I've been a manager for the last couple of years. Tomorrow marks the second time in as many years that I'll have to fire (the not fun kind) someone. By far one of the worst aspects of the job. Anyone else in management?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I took a director role at a previous job because I saw a lot of issues and I wanted the power to fix them. I didn't know the pain of having to let someone go. After the second firing, I left for a contributor role and vowed to never work in management again. Worst two years of my career.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have been relatively lucky in that regard. So far all of the involuntary terminations I have had to deal with were a level below me, so I have been involved, but not to the same degree as firing someone I've worked with closely. I was starting on a PIP a few years ago with a direct employee, but they took a long-term leave and reorged to another team before we finished.

This year my department has been going through a particularly bad reorg, which included some individuals ending up in roles they didn't want. One of my directs asked for severence, which was a weird situation and so far one indirect employee has quit.

Overall, I don't enjoy being in a leadership role, but I can't make the same pay in a more enjoyable role, so I have stuck with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

but I can’t make the same pay

I can empathize with this. Theoretically anyone can progress to higher levels and pay at my company but it rarely happens without leadership, and usually also means directly managing people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What was the context of your firings? As in, was it something mandated or a decision you had to make?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The first was mandated. It happened my first week in the office. The other one was initiated by me with a long, drawn out pip. That one was hard because we had worked together for almost two years and our families became close.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The second one sounds rough. Both of mine have been campus hires that weren’t panning out. I wasn’t close to either but I did put nearly a year in managing and mentoring before throwing in the towel. Sucks in its own way though to fire a kid from their first real job.