A reader writes:
I’m going to be leaving my firm quickly and beginning my very own enterprise, and might want to rent assist workers. One of many workers at my present firm (Taylor) has advised me she is in search of a brand new job. I discover Taylor to be a wonderful worker and I’d be joyful to have her working for me. I consider that she enjoys working with me as properly.
The catch is that Taylor primarily works with Leslie, certainly one of my colleagues right here, and has carried out so for a number of years. Leslie has been a mentor to me since I began working on this metropolis. She is properly favored and properly related in our area, whereas I’m fairly new to it.
I don’t plan on asking Taylor to come back work for me. Nonetheless, this may not stop her from submitting a resume if I put up a job advert, notably if she is aware of that I will probably be hiring.
I’m fearful that if Taylor left her job to come back work for me, Leslie would see this as worker poaching and would understand this as betrayal of a mentor, even when I didn’t actively solicit Taylor to work for me. It might impression Leslie’s work as a result of she would wish to rent a brand new assist staffer and practice them to her specs, which takes effort and time.
Primarily I need to protect my good relationship with Leslie, however I additionally don’t need to develop into recognized in my comparatively small skilled circle because the one who left Leslie within the lurch by poaching her assist workers.
I additionally acknowledge that Taylor is just not an indentured servant to Leslie and does have the selection of leaving at any time when she needs. If she had been to submit a resume, I’m undecided that “you’re employed for Leslie so I can’t rent you” is an effective sufficient purpose to strike her off of my record, notably when she has labored for me earlier than and we now have a very good relationship.
What are your ideas? May I rent Taylor if she submitted a resume to work for me, or is the danger of torpedoing a very good private relationship and knowledgeable status too excessive?
I reply this query over at Inc. immediately, the place I’m revisiting letters which have been buried within the archives right here from years in the past (and generally updating/increasing my solutions to them). You can learn it right here.