I run a small business I started around 4 years ago. In the beginning it was just 4 of us including me and she was one of my first hires. She stayed when we were new. Low pay, long hours, no structure. I’ve always respected that and as the business grew, I made sure her salary grew too. Right now she’s one of the highest paid people on my team because she’s been here from the start.
We’re still a small team (about 15 people now) but we’re growing and taking on bigger clients. Expectations have changed a lot.
The problem is her performance hasn’t really grown with it. She’s not bad but she’s consistently slow, misses deadlines and struggles with newer tools. I often have to reassign things last minute. Like we recently subscribed to a new tool where all our client data is stored. She was responsible for it. It took her almost a month to get somewhat comfortable with it and then she said the tool is too complicated and we should replace it.
Out of concern, I gave the same tool to one of my interns and they started actively working on it within 3 days. Now that honestly worried me.
This wasn’t sudden. I’ve been noticing this gap for a while. About 6 months ago, I even had a one-on-one with her and asked indirectly, while respecting boundaries, if something was bothering her or affecting her focus. I even offered her a paid week off if she needed it. She said everything was fine.
After that, I still gave it time. I reduced her workload so she could improve and gave regular feedback. There was some effort but not enough to match what the role now needs.
At the start of this month, I finally called her in and told her I’d have to put her on notice period because we’re restructuring and I need someone who can handle the current pace. She was upset. She said she stayed when the company was nothing, trusted me, and now that things are stable I’m replacing her. I agreed to her but felt helpless.
I offered to extend her notice period by another month if she needs more time to find a new job. I myself am new into this and first time being a boss. May be I could have handled it better?
From a business point of view, I feel like I gave enough chances. But on a personal level, it feels like I’m being disloyal to someone who was there from day one.
AITAH?