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Complicated Employee issue

C

clownhair

Active member
My manager has been dealing with the declining health of his father. Over the last 2 months he has had to call in to work and me and my wife have filled in for him. It hasnt been a big deal as it is obviously a very serious situation. This past Thursday he called me up and said he couldnt make it in to open because he needed to do some paperwork for his father and also that he needed to speak with me in person. I opened the store and when he came in he told me he had to step away from being the manager to take care of his father. He said it wasnt fair to me to never know when I may be called in and he just needed time to be with his family. I asked if he was sure and offered that he could work a much more limited role for the time and then pick it back up later. In fact I asked him several times as did my wife to make sure he was sure stepping away was the best bet. He said he was sure and I told him that it meant I was going to start looking for a replacement immediately. He said that was fine and that was it. I called a friend of mine who works for me 2 days a week and told him the situation and asked if he was interested. He told me he was interested but would talk to me in person the following day (Friday). Well Friday comes and I get a message from the manager at 3;30 pm that his father has passed away. My friend comes in and I tell him the situation and he tells me he is super interested in the job and it would be very beneficial to him. I told him I have a fealing that my manager wasnt expecting his father to pass so quickly and he may want to come back now. At 7 o clock my father had called my manager to offer his condolences and the manager said he wants to come back in about 10 days. Now i feal like I am in an extremely awkward situation. I offered his job to someone else, someone who is a very good friend, but I feel really bad if I dont let the manager come back. I know my friend is too nice to put up much of a stink if I go that route but I feal like I shouldnt go back on my offer either. I need some opinions, this is really bugging me.
 
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Don’t let your emotions make your decision. Do what you feel is best for your business
 
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I’m sure both parties will understand whichever decision you make. It’s a tough call.

I personally wouldn’t go back on my word with the new employee . However I would tell him the circumstances and see if he is willing to give away his opportunity …

You might be sweating over something that is nothing …

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Any chance of utilizing both with your manager dropping a shift and adding 2 shifts to the two that your friend already works for you? I don’t have a clue what your situation is but maybe this could free you up for marketing to build up the business.
 
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Tough call!
But, you had an employee bow out gracefully, you were very clear that you would fill his position by use of someone else. So I am not even seeing a decision to be made here.

The guy left, he can get back in line in case your new hire fails.
 
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I would have to agree with GotRocks. It is a awful situation, but he decided to leave and was informed of the consequences of doing do.
 
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Question, how good was this manager? If he did a great job keep him. If your store is doing good enough to pay someone else to run it, maybe its time to look at opening another store! You can only do that with good people. Sounds like now you have two
 
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Warren said:
Question, how good was this manager? If he did a great job keep him. If your store is doing good enough to pay someone else to run it, maybe its time to look at opening another store! You can only do that with good people. Sounds like now you have two
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Old manager was ok, wasnt lighting the world on fire by any means, real good guy though. He was someone I had a lot of respect for. As far as opening another store, I think it would kill me. I have enough sleepless nights as is!
 
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Rico said:
Don’t let your emotions make your decision. Do what you feel is best for your business
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I have been in similar situations. I agree with Rico. I would add, don’t dither around with this. Decide which you think is the best person for the job and go with them. Explain your decision to each in person and move on.

With regard to having offered the position to another I have a couple of thoughts:
  1. He has not even started the job yet. I would feel a bit differently about it if a month had gone by with him in the job. But even then, I would go with the best manager.
  2. Did you “offer” the job or did you ask if he was interested to be followed by a meeting to discuss? Circumstances changed before you even met!
  3. Your phone call was made assuming that your old manager was not available. It turns out that is not the case.
 
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Do what is best for you and the business it’s hard to separate emotions but sometimes emotions make bad business decisions.

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It was and still is a kind of weird situation. So my old manager stopped in and grabbed a pizza. He was about to leave when i asked him to speak with me. I told him I had offered his job to the other gentleman and wasnt super keen on it, but if he wanted his job back I would tell the other guy its not his time quite yet. He said he was fine taking a lesser role and wouldnt mind delivering ( this was last Friday) So I go ahead and tell my buddy and he puts a two week notice into his other job. On tuesday my old manager calls me and wants to meet. We meet and he says his wife doesnt want him delivering and he wants his old job back. I told him I could no longer do that since my friend had quit his job now. We ended up working something out where he could assistant manage/drive and he seemed a bit happier with the arrangement although he didnt seem super to the moon excited. I told him to call me when he was ready and we would put him on the schedule. That was almost 5 days ago and I havent heard anything from him. I know his fathers funeral is tommorow. Losing someone as close and dear as a father is devastating, but how long should I wait? Ive already put next weeks schedule together and am kinda unclear about when to expect him to return.
 
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I would give him a few days after the funeral, time to finish up any legal paper work and such. If you still have not heard anything, you could give him a call or just accept the fact he isn’t coming back.
 
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You went out of your way, there is nothing more that you can do.
Maybe he should have consulted with his wife before accepting that offer?
 
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I think you should consider the possibility that you might end up losing both of them - and then being totally screwed - if you don’t commit to one or the other.

It sucks trying to “do the right thing” - you will almost always suffer in the end.
 
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I think you should consider the possibility that you might end up losing both of them - and then being totally screwed - if you don’t commit to one or the other.

It sucks trying to “do the right thing” - you will almost always suffer in the end.
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Nah the new manager is finishin up his 2 week notice at his old job this week and will be in for the weekend and fully taking over next week. I still havent heard from the old manager so I am starting to feal a lot more solid in my decision to go with this new gentleman.
 
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These things usually work out for the best. Everytime a key employee jumps ship, somebody steps up. It is better for the store in the long run to get somebody fresh in. I had a manager leave a while back and before he even clocked out for the night he told me, I had two people stepping up. It’s good for you and the store to realize that one person is not critical. I definitely wouldn’t want somebody that is that indecisive running things. Any decision you make should be for the benefit of your business.
 
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You have a known vs. an unknown, I would always go with the known… unless the known wasn’t that good.
 
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