31 Letters – Letter #22

To:  The Businessman or Businesswoman

“Freeloaders”

You just started your own business.  To save on expenses you hire “friends”, friends of the family, and even some family members.  During the first week, you notice that everyone is taking a two hour lunch break, no one makes it to work until around 9 AM even though start time is 8 AM, and everybody sprints out of the door at 5 PM.  Throughout the day you have to remind your employees that they are still at work and personal conversations and such should be limited to break times.  You try various coaching methods to help your employees understand the business need for them to be on time and quite possibly work late.  

Nothing.   

Before long you find yourself working 80 plus hours per week just to ensure that the work still gets done.  Many of your employees were not actually qualified for the positions in your company; however, you wanted to help them out because they had been going through hard times.  Nevertheless they show you no respect as their boss and even mock you when you attempt to reprimand them about their behavior. 

My mama always told me, “People will never take care of your stuff the way that they would their own.”  She was right and that goes for a book that you loan out to a friend or your very own business.

So, what do you do?

My opinion:  start over.  Shut down the business for 60-90 days (if the business won’t experience a great set back).  During this time, let go of all the current employees. Develop roles and responsibilities for each employee to abide by.  Post job vacancies and conduct interviews for each position.  Hire a third party consulting company to conduct the interview and screening process, if funds are available.  Inform former employees that they can reapply for positions, however, will have to compete with several other candidates who may be more qualified.  You may have to hire fewer employees during the early years while growing the business.  It is better to have “a few good men” then a lot of bodies taking up space but adding no real value.

Create a business strategy (if you haven’t done so already) which allows for growth over the next five years.  Identify lessons learned to eliminate any issues with employees in the future.  Don’t be overly concerned with what your former employees (friends and family members) call you in the streets.  You still have your job and had they been better employees, so would they. 

The single most important step of all is to pray.  Pray until something happens.  If God is not a part of the equation, you have failed before you even begin.