I am so glad that spring is here. It has improved my mood by leaps and bounds.
It's been a rough couple of months. Going back to work full time (actually overtime), ramping up with a whole slew of new employees, demands of going from 0 to 6 projects and 4-18 staff members has been intense. I handle all of the A/P for our company, so that has increased at a rapid rate with 6 new jobs, but I also handle all HR (new hire paperwork, insurance, handbooks, 401k, etc), IT (new laptops for all supers (7), new cell phones or re-coding old ones, air cards, loading programs on laptops and PC's (2 of those recently), other misc software, etc), Payroll, Office Management & Marketing.
With the surge of work, we brought Elise back in part-time as a Receptionist and hired another girl to fill the remaining days until her classes ended in May. At that time, she would assume the position full time and Elise could go back to being a full-time student. Unfortunately, the new girl didn't really pick up on the duties very well so I started interviewing again.
Meanwhile, a longtime admin employee who comes pre-installed with a boat-load of personal drama, starts laying down on the job. She's telling us she can't get all her work done, needs the girls (recept job-sharers) to help, blah, blah, blah. So we take some of the work off of her and give it to them. She Still isn't getting it done.
Last Thursday she wanted to take the day off. She barely had enough vacation to cover it, and she's behind on her work, but we feel that balance is important and if she's this overworked, she needs a break...so ok, take it off. Then her husband was having back surgery (for the 4th time) on Friday (it's outpatient and not that bad, so don't feel too bad for her) so she had that off too.
On Thursday afternoon, we needed to find some documents of which she is responsible. They were not in the files, nor in the filing. Started a search for them and Long-Story-Shorter found out why she can't get her work done. Lots of time playing on personal emails, internet, instant message, etc. After finding this, we learn of her spending hours on personal phone calls when we are out of the office and even when we were there (she's pretty crafty). The other thing that folks started coming out of the woodwork to tell us was that she'd been badmouthing the company to our subcontractors about how bad she'd been treated.
Unbelievable. If you knew all the ways in which we've helped this woman out with time off for her never-ending drama, financial help MANY times, etc, etc. etc. And when the economy tanked, we kept her on when we honestly should have laid her off or at the very least given a mandatory pay cut of 10% like the rest of the world. But we felt for her and for her situation of being the sole breadwinner for a family of 4 so we kept her working at full pay. She felt she needed raises and more time off apparently. Are you kidding me?
So, we decided she needed to go. It was time. Not only was she not doing her job, but she was trashing our company to those we work with on a regular basis. I planned to fire her on Monday morning but guess what? I guess she needed 5 days off in a row...she called in "cough" sick. This just affirmed out decision as this is also a pattern for her...Monday sick days. I was waiting for her on Tuesday morning with her things boxed up and ready to go. It was not pretty, but I am glad it was over.
On Friday, I hired a replacement for her and luckily she could work afternoons while she gave her 2 wks notice. She's already organizing the mess that was left behind and she has no construction knowledge at all. I think she will work out great.
Meanwhile, on Monday morning (when I was set to fire our other admin person), the new part-time receptionist calls at 8:15 to quit. HA. Whatever. Good luck. I replaced her yesterday as well. She can start on the 19th.
Pretty much a clean sweep...a nice Spring Cleaning of our Admin department. I feel good about the changes and feel like it's breathed some fresh air into my own step. I feel renewed and freed up. In the meantime, I am doing all of my existing work plus all of the Admin work, but it doesn't even matter. I still feel really good about it all and I know it is short-term until the new staff members get up to speed.
It is a good day.
