First Day on the Job
“Ah, Mr. Williams, good morning,” said Dr. Lewis warmly, extending his hand. A youthful Bob Williams returned the greeting cordially, shook hands, and sat down across the desk from his new supervisor. “First day on the job, you must be pretty excited,” Dr. Lewis added.
“I am,” Williams replied with enthusiasm.
“Reminds me of my first day, “Dr. Lewis continued. “Of course, that was a long time ago, over twenty years. Human Resources, or personnel as we used to call it back then, has changed a lot since the dark ages. Today, we feel we really get to know our employees. I think I mentioned before that for each of our salaried people we now have aptitude and personality profiles, interview analysis results, and a complete set of college transcripts. And then once a candidate is actually on board, we get to know that person even better through a series of employee development programs. We typically start with communication and group consensus training.”
“I believe you also mentioned career paths?” Williams asked.
“Yes, yes, we put together individualized career paths for each employee as our interaction with that person evolves.”
“I’ve been looking forward to participating in these programs myself,” Williams replied.
“And you will, you will,” Dr. Lewis responded. “What we particularly liked about your background was the business training you had as an undergraduate coupled with your masters in industrial psychology. Over time, we can see you becoming a very valuable asset to both Human Resources and the company in general.”
“You have a Ph.D. in industrial psychology, don’t you?” Williams asked.
“Yes, yes, and that probably helped me land my current position here, helped broaden my perspective. But enough about me. Today, if you’re ready, I’d like for you to jump right into a fairly sticky personnel situation.”
“Sure,” Williams replied with a furrowed brow.
“I’m talking about Max Kemper. He’s bright enough, has a chemical engineering degree, and he’s been with the company for a long time, probably too long. He’s worked primarily on the development of resins and industrial adhesives, has over twenty patents, and he has formulated a number of successful products. But unforunately over the years, he has become less and less of a team player. Instead of working with cross-functional teams to build consensus, he continually wants to strike off on his own. It’s gotten to the point that we’re going to have to take action.” Dr. Lewis paused and looked directly at Williams.
“I see,” Williams said with some hesitation.
“So what I would like for you to do is look over his file and then conduct a termination interview with Kemper at ten this morning. We’ll set up an appointment for him with you at that time.”
“Really, me? Isn’t there someone closer to the situation that should be handling this?”
“Normally, his boss would take care of this, but his boss is out of town. And in a way, this is more humane. He doesn’t know you, so there won’t be any sense of betrayal.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ll do fine. This is a chance for you to prove yourself early, to carry out one of the toughest duties your job requires, first thing.”
At 10:00 am, Max Kemper entered Bob Williams’ office, introduced himself, and took a chair. “So what’s up?” Kemper asked, maintaing steady eye contact.
“Well, I have some bad news,” Williams replied. “Although you have a distinguished career with this company, the decision has been made to terminate your employment here.”
“And they stuck you with the job of telling me.” Kemper closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side.
“Apparently, you’ve had issues recently with the sales and marketing departments, and in particular with a Paul Lambert,” Williams continued.
“Oh yes, the young prince himself. Of course. So this is about Callar Industries.”
“I don’t know that it’s about that company specifically.”
“Well, Callar is a very big operation, and we’ve been trying to sell them adhesive for years. But they’re in bed with one of our major competitors, so we’ve gotten nowhere. We should have faced the reality of the situation and killed the project years ago, but too many egos were involved, including that of the project manager, Lambert. So now that we’ve racked up millions of dollars in development and marketing costs and we’ve been told that we’ve failed for the last time, Lambert and the old man have apparently decided that I’m the fall guy. I tell them that what they’re doing is stupid and give them solid reasons why, and then when I’m proven right, I get the axe. Of course, their reasons for getting rid of me don’t stop there.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to be fifty five in three months, eligible for early retirement with full medical coverage. By canning me now, they won’t have to pay for any of that.”
After the session with Kemper was concluded, Williams stopped by Dr. Lewis’ office, talked with him briefly, then returned to his own office and made a phone call to his wife.
“So how’s it going?” his wife asked cheerfully.
“I don’t know,” Williams replied. “Do you remember when I graduated with the accounting degree, I thought about becoming a CPA?
“A certified public accountant?
“Yeah.”
“You want to go back to that now, after spending the last two years getting a masters in industrial psychology?”
“Yeah.”
