Letting an OFS go is never fun.
Having one quit is just as bad.
I’ve rarely let someone go.
And I’ve only ever had one quit.
Holly’s OFS had worked for her for a couple years. She had suspicions of him not being honest for a while.
I like how she handled the situation.
I discovered my OSF was stealing time last month. Not only was he not working, he was not even available to respond on slack when he was clocked in but simply not there.
I realized that I should have been giving him training to do in the down time and I told him that. I also told him that he should have simply been straight with me and let me know he didn’t have enough work to fill the hours.
He quit yesterday. We did a video zoom call and he told me he had taken two other VA jobs. This was disappointing but not shocking. I had hoped he could at least continue working part time.
I asked him how much he was being paid – $8 per hour by one employer – I didn’t get the rate of the second.
I reiterated to him how disappointed I was in how it had turned out. I told him that I would like to know how he had gamed Time Doctor so it did not show poor time use on the report. He said that he had his cousin suppress one of the keys on his computer so all he had to do was move the mouse. On the day that I caught him doing it, he had his cousin moving the mouse while he left the house to go shopping.
I repeated that he needs to be honest in the future because what he did is criminal and even if his employer does not catch him and fire him the universe will catch him and something bad will happen.
I also told him that I had not put any black mark on his record in OnLinejobs.ph because I believe in giving people a second chance. I let him know that I had emailed the founder of OnLineJobs.ph and shared the situation – so if it happens again with another employer it will be on record that it is the second time at least, not the first. He expressed concern about the fact that I emailed you about the situation since he depends on OnLineJobs.ph for his livelihood. I told him that I was sure that it would not present a problem for him as long as he didn’t do that with his future employers.
I advised him to do something good in the world to make up for his dishonesty – help train some of his friends to be VAs, pick up garbage, volunteer in some way whatever. He said that he had already trained 4 of his friends to be VAs and he even offered to volunteer for an international group I am involved with – World Creativity and Innovation Week/Day (https://wciw.org/). That was nice and unexpected.
At the end of the call we discussed the transition – I have a lot of documents shared with him that we would need to sort out and some that are owned by him. I let him know that it would be helpful to communicate from time to time as I transition and find his replacement. He agreed.
After our call he slacked this message:
“Thank you for everything Holly, I will keep close to my heart the learning and everything you said. It is painful to be associated with the word criminal. I will do better and be a much better person after this. I appreciate you in everything and the years we work together. I wish all you the best and your beautiful family. I will always be here ready to response for you. Thank you again. I am sorry that it ended this way.”
In response to that, I let him know that I could really use his help this month while I find a replacement. He responded that he would help me off the clock – again, something that I had not expected. It won’t be a lot of work each day, less than 30 minutes for the critical things I need, but it will lift a load. I hope that he does it.
Anyway, that is where the story is for now. I will do things differently moving forward. For one thing, I will check screen shots more closely. In my business, it is really important to know how long things take to do so I can gauge what we promise our clients – so honesty is critical. For another, I will have a nice training program that my new VA can work on to increase their skills once they finish their tasks.
Being nice and respectable is always a good way to go.
I don’t use a time tracker, but that doesn’t mean a time tracker is bad. Holly uses one because it fits her personality and her business needs.
John
He has not given his commitment towards his work. While there are a lot of individuals looking for online work like me to help my family, his attitude is not acceptable. Working remotely should be based on trust. It’s true that he is not supervised face to face unlike normal setting but this doesn’t mean you have to cheat the person who gave you the opportunity to learn and gave you his source of bread and butter. How I wish I should have been the one given this opportunity. I don’t have an experience of being a VA but I’ve worked in a technical school doing most of administrative works and supervised a college department as a Course Leader.