Advice Line | Bob Lewis » When to fire an irreplaceable employee, and when not to

September 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

When to fire an irreplaceable employee, and when not to

TAGS: General

Dear Bob ...

I'm writing to comment on "The causes of greatness," (Keep the Joint Running, 9/10/2007) in which you criticize the idea that you should immediately fire any employee who is irreplaceable.

There are two reasons why an employee becomes irreplaceable. The critical difference is tools versus keys. You keep the one with the tool and try to find another. You throw away the one with the keys.

Tools: This employee has a set of tools in their "belt" that no one else in the organization has - thus making them the one to turn to when things are broken that their tool set fits.

If you have a Unix box and one person that knows Unix, they are the one you turn to. You don't fire that employee if you want to keep your Unix box running.

The solution to the problem - because either the employee will realize you can't get rid of them and will start demanding things you can't deliver, or they don't and leave (usually suddenly) for reasons of health or family - is you bring in another employee that they can train. Expecting an existing employee with a full workload to "learn the tool" in their "spare" time isn't feasible. Having the employee (with the tool) train a series of summer interns (or their equivalent) is unfair to everyone.

If your management doesn't let you find another employee to work with them, learn from them, and help them; you need to leave.

Keys: This employee is one who hoards knowledge - they realize they have the "keys to the kingdom" and want to be the only person with those keys. If you find yourself bringing in people that have the same (or very similar) technical background and don't appear to be incompetent, but you find them being bored because they have nothing to do; then you fire the one with the "keys" and let the rest of the organization pick up those keys - one key to a person.

- Not Irreplaceable

Dear Fungible (just kidding!) ...

Good analysis. Of course, first you have to get control of the keys. While you're doing this you have to play your cards close to the vest because otherwise the employee with the keys can do a lot to sabotage you.

This is true whether:

• The employee is a developer and the keys are undocumented data designs or software.

• The employee is a middle manager to whom employees have more loyalty than they do to you.

• The employee is in sales and the keys are clients with whom only the sales rep has a personal relationship.

• The employee is a great schmoozer and has a stronger personal relationship with the CEO and board than you do.

There are lots of keys. Many confer significant political power. And in politics, while a bullet to the back of the head will usually cause the victim to lose power (but read the history books about the power of martyrs), it doesn't always transfer it to the shooter.

- Bob

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Posted by Bob Lewis on September 17, 2007 05:31 AM

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