Once I
started thinking about what I was paying her against her delivery, I came to
the conclusion that the arrangement was not working. In a larger company, she
would never have survived the first few months and in an investment bank she
would never have made the grade to get a job in the first place. In my
start-up, she was given chance after chance with no demonstrable progression in
terms of attitude, understanding or skills over the course of a year. It took
me a month to tell her that I was terminating her position. With the benefit of
hindsight, I can see that I was concerned about her reaction. I anticipated
that the conversation would not go well but I had expected tears and angst,
which I hate.
Instead, I found myself on the
receiving end of calculated vitriol, which was easier though surprising. Her
behaviour post-termination confirmed what I thought all along; she was a bright
girl. Her attention to deal in terms of arguing her case for additional pay and
holiday pay was commendable, though all the more notable given that such skills
had been so glaringly absent in relation to anything required by her job. When
I refused to make any additional discretionary payments, she went on the
offensive with insults such as “I think the problem here is that you can’t afford
me” and multiple instructions along the lines of “you have to pay me £930”.
There were moments where I was beginning to wonder who worked for who? Had I
got it all upside down?
In response to this, I attempted
to remain measured and fair, saying:
I’m sorry it has come to this. You have
always known that Vita nel Lusso was a start-up company, and that there would
be no training. I gave you an opportunity as a favour... If my understanding is
correct, you had been unemployed for a year until I gave you the opportunity.
Your tasks at Vita nel Lusso were basic.
You have had a year to learn from very good people – training was unnecessary. I
need people who want to be part of the business in the long-term. Sadly, I just
do not think it is for you. You are a bright girl but fundamentally an
unskilled worker who has been paid a very fair wage in relation to the hours
worked.
In relation to the phone, you were
told many times to arrange the phone and I would cover the cost. Instead of
problems, you ought to have delivered solutions.
As before, my
position remains the same. If you prefer not to accept, I wish you the very
best for the future.
She was
arguing that I should pay a £50 phone bill for her house phone. I had told her
repeatedly to get a blackberry and I would cover the cost. She never did.
Finally, her boyfriend bought her a blackberry but she never contacted the
company IT guy to resolve connectivity issues. It also took her five months to
add a signature to her email address. Her response to this was: “This isn’t
fair” and “I don’t need to spend my money to buy a new phone. You needed to buy
it and give it to me. But you didn’t”. Given that she was supposed to be acting
in some capacity as a PA, I am still unclear as to why I should have been
sorting out her phone…
The saga
rolled on and over the Christmas period and into 2014. I offered to pay her
everything that she was owed in relation to hours that she had worked. She
wanted more and told me she had spoken with a barrister. I handed the matter to
my lawyer after which the matter was quickly settled on the terms I had offered
originally, and I received an email saying: “I want to finish this chapter and
I want to move on”. Alleluia! You and me both…
Imagine my
shock then when I heard from a client on 3rd January that she had
been in touch with him, offering to continue working for him but undercutting
us on price. From a girl who had always told me she was cripplingly lacking in
confidence and paranoid about getting everything right, and very shy, I found
this quite a turnaround in character. I sent her an email, explaining that it
was inappropriate to poach clients, and that such juvenile behaviour vindicated
entirely my decision to terminate her employment. The response was: “This is
just one of the lies that you came up with and trust me I know a lot more of
them. Also I never thought that somebody can twist all this situation as you
did. Apparently, I am a bad person, but god is watching and good luck to you
with your life and your lies. And please stop bothering me right now!”
Extraordinary
behaviour. I finished the conversation, conceding that if it helped her to feel
better by convincing herself that I had lied, it was her prerogative. I didn’t
lie. Lies did not come into it. The decision of termination was a professional
decision based on the needs of the business and the performance of an employee.
Getting dragged into an emotional debate in a professional scenario was
uncomfortable.
I can only
hope that she learned some lessons throughout the process and will draw on the
situation to move forward in life with a more mature attitude. Otherwise, I
fear life will be one disappointment after another, where everyone else is in
the wrong. I know that I certainly learned some valuable lessons:
i) Never give anybody a job because you feel sorry
for them or as a favour
ii) Never assume that employees operate on the same
professional wavelength as you
iii) Never allow the boundaries of personal and
professional to become blurred. The moment I invited her to my house, her
perception of me changed, together with her expectations in relation to what
she was entitled to from me
iv) Never hire the fiancée of your hairdresser; my
biggest problem for the new year is to find a new salon that does great highlights…
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