DOs and DON’Ts in dealing with employees

Ghenea, FiT Distribution: Not to promote employees based on other criteria than performance

Marius Ghenea (photo), well-known Romanian entrepreneur and chairman of FiT Distribution that holds online store PCfun.ro, says in the current economic conditions, a boss shouldn’t layoff staff just because “we need to cut headcount by 20%”. This approach would only lead to arbitrary layoff and can seriously harm the company-wide performance and efficiency.

Every reduction, slashing headcount implicitly, is necessary, Ghenea continued, even if the respective company is severely hit by crisis. Job-killing requires a through assessment of human resource needs of each department in a company in order to cut wasteful spending.

One of the most important things a manager shouldn’t do is to never promote an employee based on other criteria than performance. “If the boss doesn’t comply with this rule, he will create an extremely dangerous precedent and the company will no longer be meritocratic”, said Marius Ghenea.

A boss should never force staff to mix their personal and professional life, or to use formal control levers as a last resort. “People tend to perform better in an environment that motivates and supports, that doesn’t impose and points fingers”, says Ghenea.

Reuven Havar, AFI Europe: the pass on the “You’re fired” job

Reuven Havar, managing director of AFI Europe Romania that develops the shopping center AFI Palace Cotroceni, says it’s very important not to raise your voice at an employee. “You’re a weak person if you raise your voice at a person who is inferior to you. The authority you have to your employees must be earned”, said Havar.

One of the most important factors in the boss-employee relationship is the honesty: “You shouldn’t lie to your employees, especially today, when everybody feels the pinch of a financial crisis and fears of layoff have been reignited. If an employee comes to ask you something, it’s better to answer directly, without putting off the talk”, said Reuven Havar.

But the most important thing, especially in crisis, is not to ask someone else to give employees the boot for you. “We all know axes are falling on workers’ desk now. And this is one of the worst tasks: to call an employee in your office, look him in the eyes and tell him his job had been eliminated. Not only there is no room for him in the company any longer, but maybe he won’t find any some place else in the following months”.