When I hired this young 23-year-old lady, there was a spark in her, a fire to prove something to the world. She came across as someone who was very outspoken and a go-getter.

However, I passed over “her means to reach her goals” during the interview. She was working on a 3 PM-11 PM shift. Soon she started mingling with other employees, including, Heads of other Functions, and C-level executives. Initially, everything appeared fantastic, just perfect, however, soon the confidential information of the department started getting leaked to others in the office. She was so much into gossiping that she would often leave her tasks incomplete. Considering the gravity of the situation, I confronted her with this feedback. I even offered her help,  in case, she was feeling overwhelmed with her job responsibilities. I began with daily work updates from her and made her understand the criticality of our function and why other people were so interested in our work.

Even after all the corrective measures, howbeit she didn’t seem to budge. She was harbouring an illusion that other seniors, including, the CEO, were appreciative of her communication skills and her good looks. She considered herself better than other SIX team-members. Her stories of dating a couple of guys from the office and being overly nice with many others reached my ears but I decided to snub it. I have a working philosophy, “Not to get into the personal affairs of my employees/team members. It doesn’t really matter to me what they do after work hours and with whom”. She hadn’t yet completed her probationary period of six months when a Functional Head from another department approached me recommending a salary hike and promotion for her. This was my first experience in my career when I had hired someone in my team and that person had become a pain in my neck.

I went for my annual recreational vacation for 10 days, but my phone never stopped ringing about her complaints.  Over an all, displaying her immaturity, she got into a brawl with another team member, which was not acceptable to me. A story was created that the other employee tried to harass her.

The day I returned from vacations, I assessed the situation. I spoke with all the team members. Later, I scheduled a meeting with our CEO and apprised him about my decision to fire this lady from my team. However, I quoted that she was a good person but just not a fit in my team; therefore, she could be employed by other Functional Heads, including the CEO, who was also Heading the Marketing Department. Unfortunately, no one hired her. She had to leave within SIX months of joining our company. 

FOUR lessons to learn from an employee in general and fresh graduates in particular –

1. Organizational culture can be very overwhelming for new employees. Take time to settle down.
2. It might appear to you that your relationship with seniors can take you to places, however, in the long run, ONLY your performance will matter.
3. One can find happy and unhappy employees in every organization, choose your companions carefully.
4. Your relationship with your reporting manager is very critical. If your reporting manager wants you on the team, no one can terminate your employment. However, if your reporting manager doesn’t want you on his team, no one can retain your job.

Success doesn’t have any shortcuts, so don't look for any. Every successful person out there has craved that niche for himself through hard work and persistence.