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“Nobody stays.” When you’ve hired three or four people and watched every one of them leave, it’s hard not to start thinking this way. Maybe people just don’t stick around like they used to. Maybe it’s the labor market. Maybe…
“I need someone with experience.” I hear this a lot when talking about hiring. And I get it. You don’t have six months to get someone up to speed. You’ve probably hired someone before who needed way more help than…
Growth has a way of making business owners question everything. “We never had communication issues before.” “Accountability used to be so much better.” “Our managers can’t seem to keep everyone aligned.” It can feel like growth created new problems. I’ve…
Most companies say they hire for values. Far fewer are willing to lose a great candidate because of them. That’s the difference between values and preferences. Preferences are nice to have. Values change decisions. I’ve seen business owners spend weeks…
One of the most expensive things in a growing business is feedback that never gets given. Owners usually notice the symptom. “My managers aren’t coaching their people.” The common diagnosis is that managers need more training or need to have…
An exit interview shouldn’t be the first honest conversation. Recently, I’ve heard employees expressing that exit interviews feel like a trap. If someone never felt safe speaking honestly while they worked for the company, why would they suddenly believe it’s…
Performance Improvement Plans have a terrible reputation. And honestly, I understand why. Too many people have only experienced them after the decision to terminate has already been made. It’s a little like hating hammers because you’ve only ever been hit…
One of the most common criticisms of hiring is that “culture fit” is just a polite way to justify bias. Sometimes, that’s true. But here’s what’s actually happening: When an interviewer says “I just don’t think they’re a fit,” what…
When employees assume HR is hiding something, don’t start by defending HR. Recently, I came across a post encouraging employees to treat every conversation with HR like a legal battle. The advice was simple: assume HR is managing you, document…
You’ve probably heard the criticism: “HR protects the company, not the employee.” I understand why people say it. By the time many employees walk into HR, they already feel like the system is moving against them. Trust usually didn’t break…
