-
The New Hire ... Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
October 17, 2017
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. -
Over the years I've learned that psychological factors can play a major role in how a new employee perceives acceptance with new workmates. Remember, the new employee does not know you and vice versa. Both of you are invested in making the new relationship work.
Recently, I communicated with an OM who experienced a situation that makes you scratch your head.
OM: Coach, did you ever have an employee quit less than five weeks after you hired them?
Coach: Yes, a couple of times with part-timers who left for good reason; both were offered full-time employment with other stations. So, it was understandable. However, I once hired a PD in between programing jobs for a morning show producer job. We paid him a lot more than we would have given most producers; we were respecting his background. But in less than four weeks, he quit the six-figure salary we gave him for no other reason other than and I quote, "I don't think based on my skills, I am being allowed to contribute to the direction of the morning show."
OM: No sh#t!
Coach: Oh, it gets better; he didn't show up for work one morning and the morning crew called to tell me at 5a. I got on the phone to find out what was up and he eventually returned my call and told me he had a family emergency and had to drive to his sister's house which was a 10-hour drive. Believe it or not, he was not heading to another job; he did not work for another seven months. He eventually sent an e-mail explaining he felt under-utilized. This, despite the fact the COO and I had explained to him from the beginning exactly what we needed him to do. We needed him to babysit the morning show and keep them on track with the daily game plan.
OM: Well Sam, I have got one to top that. There are so many quality morning people out of work. I took my time to find just the right person to insert into the existing two-person show. I needed a spark plug with versatility on the air and a person well versed in using social media. After a lot of phone interviews, we narrowed it down to four people and flew all of them in for interviews.
Coach: I hate to cut you off, but was this for the lead position on the show?
OM: No, it was for a strong #2 person. My lead just needed someone else strong who could lead if need be. I already had a young lady who is a local comic on the show.
Coach: Okay, I get it, go on.
OM: All the interviews went well, but one guy stood just a touch ahead of the rest. His background included TV and print journalism. Corporate did a background check, called his previous employers and references. All of us concluded that he was our man. He even had production skills, knew his way around social media, and had even built a couple of websites for others. He was working part-time in a medium-sized market in the Southeast and seemed excited about the chance of getting back into a large market. Part of the reason he was working at that station was because he was taking care of his mom. He had moved back to take care of her after his dad died.
Coach: He sounds skilled, caring, and considerate.
OM: Funny you said that, it's what our VP/Marketing thought. too. We had been looking all Fall. By the way, instead of making us wait to hire him after the first the year, corporate let us hire him in December. That way we could start off the New Year with a revamped morning show. I wanted to get him in and have him jell with the rest of the morning crew. My new phenom was scheduled to come in on December 5th. After agreeing to the date, he called the Monday of the week he was scheduled to come and asked if he could change that to the week before Christmas. The reason was based on something concerning his mother's house.
Coach: Was his mother sick?
OM: No, it had to do with finishing up some renovations on the house. He was an only child and after his dad died; she needed his strength. So, we understood since several of us had lost parents in recent years.
Coach: Sorry, but can you give this person a name, I understand why you are not using it, but just call him something.
OM: Okay, Mr. X came to town and blended in beautifully with the morning show and everyone in the cluster was impressed with him, especially sales. Mr. X did a couple of remotes, impressed the clients, and the salesperson thought he was awesome. In fact, the Sales Manager told me in front of everyone at a manager's meeting what a great hire I had made.
Coach: You are painting a picture of bliss so far, when did the wheels fall off the wagon?
OM: It was with little stuff, which I pretty much put to growing pains of a new player inserted into an existing morning cast. Mind you, the anchor occasionally needed to be reeled in, but that happens. To cut to the chase, Mr. X asked me if he could fly home because his mother was having more problems. So, I told him sure. He left Thursday morning. Then, after a total of five weeks of employment and the last direct deposit into Mr. X's bank account, he sent an e-mail of resignation at 3a on a Friday morning to the Market Manager. I never even got copied. The Market Manager called me immediately when he read it at 7:30 in the morning.
Coach: That's insane, what did the e-mail say? Did he take another job? Wasn't he under contract? There must be some logical explanation. Out of curiosity, how much were you paying him?
OM: Mr. X was getting $110,000 plus bonuses. And, nope, it didn't involve another job, he just thanked us for the opportunity and never said anything else at the time. By the way, his mom had even come had to town and seemed to love our city. She even thanked me for hiring her son.
Coach: That's all good, but I'm waiting for the real explanation. He never said anything to you or anyone else as a tip off?
OM: Not one word. I am telling you, in all my years, I have never been so fooled by anyone. However, after a month or so, Mr. X did finally reach out and sent me an e-mail with a half-baked story, but to be fair, might be true. Here is a portion what he had to say.
"Hi ####,
I wanted to reach out and give you more of a detailed explanation as to why I left so suddenly last Friday. Like it said in my e-mail, there were a variety of reasons. But first off, I wanted to thank you for allowing me the two days off to come home and see about my mom and my dog. Unfortunately, seeing my dog in such a degraded state and my mom sick did influence my decision, but it wasn't the only reason.
1. Money
It became jarringly obvious that paying both rent and my mom's mortgage was going to be more of a challenge than I originally expected. My time spent living in xxxx was far from comfortable and I wasn't sure when that was going to improve. After moving from the Extend Stay, the station paid for during my first two weeks there, I was limited by finances and credit troubles. I was turned down for one apartment because of those reasons and it made me reluctant to keep applying. So, for the past six weeks, I've been at the Budget Stay, near the station. While it is a clean place, it's a little sketchy in terms of other residents. Its proximity to work made it convenient, but given my money situation, affording a real apartment was not a possibility and I knew I would have to stay at the Budget Stay for at least another two months.
2. My Fear
I know there was a lot of urgency and anxiety in launching the new morning show, and you, D##, and others were trying to get the best out of me and the gang, but when people start yelling, threatening disciplinary action, creating paper trails and fostering a tense work environment, those tactics make me want to go in the other direction. I've worked in hostile environments before and it's detrimental to my well-being. If the pressures from back home weren't so pressing, I would have absolutely been willing to tough out the situation for much, much longer. Every manager (yourself included) all seem like great individuals. Yet, when I hear that I'm being called "hard-headed" and demonstrating "Male diva behavior" (during our third week!), from those I have to answer to daily, it added much more stress to an already stress-heavy plate in front of me.
In summary, I apologize to you and the company for making two, hasty decisions. I should not have accepted the job knowing it would be a hardship on everyone. And I should have been more forthcoming about the reasons why I left. XXXX is a fantastic place to work and you certainly don't have to worry about me badmouthing you or the company. The timing of how things played out was awful, but in the end, I have to look out for the people at home first. As the #2 on your morning show, I could have really made some noise; I believe that 100%. But leaving my mom and my girlfriend to take care of my responsibilities -- in addition to their own -- it was selfish of me. Again, I am very sorry and wish you and your company much, much success."
Coach: That is wild, and from everything you said, there was no way you could have seen that coming. He referred to tension in the show, was that true?
OM: Honestly, none of us could figure out what he was referring to. We had critique sessions and I never threatened anyone one with disciplinary anything. I even asked the other members of the morning show if I said anything that could have been misinterpreted and they said no. Mr. X's apparently lives in a parallel universe and the slightest suggestion of how to do something better was too much. I go out of my way to balance praise with concerns. I am telling you he had things going on in his head that nobody, including corporate, saw. It's too bad because he has so much talent.
Coach: What is your next move?
OM: I am going to try and make it a two-person show again and work with the comic.
Coach: I wish you luck and do not second-guess yourself. It sounds like you and your company were thorough in your vetting processes. If it helps, I think I would have been fooled, too. I have no words of wisdom, other than sometimes you can't plan for everything.
-
-