Re: What to do about a disgruntled employee

"Joe Teff" <jteff19@idt.net> wrote:

>I was asked the other day what I would do if an IS person was
>let go or quit and there was a possibility that they might try to
>cause some harm. I am curious if this has occurred at any of
>your installations and what steps were taken.

At many sites there is a policy of accompanying the person back to their
desk while they clear it and then escorting them off the premises. This is
undoubtedly the safest thing to do. Of course, if they've been disgruntled
for a while then they may already have done the damage, but there's not
much you can do about that. I've also worked at a lot of sites where they
just let the disgruntled employee work out his/her notice. This in
mind-numbingly stupid IMHO.

I've only once had a panic call from a manager asking me to boot an
employee off the system while they were actively working: "She handed in
her notice then she went back to her desk and started working again. I've
no idea what she's up to but I don't trust her." Rather nerve wracking for
the manager but great fun for the techie involved.

A while back when the UK economy last went into recession and City firms
were laying people off in droves, there was a story in the newspapers that
one company had arranged a fire drill and then locked the doors once the
staff were outside. They then got the security guards to clear everyone's
desk and load their effects into plastic rubbish sacks which were then
handed out through a window. It was thought that the compnay's biggest
immediate problem would be getting back their Porsches.

Dave Kahn, ABB Steward Ltd.


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