A little story, I'll be brief. In the E.U , everything comes second hand, so some liberties were taken.
So the company deals with Cooling , Heating and Insulation let's call them Air&Heat company. Its busy work , generates a lot of business.
One of the largest clients is this German construction company , they are super picky, you have to follow rules/regulation/law/ 100% , there is no wiggle room, no cutting corners, only top of the line materials, even the paint used must be approved previously, super detail oriented, they do quality work, their target customers are the top 10% of the population. So they require the same level of high standards from each and everyone of their contractors/third party workers.
Contracts are very specific, all that said , they pay top money. Of course work has to be on par. Only top of the line . A job that would cost 1X they pay 5X… if it meets the quality standards… you get the idea.
On to the story, our main protagonist whom we will call Istvan, is a bear of a man, long beard, long hair, loves to drink beer and is generally a lovely fellow, he manages a tight crew of about 8 guys, He does top work, clean work (as crawling around buildings is usually dirty work) the most important part is that out of the 6 teams in the Air&Heat company , his crew is the only team who is up to the quality standards of the German Company , 0 complaints , job delivered on time, no extra budget. 100 % satisfaction.
Well at the start of March, Istvan goes to The Boss, and tells him, you know, I deliver, I do quality work, My team has zero complaints about anything. I did some digging around me and my team need a 20 % increase in salary just to be a la par with what the market is paying.
The Boss, who is kind of an ass, but knows that everything Istvan has said is true, tells him No, that they can negotiate , that maybe he can do 10% for him and 5% for his crew..
Istvan says, there is no negotiation this is what it is, this is the bare minimum he and his team need to get on the market level.
The Boss says no.
Istvan thanks him and leaves, no shouting, no hard feelings , nothing.
Next day he presents his resignation,
The Boss is pissed, and smug, he thinks this is some kind of ruse.
HR asks The Boss what's going on, the boss says it's a power play and not to worry about letting him go, after all everyone is replaceable.
HR lady inquiries are you sure? This guy is a top worker, very respected with a lot of knowledge.
The Boss is like –Nah I got this.
Next day The Boss goes to were Istvan is with the HR person and tells him his required Month Notice won't be needed, they will pay him as it is the law, however he is to leave at once, Istvan being a smart man just shrugs, says goodbye , shakes hands with boss, goes with the HR person does was has to be done an leaves, everyone is sad to see him leave, such is the way of things.
The Boss asks Istvan's team who will step up and take the Lead
– No surprise no one wants it.
The Boss tells them: Just like Istvan is replaceable, so are you..
-Still no one wants to be in charge and The Boss knows he can't force them.
The Boss decides to split the team.
Just a month after Istvan's departure. The calls from the Germans began.
At the same time as this is going each one of Istvan's old crew is quitting, one at a time, then two almost half of the team is gone.
The Boss is annoyed , sends team after team to the Germans construction site and there is no way to satisfy these guys.
Mistakes are made, jobs are not up to standard, the Germans are angry and complaining every day.
Finally after about 3 months, I guess the heads of the German company called the owner of the Heat&Air company asking what the hell is going on?, work is not getting done.. they are going to break the contract with cause and they will go legal.
Owner called an all hands on deck meeting, he was very hands off , still Air&Heat company was his baby as it made him a ton of money and was the first of several companies he owned.
Owner shows up with his number 1 guy.
The greatest hits of the meeting:
– First words out of owners mouth: where the hell Is Istvan and why isn't he handling this
– The Boss glups and lets him know…no point of lying.
Owner stays composed
– So for 20% you lost Istvan? Is that about it?
– HR Why didn't you do something.?
– Accounting: you know how much money the German company pays us?
– To the CEO (his son in law) what kind of idiot doesn't know what is going on and how can we afford to lose the most efficient and productive person in all the company?
– Owner tells the CEO to go down and find “Carlos”
– Carlos (Teams Manager who assigns work) gets to the meeting room, you can tell shit is about to hit the fan when Carlos addresses the owner by his first name instead of Sir, Mr. or Lord Owner.
– Owner very calm: Carlos, what the hell? you knew about this, that Istvan quit?
– Carlos a non bullshit man who does not give a single F about anything says :
“ yes: He pointed towards The Boss: I told him it was a mistake, several times that we could not lose him , I told him if Istvan goes his team will follow , also that if he left we would be screwed.
The Boss told me to mind my own business as everyone is replaceable and I could be next. I told him it was his grave, and that I would remind him about it when we had this exact conversation. He once again reminded me he was The Boss. “
– Then Carlos pointed to the HR lady : “I wrote her about 7 emails about this she wrote me back once telling me that they had it under control”
– He pointed at the CEO: ” I talked to him and he said He was busy and that The Boss would handle it”.
Owner is Red and fuming… Somehow he remains composed .
The Owner tells everyone to leave , except Carlos, His number 1 , The CEO stays and as everyone is leaving the Owner tells the New Girl From HR to please stay.
Fall out:
– The Boss fired
– HR all fired, with the exception of the new girl who had been there only a month.
– Accounting department, all fired -why weren't the staff paid competitive salary? and if HR failed? why did they not do anything – do you people have any clue how much income the German Corporations bring to this company-
– Owner told number 1 I don't want to see any of them, get security to escort them out , gather up their stuff and out the door before the end of the day – number 1 said to the owner that some of the fired people would probably file a grievance – owner said He doesn't care, that's why he has a legal team.
– Owner told the CEO – you better pray that you can get Istvan back , get on your knees if you have to…like your job depends on it.. because it does.
Aftermaths
– Istvan did return, with all his team, except one of the guys who had found a very good job and did not want to go back
– Included in Istvan's deal was the 20 % increase he wanted plus another 25 % for his troubles – you know what the guy said? the other 25% needed to be given to his team as well as they were all on the same boat – owner agreed –
– The company had to buy some of Istvan's team mates contracts as they were working in other jobs already- it was one of the conditions Istvan put down-
– Update to every employee of the company, salary to be put at market level.
– CEO had to apologize to every employee of the company for the low wages (in person).
– Owner gave everyone a bonus in person and apologized, shook everybody's hand and told them that they were very important to the company.
– All team leaders got a new company truck.
– CEO (owners son in law) stripped of any power…not even the power to hire or fire anyone..
– New girl became the head of HR and the owner reminded her not to forget how she got her job.
How do I know all this, the new girl is my wife.
Everyone is replaceable except some people are more replaceable than others.
On a personal note, this is the way .. this is the reason so many companies fail, they think everyone is disposable. The owner understood the mistake and corrected it. My wife is very happy working there and has gotten to know some of the coworkers , they hired a new The Boss, a new accountant with assistant, a new assistant to HR, filed some gaps in the teams, The Germans are happy again.