Advice Line | Bob Lewis » Involuntarily irreplaceable

October 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Involuntarily irreplaceable

TAGS: General

Dear Bob ...

When I hear the broad statement: "If an employee is irreplaceable you should immediately fire that employee," (as cited in your recent article, "The causes of greatness," Keep the Joint Running, 9/10/2007) it hits a sore spot, since I am unfortunately in that category. I am not in that category by choice; instead my management (second line and up) has consistently sabotaged my ability to make myself replaceable.

The problem is that we use a very complex piece of software on which I was the lead developer. We inherited this from a prior company following a number of spin-offs, mergers and acquisitions, and I am the only original developer remaining. Over the years I have trained several people (a costly process) who have then either left the company du jour or been the victims of downsizing; I have also lobbied to remove this from our products, and although I have gotten agreements that this should be done, resources have never been allocated.

I am certainly not alone in this regard. Now changing the statement to "If an employee insists on being irreplaceable...." as the fault lies with the employee; however, if an employer forces the employee to be in that position, firing him or her would be to blame the victim.

- Call me Irreplaceable


Dear Irreplaceable ...

I certainly understand the sore spot. The question is whether there's anything else you can do about it, now that you've already used the most common tactics of training replacements and making your unique skill irrelevant.

If there's a third tactic to pursue, I'm unaware of it. That leaves becoming more persuasive with the company's decision-makers regarding the two that are available to you.

I don't know if you're willing to try a higher-risk approach (or if you already have). It's a modification of the what-if-I-was-hit-by-a-bus argument. It goes like this: "I need your help. Right now I'm in career jail, which means I have a strong financial and career incentive to find another opportunity in another company. I really don't want to do this - I like working here. What can we do so I can go on to my next opportunity here instead of someplace else?"

Anyone with any brains who hears this will recognize it for what it is - a veiled threat. On the other hand it's an honest statement of a real risk to the business, stated in businesslike terms, so it shouldn't offend a businesslike manager.

The risk to you, of course, is that not all managers are businesslike when the chips are down . You'll have to judge for yourself whether a conversation like this can work with the people you'll be dealing with.

- Bob

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Posted by Bob Lewis on October 1, 2007 08:00 PM

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