Hand Me Down People

Do you get a lot of hand me down people where you work? You know, the kind of people that come from other companies for whatever reason. Or maybe they have been in the same business but out of it for a few years. The kind that ‘leave’ the other company mysteriously or have been ‘getting themselves together’ for a while before resuming their career. They are usually ‘a bargain’, moneywise.

You always get the same story, the old “Yeah, that company is struggling, but this person is not part of the problem. They are a standout.” Uh huh. Or, “This guy is OK. He’s just been taking a break for a while.”

Well, we’ve got a few of those here. In this business you see people moving around a lot. You could end up working with the same person at multiple sites. It’s weird that way.

We have one in a position of some authority. He is a big cheese and he drives people crazy. He was out of the business for a few years for...?... but has been brought in here to ‘help out’ and ‘get back into it.’ Problem is he’s a bit behind. When his people are preparing for audits, tours etc…. they always have to coach him on what to focus on and what not to focus on. He’s been here a while, but still doesn’t seem to get it. Recently his boss, Mr. Super Big Cheese, had to tell him in a staff meeting that he was totally off base on his preparation for an upcoming audit.

He’s a bargain, though.

I think the worst hand me down guy we have is an ‘engineer’ that was brought in by a cheese without even interviewing with the head of Engineering. Yep, you guessed it, he doesn’t have a clue. No matter what the issue is, he can’t/won’t handle it. He always (no exaggeration) runs to one of us and we end up taking care of his responsibilities. My group isn’t even part of the ‘on call’ group, but we have a better understanding of the technical side of process equipment, so he constantly comes to us. The goal is to keep things running, after all, so we help. When he is on call, it’s like 2 people being on call. Total waste of space, this guy. He now gets assignments like working with contractors for quotes on new carpet, ‘designing’ metal stands for under things, like freezers. You know, busy work that won’t affect daily production.

He's not a bargain though. (Apparently.)

I have to wonder how the hiring people pick the new recruits. At my last job I was a department head for several years. We got training updates every quarter to help us keep up with workplace issues like hiring. I was known as someone who took a lot of time to decide on hiring and/or firing. I didn't care about the tag, I wanted the right people in my area. As a result, our department had the reputation as being one of the best, most dependable areas in the company. We were a team and we did things right. I left there hoping to learn more here. Most of what I've learned so far is that my old company did things far better than this new one.

I guess that's what happens when you're not careful and you hire other people's hand me downs.