This is more of a rant than asking for advice, but I would love to hear stories from people who have been in similar situations.
Basically I'm going to have to fire one of my employees. I've been a manager at this company for about a year and a half, and I've never had to fire anyone before; usually I can just push people to quit on their own if they aren't performing well enough.
The person in question is an employee I just promoted to a management position a couple months ago. I found (and it came as a complete surprise to me) that he had bought merchandise using his employee discount, and then when he was working alone, returned it for full cash value (making about 25% profit) under a friend's name probably thinking it wouldn't be traced back to him. Now I'm questioning if he's done it before, or if he's done things like tried to sell stuff online that he's bought with his discount, which is another huge policy breaker.
As soon as I figured it out and confirmed as thoroughly as I could that I wasn't misinterpreting the situation, I e-mailed our LP director and my boss. That pretty much seals the deal, this guy WILL be fired. It's not a slap on the wrist or do it once more and you're out...it's a you're fired, you idiot.
What really upsets me about this, is that this guy was JUST promoted. His wife is also pregnant with their first kid, due ANY day now, and they depend almost solely on his job for their income. He even went and bought a house after his promotion, and I can only imagine unless they have family willing to step in, they'll lose everything. I had even almost bought him a baby gift, spending about $50 of my own money until I decided I couldn't really afford it....now I'm so glad I didn't!
It just irks me that in this economy, when everyone complains about not finding work, there are people who have everything and everyone on their side, and they make a poor decision to screw it all up. He won't get a second chance, and he will have a very hard time finding a new job; he has health issues that have required him to occasionally call in last-minute, and I really doubt most managers are as understanding and forgiving about those issues as I am. I don't feel bad for him at all, as to me it's a you made your bed, now you lay in it situation...I'm just really disappointed.
Has anyone had a similar situation?
Basically I'm going to have to fire one of my employees. I've been a manager at this company for about a year and a half, and I've never had to fire anyone before; usually I can just push people to quit on their own if they aren't performing well enough.
The person in question is an employee I just promoted to a management position a couple months ago. I found (and it came as a complete surprise to me) that he had bought merchandise using his employee discount, and then when he was working alone, returned it for full cash value (making about 25% profit) under a friend's name probably thinking it wouldn't be traced back to him. Now I'm questioning if he's done it before, or if he's done things like tried to sell stuff online that he's bought with his discount, which is another huge policy breaker.
As soon as I figured it out and confirmed as thoroughly as I could that I wasn't misinterpreting the situation, I e-mailed our LP director and my boss. That pretty much seals the deal, this guy WILL be fired. It's not a slap on the wrist or do it once more and you're out...it's a you're fired, you idiot.
What really upsets me about this, is that this guy was JUST promoted. His wife is also pregnant with their first kid, due ANY day now, and they depend almost solely on his job for their income. He even went and bought a house after his promotion, and I can only imagine unless they have family willing to step in, they'll lose everything. I had even almost bought him a baby gift, spending about $50 of my own money until I decided I couldn't really afford it....now I'm so glad I didn't!
It just irks me that in this economy, when everyone complains about not finding work, there are people who have everything and everyone on their side, and they make a poor decision to screw it all up. He won't get a second chance, and he will have a very hard time finding a new job; he has health issues that have required him to occasionally call in last-minute, and I really doubt most managers are as understanding and forgiving about those issues as I am. I don't feel bad for him at all, as to me it's a you made your bed, now you lay in it situation...I'm just really disappointed.
Has anyone had a similar situation?