The Thick Line Between Buddy And Boss

but you have to remov the emot and do what' best for your businessIt won't be easy..

but he Inflatable Water Game Ufo doesn't seem to listen. To make matter worse,: One of my kei employe is give me trouble. He ha start show up late for work and ha develop a bad attitud in general. The rest of my employe ar complain sinc thei ar have to take up hi slack. I've tri talk to him. he ha becom on of my best friend sinc I hire him five year ago, so fire him is out of the question. What can I do?

-- Allen B.

Allen,A : One reason I am so qualifi to dispens sage busi advic everi week. is that I have made just about everi busi blunder you can imagine. I am like the Evel Knievel of the small busi world, if Evel Knievel wrote a weekli column on motorcycl safety.

I need an employee,On of the more unpleas thing I've had to do is fire a good friend who wa not do the job I hire him to do. He need a job. so I thought I would give him a shot. It turn out to be a match made in busi hell. He took advantag of our friendship by show up late for work, spend time goof off instead of working, and make a joke out of my complaint about hi behavior. Becaus of our friendship I defend hi action to my other employees, but after a few week I knew I had to show him the door. We'r still friends, but certainli not like we were before.

i.e. the desir to help my friend gain employment,The blunder I made wa hire a friend in the first place. I let emotion. get in the wai of my busi sense. That' what you ar do now, Allen, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you ar go to have to deal with thi situat soon or your entir oper mai be affect by the action of thi on person.

which is someth you should never do. I'm not sai you can't be friendli with your employees,The blunder you have made is that you have befriend an employee. but you have attach a consider amount of emot baggag to the employer/employe relationship and the result is the situat you ar face with today.

however,Friend expect preferenti treatment simpli becaus thei ar your friends. The workplace. must be a level plai field for all your employees, friend or not. While employe deserv your respect if it is earn , give on employe preferenti treatment over anoth is never a good idea. Thi is a problem experienc by mani busi owner and manag who allow themselv to becom too close to their employees.

but you have to consid how hi behavior is impact your busi over all. What effect is he have on employe morale,I understand that he ha becom your friend over the year and you'd rather eat rock than fire him. on work schedules, on custom relations, on time spent fix hi mistakes, and most importantly, the bottom line?

period. That mai sound cold and polit incorrect,You have two options: get him back on track or get him off the payroll. but those ar your onli choices. Either way, you must be hi employ first and friend second. He mai have person reason for hi performance, but as hi employ you ar legal limit as to how much pry you can do into hi home life. As hi friend, however, I expect that you alreadi have a good idea what the problem is. If you can help him return to be a product member of the team, then do so. If not, wish him well, let him go, and move on.

Here ar a few suggest to help you establish and enforc the boundari of the employer/employe relationship.

Dr. Phil,Defin the relationship. Keep your seat. thi won't take long. The employer/employe relationship should be well-defin from the outset and the paramet understood by all parties. Some call it "defin the peck order" or "establish the food chain." Whatev color term you us it all boil down to this: You can be their boss or you can be their buddy. You can not be both.

even thi situat could have a neg impact on your busi as non-rel employe often expect the boss' son,Don't hire friend or relatives. Thi rule is certainli bendabl if you ar the owner of the busi and you hire your children to work for you. Chanc ar your offspr alreadi accept you as the ultim author figur and manag them in a busi environ is second nature. However. daughter, or best buddi to work less, make more money, and be treat better than everyon else. Whether that' true or not, nepot and cronyism can creat an underli tension among the ranks.

includ employe behavior and perform expectations. By it' veri natur the employer/employe relationship is prone to favoritism. Manag can't help but favor those employe who work harder,Establish and adher to compani policies. It' a good idea to have publish polici concern everi aspect of your business. longer, and faster, but when it come to adher to compani policies, there should be no preferenti treatment of favor employees. Everi employe should receiv a copi of your publish compani polici and sign a form state that thei have read, understand, and agre with the same.

The Bottom Line: treat everyon the same. It doe not matter if the employe is a vice presid or a janitor; everyon in your compani should be treat the same when it come to adher to publish compani polici and perform expectations.

it is also true that a vice presid who is run amok can do far more damag to your compani than a janitor who let a toilet back up everi onc in awhil there' an analog there that I will let you figur out on your own While it is true that a vice presid mai be of more valu to the compani than a janitor..

it' just business. Thi is what the movi bad gui sai to on anoth right befor the shoot starts. "Hey,It' not personal. Paulie, it' not personal. It' just business." BLA M! BLA M! Thi is the date equival of saying, "It' not you, it' me." These kind of statement ar not go to make anyon feel better when thei ar get dump or fired. Just ask ani former employe or old girlfriend you'v us thi line on.

If you have to fire an employe - even a friend - do it by the book in a profession manner.