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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Let Assistant Go Today, And Totally Didn't Expect Her Reaction...
blandino 06:05 PM 05-17-2013
This summer we will be losing 2 kids going off to school, 1 child moving, and 2 staying home for the summer (DCM are teachers) and are choosing to not hold their spots. We have an assistant, who is not necessary staff, but allows either one of us to have some time off to leave or run errands.
As you can assume, we will be losing a significant amount of income. I have attempted advertising and have spoken with at minimum 7 families in the past two weeks and either they are needing care in the future, or our rates are too high, etc. So we have no new children starting when all the others leave. I feel like my head is spinning from doing so much talking about spots and advertising and speaking with parents. We have 6 families waiting to start in August, but now.... it sounds like crickets.
Our assistant has been aware that we are losing so many kids, and I have been trying to let her know how hard I am working at getting new clients. Today we let her know that we would have to lay her off for the summer, because we are losing so much income that we just can't manage to keep someone who isn't essential to our ratios.
Yesterday I spoke with a friend who is looking to hire a summer nanny, so I thought our assistant would be perfect to recommend for the position. And that way she could come back in Aug/Sept.
Today we told her we would have to lay her off, and told her about the nanny job. She seemed very understanding and interested in the nannying job.
She left for the day, and then the texts started To sum it up she said:
She was upset that we would fire her with no notice, because we knew in advance that we would be losing these kids and should have given her some notice. That she has bills to pay, and it was so unfair of us to fire her with no notice and leave her in a bind. And how she won't be interested in returning in to our daycare in the fall, since we are so inconsistent, and she is not okay with having problems that affect her being able to pay rent.
She was absolutely not fired, without notice. She was given a two week notice, as per our policies. Her schedule has only changed once in 4 months, and she was given the exact same number of hours - just the times were adjusted a little. I sent her a text correcting her, that you ladies would be very proud of - professional/kept my calm/but was assertive and told her that was not the situation at all. However, it did end with "From the tone of your text I will assume that you are not returning to finish your two weeks".
She changed her tone a little, when I think she realized that she understood the notice completely wrong. She then thanked us for the nanny referral - and said she is meeting with her on Sunday and might need to start on Monday. We left it at that.
It was just so emotional, dramatic, upsetting - and unexpected.
As you can assume, we will be losing a significant amount of income. I have attempted advertising and have spoken with at minimum 7 families in the past two weeks and either they are needing care in the future, or our rates are too high, etc. So we have no new children starting when all the others leave. I feel like my head is spinning from doing so much talking about spots and advertising and speaking with parents. We have 6 families waiting to start in August, but now.... it sounds like crickets.
Our assistant has been aware that we are losing so many kids, and I have been trying to let her know how hard I am working at getting new clients. Today we let her know that we would have to lay her off for the summer, because we are losing so much income that we just can't manage to keep someone who isn't essential to our ratios.
Yesterday I spoke with a friend who is looking to hire a summer nanny, so I thought our assistant would be perfect to recommend for the position. And that way she could come back in Aug/Sept.
Today we told her we would have to lay her off, and told her about the nanny job. She seemed very understanding and interested in the nannying job.
She left for the day, and then the texts started To sum it up she said:
She was upset that we would fire her with no notice, because we knew in advance that we would be losing these kids and should have given her some notice. That she has bills to pay, and it was so unfair of us to fire her with no notice and leave her in a bind. And how she won't be interested in returning in to our daycare in the fall, since we are so inconsistent, and she is not okay with having problems that affect her being able to pay rent.
She was absolutely not fired, without notice. She was given a two week notice, as per our policies. Her schedule has only changed once in 4 months, and she was given the exact same number of hours - just the times were adjusted a little. I sent her a text correcting her, that you ladies would be very proud of - professional/kept my calm/but was assertive and told her that was not the situation at all. However, it did end with "From the tone of your text I will assume that you are not returning to finish your two weeks".
She changed her tone a little, when I think she realized that she understood the notice completely wrong. She then thanked us for the nanny referral - and said she is meeting with her on Sunday and might need to start on Monday. We left it at that.
It was just so emotional, dramatic, upsetting - and unexpected.
cheerfuldom 06:33 PM 05-17-2013
Every person is going to be upset when they lose their job, period. I understand you have to stand firm and correct her on false claims but also, let her have the right to her own feelings. You may have seen this coming since you are in the thick of replacing kids but obviously she felt blindsided and is upset. You did what was right for the business and you did follow your contract. You didnt do anything wrong. So I am not on "her side" or trying to imply that you mistreated her. All I am saying is that it is perfectly normal to be upset and emotional about losing her job. She may have been dramatic even but it sounds like that was from a misunderstanding about a notice given.
blandino 06:58 PM 05-17-2013
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
Every person is going to be upset when they lose their job, period. I understand you have to stand firm and correct her on false claims but also, let her have the right to her own feelings. You may have seen this coming since you are in the thick of replacing kids but obviously she felt blindsided and is upset. You did what was right for the business and you did follow your contract. You didnt do anything wrong. So I am not on "her side" or trying to imply that you mistreated her. All I am saying is that it is perfectly normal to be upset and emotional about losing her job. She may have been dramatic even but it sounds like that was from a misunderstanding about a notice given.
Every person is going to be upset when they lose their job, period. I understand you have to stand firm and correct her on false claims but also, let her have the right to her own feelings. You may have seen this coming since you are in the thick of replacing kids but obviously she felt blindsided and is upset. You did what was right for the business and you did follow your contract. You didnt do anything wrong. So I am not on "her side" or trying to imply that you mistreated her. All I am saying is that it is perfectly normal to be upset and emotional about losing her job. She may have been dramatic even but it sounds like that was from a misunderstanding about a notice given.
I totally get what you are saying about losing her job, and I really do sympathize - but we really tried to let her know it was coming. But I think the biggest problem for me was that she based all her accusations on something that wasn't accurate at all. To get mad over something that was so far from the truth is why it was so shocking for us. We would never ever give someone no notice.
I also should add, the actual text of the texts was ATTITUDE to the 10th degree & very condescending. They weren't nearly as nice as I worded things above. That might change it a little. I just didn't want to type in all the text.
MrsSteinel'sHouse 03:32 AM 05-18-2013
Business decision. You even found her a possible job! I agree I don't like " drama" sounds like you straightened it out though!
dave4him 04:13 AM 05-18-2013
Did you get any of that in writing when you let her go? Because she does have cause to fight that unless you had her sign something.
Blackcat31 07:20 AM 05-18-2013
Sounds to me she is like most every other "adult" as of late.....tantrums as soon as things don't go their way. 
Good for you for remaining professional and not letting your personal feelings show!
SHE will be the one who feels awkward working her final two weeks. Honestly, I'd feel a little leary of recommending her to anyone if she behaves so childishly when times get tough.
I'm sorry you are going through a rough patch. It definitely happens to everyone in this business. I've been there a time or two myself.
Hang in there are keep trying! You WILL get through this!
Good for you for remaining professional and not letting your personal feelings show!
SHE will be the one who feels awkward working her final two weeks. Honestly, I'd feel a little leary of recommending her to anyone if she behaves so childishly when times get tough.
I'm sorry you are going through a rough patch. It definitely happens to everyone in this business. I've been there a time or two myself.
Hang in there are keep trying! You WILL get through this!
craftymissbeth 08:57 AM 05-18-2013
Originally Posted by dave4him:
Did you get any of that in writing when you let her go? Because she does have cause to fight that unless you had her sign something.
It looks like Oklahoma is an at-will employment state, so she can "fire" her for any reason at any time (obviously besides discrimination or any other reason that is against the law).Did you get any of that in writing when you let her go? Because she does have cause to fight that unless you had her sign something.
But if you're talking unemployment compensation, then yeah she could probably get it if she qualifies.
preschoolteacher 09:48 AM 05-18-2013
Is she young? It sounds like she may be immature and/or uninformed about your workplace rules and policies. I would guess that she honestly did not realize she would have 2 more weeks of work at your daycare and that she believed her termination started immediately. And then she acted on her emotions and was not professional about it.
I worked in Human Resources in the past, and I was surprised by how little some young people understood about how things "work" at work. Things like... not realizing that they can look up information in the employee handbook, not knowing the way to go about resolving a workplace conflict, not having professional behavior in certain situations...
I'm not trying to say all young people are uninformed (I'm under 30 myself), but it really seemed like the 18-24 age group did not have some basic understanding of common sense things--probably because they didn't have much work experience.
People do say now that some younger people were "helicopter-parented" by their parents growing up, and now on their own they have a hard time dealing with problems and figuring out ways to help themselves. I wonder if this is the case for your assistant?
I worked in Human Resources in the past, and I was surprised by how little some young people understood about how things "work" at work. Things like... not realizing that they can look up information in the employee handbook, not knowing the way to go about resolving a workplace conflict, not having professional behavior in certain situations...
I'm not trying to say all young people are uninformed (I'm under 30 myself), but it really seemed like the 18-24 age group did not have some basic understanding of common sense things--probably because they didn't have much work experience.
People do say now that some younger people were "helicopter-parented" by their parents growing up, and now on their own they have a hard time dealing with problems and figuring out ways to help themselves. I wonder if this is the case for your assistant?
earlystart 06:41 PM 05-18-2013
It sounds like you didn't make it clear that she was getting a 2 week notice. Maybe you did, maybe she was so surprised that she didn't hear things correctly. This could have been prevented by writing a nice professional letter outlining her termination I suppose. I've never been an employer, and I've never been let go, but I've always included a written letter of my resignation when I've quit a job, so I would think an employer should also put it in writing at the time of verbal notice. Sounds like she is young and let her emotions get the best of her. Very unprofessional of her to act out like that. I bet she learned her lesson and felt foolish after realizing her misunderstanding.