Hold Employees Responsible

PROBLEM:

Joan (not her real name) was a smart business woman who drove herself hard. She never drove the people around her as hard, though, letting them off deadlines and broken promises without much thought.

Her bookkeeper kept promising to get the records to her and he got sick, his son got sick, his computer crashed, it was just one thing after the other. She felt sorry for him and never pushed him. Until one day he didn’t show up for work and never returned her phone calls.

The records were simply gone, if they ever existed at all. Eventually she was able to track down a lot of her filing and original documents – 17 boxes of loose paper in his garage.

She’s not sure if he ever stole anything, other than his salary for which he didn’t do any work. But she had to spend hours and hours of time trying to put together the past year.

LESSON:

Don’t be too ‘nice’ to your employees or partners. Hold them accountable to their word. If they keep missing deadlines, there might be a bigger problem.

Thanks to:

Diane Kennedy, CPA
www.USTaxAid.com