A year ago, one of our employees, Jane, was killed by a drunk driver. Jane worked here for almost a decade and was well-liked. We have an EAP and offered paid therapy services to anyone who needs it as well as fully paid bereavement and time off to attend the trial, no questions asked.
A month after Jane’s death, her replacement started. However, three months after starting the job, she suddenly quit without notice. We offered to the runner-up from our search, but he quit after four months. We hired another person, who lasted three months and just quit last week.
HR told me the last hire said in her exit interview that she was leaving because she couldn’t handle working with Jane’s old coworkers and manager. She said she resumed job searching almost as soon as she started here because of how bad it was. She had tried to address it with the manager but nothing changed. Apparently the first two replacements for Jane’s job also both said they couldn’t handle it and the manager had done nothing.
They all reported being constantly compared to Jane, accused of hostility or coldness for arranging the desk differently than Jane had it, and having things like “if Jane were here…” or “some of us still care about Jane” said aloud to them. We’ve been told the manager participated and accused them of being awful for “disrespecting” Jane when they brought their concerns forward. One was asked how she could sleep at night after taking Jane’s job.
I work in a different building and had no idea any of this was happening (I also don’t know why HR didn’t act on these complaints until now). I had thought the first two replacements left because they couldn’t handle the pressure.
I understand Jane’s death is upsetting and difficult for her coworkers, but what they are doing cannot continue. We can’t keep hiring people every few months. I know I need to talk to the coworkers and manager about their behavior but given the emotion behind this I don’t even know where to start. I am way out of my depth with this.
I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.
#team #wont #accept #replacement #employee #died #Manager
