Never display competence at something you don’t want to do.

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
First employee I had ever fired on the spot:
Popular guy, worked in the field as installer. Two man team. We had several projects come due in the same time frame, so I gave the employees the old "110%" speech. This employee spoke up and said he was already giving 100% and RESENTED being asked to work harder. Said I was actually saying that he was not working at 100% and insulting him. He didn't know that I had a received a scheduling call the day before from one of the contractor's field supervisors and was told that I only needed to send one man, not two, as one worked while the other didn't..... Fired him right there in front all the employees. Had he not mouthed off I would have just counseled him about the complaint.

Yeah, the old "give 110% speech". Every time I've heard that little gem it was unnecessary, and every person that I've ever heard utter that bullshit has been a poor manager/supervisor and/or a jackass to boot. Here's hoping you did that employee a favor and he went on to work for a company with better management.

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
First employee I had ever fired on the spot:
Popular guy, worked in the field as installer. Two man team. We had several projects come due in the same time frame, so I gave the employees the old "110%" speech. This employee spoke up and said he was already giving 100% and RESENTED being asked to work harder. Said I was actually saying that he was not working at 100% and insulting him. He didn't know that I had a received a scheduling call the day before from one of the contractor's field supervisors and was told that I only needed to send one man, not two, as one worked while the other didn't..... Fired him right there in front all the employees. Had he not mouthed off I would have just counseled him about the complaint.

Yeah, the old "give 110% speech". Every time I've heard that little gem it was unnecessary, and every person that I've ever heard utter that bullshit has been a poor manager/supervisor and/or a jackass to boot. Here's hoping you did that employee a favor and he went on to work for a company with better management.

No shit. No one can work 100%

So someone is working as hard as they can and you're surprised he resented being asked to do more?

I mean, isn't that the point of this thread?

You sound like a boss, not a leader.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Never display competence at something you don’t want to do.

That sounds like an auxiliary to The Peter Principle.

I went to basic training after my brother was already in. He said I should NEVER volunteer for anything. He said it gets your name known, and the next time you’ll just get called out. Also, volunteering in the infantry can eventually get you killed.

That was good advice, and it served me well in the Army. The only time I volunteered was to save a buddy from the task.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by marksman41:

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
First employee I had ever fired on the spot:
Popular guy, worked in the field as installer. Two man team. We had several projects come due in the same time frame, so I gave the employees the old "110%" speech. This employee spoke up and said he was already giving 100% and RESENTED being asked to work harder. Said I was actually saying that he was not working at 100% and insulting him. He didn't know that I had a received a scheduling call the day before from one of the contractor's field supervisors and was told that I only needed to send one man, not two, as one worked while the other didn't..... Fired him right there in front all the employees. Had he not mouthed off I would have just counseled him about the complaint.

Yeah, the old "give 110% speech". Every time I've heard that little gem it was unnecessary, and every person that I've ever heard utter that bullshit has been a poor manager/supervisor and/or a jackass to boot. Here's hoping you did that employee a favor and he went on to work for a company with better management.

No shit. No one can work 100%

So someone is working as hard as they can and you're surprised he resented being asked to do more?

I mean, isn't that the point of this thread?

You sound like a boss, not a leader.

The 110%/100% speech is bullshit, but you both are ignoring that he received a call from a customer saying the guy didn't work the day before. He can obviously do more and was working closer to 0% than 100%. Combined with the big mouth, people like that are absolute poison for workforce morale.

quote:

I gave the employees the old "110%" speech

What was the compensation/bonus offered for this extra effort?

Been there done that many, many, many, many, times.
I am now working at a new job part time trying to figure it out.
I look at how to pick up extra shifts every week because that is how my personality is.

The company I am working for now I worked for 10 years ago full time.
Evey time my manager back then asked me to work an extra shift I said yes. I worked over time almost every week.
We worked 4 ten hour days so I averaged 50 hours a week most of the year and during the holidays 60 hours a week.
It definitely made a difference during yearly reviews. I always revived a good raise so my hard work paid off.

If my extra effort had any chance of paying off I’d gladly accept my new role.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
The 110%/100% speech is bullshit, but you both are ignoring that he received a call from a customer saying the guy didn't work the day before. He can obviously do more and was working closer to 0% than 100%. Combined with the big mouth, people like that are absolute poison for workforce morale.

Tator - I misread cne's post to mean that the client only needed one person, not that only one person was doing any work. If the latter is truly the case - and the person fired was the one not working - then, depending on circumstances (workers swapping out to work on job and client only saw one cycle, etc.), the firing may have been justified.

The bs 110% speech is, in my opinion, never justified - unless, of course, the worker is going to be paid 110% of their wages. Extra effort is rarely, if ever, rewarded by the company/mgr/etc. comensurate with the labor and sacrifice of the employee, especially in the long term.

The people that work the least efficient are almost always the first ones to get laid off.

Also corporations tend to take advantage of the really good workers and overwork them without additional compensation, but half the time this leads too be a better paying promotion. But overall corporations suck to work for.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:The 110%/100% speech is bullshit, but you both are ignoring that he received a call from a customer saying the guy didn't work the day before. He can obviously do more and was working closer to 0% than 100%. Combined with the big mouth, people like that are absolute poison for workforce morale.

And lets be honest - some people's "100%" is another person's "50%".

I'm so glad we have very few employees and lots of contractors. Contractors are so easy to deal with - when they have pissed you off for the last time, there is no counseling, no paperwork. You simply stop giving them any more work. Sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently.

One guy went on about how he had a bunch of shit to do at home so our leader told him to pack up and fly home. The work had tapered off but we weren't planning on cutting him free, since it was the holidays. But he persisted in being an ass about it. Of course then the guy realized that he had just cost himself about $2K in invoices and tried to backpedal, but our leader said "Go, have a great holiday!".

We have since put that guy back on jobs, but he has never made a peep again.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The people that work the least efficient are almost always the first ones to get laid off.

Also corporations tend to take advantage of the really good workers and overwork them without additional compensation, but half the time this leads too be a better paying promotion. But overall corporations suck to work for.

Heh. I wish.

I've seen PLENTY of hard working, efficient folks get laid off while their inferiors kept pulling a paycheck.

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The people that work the least efficient are almost always the first ones to get laid off.

Also corporations tend to take advantage of the really good workers and overwork them without additional compensation, but half the time this leads too be a better paying promotion. But overall corporations suck to work for.

Heh. I wish.

I've seen PLENTY of hard working, efficient folks get laid off while their inferiors kept pulling a paycheck.

Half of the time, this is unfortunately true as well.

quote:

Originally posted by Otto Pilot:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The people that work the least efficient are almost always the first ones to get laid off.

Also corporations tend to take advantage of the really good workers and overwork them without additional compensation, but half the time this leads too be a better paying promotion. But overall corporations suck to work for.

Heh. I wish.

I've seen PLENTY of hard working, efficient folks get laid off while their inferiors kept pulling a paycheck.

Same here.

I've seen, ( and experienced ) this a time or two. It's almost like that company has a certain number of set positions for lazy, dumb-shits to keep on hand while the dedicated, hard workers are cast off at will.

Later on, it brings a smile to my face when I hear and see these same companies are having all sorts of problems.. problems traced back to those 'fine' employees they decided to keep.

RE: First guy I ever fired

Yep, all knew that the ole 110% rally talk was BS. Yep, all were being asked to work overtime for an hour a day and Saturday morning: 150% pay. I know $$ is not the only motivation, so I appealed for their help in getting over this temporary hump. The issue was some would drag up anyway. Yep, the guy was a slacker when out of sight. Yep, I was the owner.

quote:

Originally posted by cne32507:
RE: First guy I ever fired

Yep, all knew that the ole 110% rally talk was BS. Yep, all were being asked to work overtime for an hour a day and Saturday morning: 150% pay. I know $$ is not the only motivation, so I appealed for their help in getting over this temporary hump. The issue was some would drag up anyway. Yep, the guy was a slacker when out of sight. Yep, I was the owner.

In that case, cne, I owe you an apology for inferring that you might be the type of manager that would do to employees what this thread is about.

I should have asked for clarification and more information before doing a rant. My apologies brother.

Saul Goodman.

My business was a cabinet shop. The episode I described happened 35 years ago (+/-). I would usually counsel him/her as to what went wrong and give them time off to find another job so they could quit. With layoffs, I would ask who wanted to leave or work short weeks. But that one incident stayed with me.

And the related: someone can't do their job but still gets paid while those of us that can get things done get to do their job too

If I'm paid by the hour .... I don't give a chit.

Reminds me why I left home at 18yrs old....
I didn't like the rules, wanted to be in charge of my own destiny ..... It was their house after all. I could like it or leave.

My first real job out of engineering school, I got a "problem child" system in a completely unrelated engineering discipline. I'd get calls from the operators 24/7. I fixed it as best I was allowed, saved the company a ton of money on shutdowns and regulatory fines and was rewarded with another problem child system when I returned from vacation because the previous engineer on my new system got pregnant and couldn't work in the plant anymore. Of course, I didn't get to dump the old system on anyone else.

I got away from that plant as fast as I could.

I've seen good workers canned and bad workers promoted. I've heard all the BS motivational speeches, but never just telling us the truth.

Good bosses can be counted on the fingers of one hand, bad bosses are legion.

Before I retired, I became a contract engineer and got paid for exactly what I did under the terms of the contract. If they wanted to pay me to listen to a BS pep talk, I was still getting paid my handsome hourly rate. Much less stressful.