A brief background – Im a senior manager and preparing to take over from one of the directors and take on their role.
Three months ago, I accepted the resignation of one of my staff members (29m), wished them well and prepared their exit interviews with HR. I had been having problems with him for a 6 months period. I’d given him a pay rise (2% increase to his salary), however, he had claimed this was not enough and he was looking to at least go up by 10%.
I had previously told him to put together a case that showcased why he was entitled to more pay. I would review it and make a decision. It’s worth noting that I do this with all my staff and we discuss formally pay-related queries and this exercise allows me to see this from my staff’s point of view.
Instead of doing as I asked, the staff member began posting reviews about the company and why we are bad to work for, including how we do not value colleagues and will not pay them for additional work (which is not true for my team).
As the colleague had raised other issues with HR, which he also commented on the reviews, we knew where this had come from. As this was supposed to be an anonymous review, we couldn’t bring this up with him.
As he hadn’t got a further pay rise on the back of his conversations with me, he decided it would be in his best interest to do minimal work, resulting in me taking on some of his workloads along with another member of my staff, this was so the profitability of the business didn’t drop.
Now to the AH issues
The day after I accepted the resignation of my staff member, I got a message on Facebook from his GF, telling me how much of an AH I was as I’d ruined their chances of buying a house as I’d accepted his resignation.
I clarified that I hadn’t fired him, he had resigned of his own will.
It turns out, he had handed in his resignation, thinking I would have offered him more money to stay. He didn’t have another job to go into.
He too, called me an AH, reported me to HR for not offering him extra money to keep him on. Of course, HR did nothing of this. He worked his notice and left the company on his leave date.
Yesterday, I got a message, asking if I would give him his job back. I explained why I wouldn’t give him his job back and told him we were not currently recruiting for my team and made a comment that there were always jobs in the call centre he could apply for.
He called me an AH, told me I had ruined his life and he couldn’t get another job.
I really don’t see myself as the AH here, I’m attempting to ensure the company I work for isn’t damaged, and the childish behaviour of “I’ll hand in my notice so I get a payrise” really doesn’t sit well with me. I’d rather my staff feel like they have earned what they get and feel like they’re growing, not just getting handouts.