Dear Vix,
A couple of years ago, a new guy joined our company. He seemed very enthusiastic at first but after those early days he hardly ever turned up and showed scant interest in actually doing his job on the rare occasions that he did attend.
Recently somebody accused him of not caring about his responsibilities and suggested that he might well actually be working for the interests of outside parties who were paying him on the side. At this, he grew most indignant, to the point of belligerence, and handed in his resignation in a fit of pique.
Now that the role is vacant once more, we are having to recruit and this same guy has applied again. Do you think we would be daft to give him another chance?
Baffled Boss
Dear Baffled Boss,
This is a hard one. My immediate and instinctive reaction is that before you consider whether or not he should be given a formal second chance, you would be wise to get him in for a chat – to see if he is aware of the issues that led to his previous role not working out.
I’d be looking for evidence that he’s done some serious reflecting on his behaviours – the laziness, the belligerence, the emotional dysregulation that led to him “flouncing” and handing in his resignation – and that he’d had time to understand why it was a problem. But I’d want to see that he’d come to that conclusion on his own terms.
I’d start by asking him why he thinks the previous role didn’t work out – and what he now feels he could have done differently. I’d want to get a firm idea of whether it was likely he would act in that way again – so, I’d be asking him how he’d approach the role differently if he is given another chance (but, I wouldn’t guarantee it).
In legal terms, severing employment with an employee does not guarantee you getting your old job back, even if you apply for it. In the eyes of the law, he will be treated as an entirely new applicant.
That means that the company – you – is not under any obligation to rehire him, as he forfeited his position voluntarily. Any decision to rehire can also be treated at the current rate of pay and terms. He didn’t just forfeit his role when he handed in his resignation, he also forfeited his previous level of seniority.
To show him the seriousness of his impromptu resignation, I’d explain to him that you’ll be treating him as any other applicant – and, that you make him no promises. It’s entirely up to you to decide whether or not he’s suitable for his old role.
To help you decide, I’d balance his initial competence (there was, after all, a reason you hired him) against the length of time he was in the position – and when his interest (or enthusiasm) for doing a good job started to wane.
I’d want to get some straight answers as to why that was: what made him become disinterested and lazy, and why he didn’t raise any issues he had with his seniors. I’d keep an open mind at this stage – I’d be listening out to find out whether he felt unsupported; I’d ask him why he reacted so strongly to the suggestion that he was working for the interests of outside parties who might have been “paying him on the side”.
I’d reassure him that you’ll be looking at his application alongside every other. That he has a fair chance. But that given the circumstances of his exit, you have a way to go to build back trust – on both sides.
As to your overarching question of whether you’d be “daft” to rehire this man – I don’t think you would, but I do think you have to ask the right questions to be reassured that he won’t “flounce off” again. Bigger than the flouncing issue, however, is the inactivity. He rapidly scaled down his enthusiasm for his role – after a matter of days, you say, he “hardly ever turned up”.
If you do decide to give him another chance and rehire him, I’d definitely be putting him through a second period of probation. He needs to prove to you that his heart is in the game – because it’s not the way he ended the job that is my main concern, actually – but how he started it.
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