One of the topics I occasionally talk about in my book, Other People's Problems, is whistle-blowing and, more specifically, why you can't rely on your employees volunteering information to let you know what's going on when your back is turned.
At the same time, when employees do decide to share something, it often confirms your suspicions, if you have already had the smarts to listen to your gut reaction.
Several years ago, I hired someone we'll call Toni. Toni had been through a number of workplace re-entry programs and similar, put on by the government and various community colleges.Supposedly, she wanted to get her career going after a period of unemployment.
She started on a Monday and, by Wednesday, I had pretty much made up my mind I would soon terminate her. A lack of enthusiasm and low productivity suggested that she was not the person we were looking for. Funnily enough, it was on that same day that another of my staff came into my office and said: "I know I shouldn't say this but I'm going to say it", and proceeded to warn me that Toni was a time-bomb waiting to go off.
Apparently, she had told my other staff that, as soon as a big project showed up, she was going to phone in sick so she wouldn't have to work very hard. Toni had also apparently told my existing employees of the other interview she had been on, how she felt the woman interviewing her there "was like a sister" and that she really wanted to go to work there.
What is interesting about this story is that Toni obviously felt thoroughly confident in telling her co-workers her true intentions, safe in the knowledge that most people won't indulge in whistle-blowing.This is what makes it doubly hard for an employer, especially for a small employer, to find out what's really going on and why all entrepreneurs who have expanded to the point of hiring staff need to keep up a constant effort in this regard.
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