Yes, I agree. Working at an Infiniti dealership selling cars, there is no loyalty……you are disposable.

I’d be curious to get your thoughts on the loyalty owed to start-up employees with sweat equity. As a founder, I’ve had to deal with ‘employees’ that weren’t pulling their weight. It’s a lot easier to fire someone when you’ve been paying them!

Peter – It comes down to having an open, honest conversation with a person about their performance, effort and desire to participate. If the “employee” doesn’t improve or come to the conclusion that they want / need a change, you have to let them go.

In my experience, most people don’t take it as bad as you’d think. They probably know it’s not a good fit, but they’re not jumping immediately… I’ve stayed up nights panicked about letting people go, only to realize when I did it that everyone agreed with the decision.

As an employee, I don’t think I’ve ever gone into a job assuming the worst… Typically I go into a job assuming the best; and I think most people do the same. We’ve been sold on the idea that we are being offered the position because we will bring value and be rewarded for the efforts. The disillusion comes when what was sold as the job function by the hiring manager, become something completely out of line with expectations. Both the employee(s) and hiring manager(s) need to recognize that over selling the job to a qualified candidate can quickly become a negative, as well as overselling your abilities to the hiring manager can find you quickly over your head.

Warning signs: High Turn over… everyone, including the HR team and Hiring manager are new. (Is it a new and fast growing company? Then you may be okay.) Test that in the interview and research the company on line. Is it an established business, in a challenged market? Be suspect of the offering, you’re about to jump into a high stress environment that grinds its employees.)

Employers seem to be leaning back, not worried about staffing. With unemployment up, there’s an abundance of hungry workers out there… They miss out on the value of a long term, well established base of employees. Remember, you have to train your staff and there are real costs to do so. Value your staff, as their success will equal your own. Don’t oversell the position. The employee is working to live, not the other way around. Treat your employees well and you will earn their loyalty. Listen to them when they say they cannot do something; Read between the lines, when they aren’t succeeding at the tasks. It’s less likely an issue of them just being a bad egg, they want to succeed, but have you given them the tools to be successful?