Keep or fire??

[Howard]

I have a janitor who is now 78 years old. He has been with us for nine years and has always been loyal, reliable, efficient, and willing to go the extra mile when needed. Unfortunately, his age has caught up with him and he is unable to maintain his work at the level we expect.
The job is not a survival question (money wise) for him, but it is his social life and he is proud that he still is productive.
We want to keep him on and consider the salary a token of our apprreciation for the nine great years. However, the work still needs to be done (cleaning the machines, emptying the lint traps, mopping, etc.). It is not possible to replace him with a backup and keep him on. It is impractical and he would be highly insulted.
Any suggestions on how to handle this problem?

[MichaelCa]

Literally.
Assuming you can afford it (and your use of 'token' to describe his pay suggests you can), relegate him to assisting customers and other customer interaction , and tell him you're going to hire someone else to do more of the "grunt" work that he "doesn't need to do now".
You say its "his social life", ...most likely there already is a reciprocal sentiment by your customers to him.

Along with his 'promotion', you can offer him 'flexibility' of his hours (tactfully hinting at the benefit to him of less hours).
He may even 'supervise' the new "janitorial assistant" those fewer hours he's in. Stagger the hours, to limit the inpractical aspects.


This works. Its used successfully by co's with many zero's & commas in their annual reports.

[mike]

Keep him,
(it's not like he has to shovel snow or anything, out there in the land of perfect weather :-)

[anonymous]

First thing to do is find out where his head is at... he may be stressed thinking that if he is not doing a good job. Nobody wants to lose their social life.

Talk to him with options, getting someone else to do the 'heavy' duties sounds like a great option.

Don't be surprised when you hire someone else, it is hard to replace the 'work ethic' of a 78 year old. (they actually care!) Sorry to generalize.

dave.

[anonymous]

Howard, I think if you mix MichaelCa and Daves reply you may have the perfect answer Both for you and your employee.

Gary

[Lar Hylobates]

You need to hope for a mild heart attack or stroke that will not "allow" to to conscienciously hire him back .

It worked for me.

[Coinwash]

[i]Don't be surprised when you hire someone else, it is hard to replace the 'work ethic' of a 78 year old. (they actually care!) Sorry to generalize.

dave. [/B]


Have him put someone under his wing. Let him help in the process of replacing himself. He well get the hint. But if he is as good as you say keep him, he will let you know when it’s over. Good trusting help is hard to find.

[pete f]

I had a somewhat similar situation, an older friend of mine who has worked for me for awhile was very reliable, but not as clean as I wished. I reliezed some things were physicaly hard or impossible. I had a younger guy who wanted a job, so I talked with my friend. He took a day less, I gave up a day I worked and the new kid got 2 days of the hard work, which he was grateful for. I had work detail sheets for everyone, they knew what job they had to do everyday. The place was sparkling for some time, until the kid abruptly left town. My friend was still working his shift and has helped cover some since. I am looking for a younger body again. See if your older helper wants more time off and does not mind some else doing the hard dirty work. I would try and keep him on somehow, as you know he is reliable.

[anonymous]

I also had a long time employee who was hitting retirement age (83) that could not keep up with everything. He opened everyday at 630am, kept the lint in check and hounded the ladies all at once! I could tell he was ready to slow down so with his agreement we slowly cut his hours and duties. One day, out of the blue, he decided to retire 100%. I hired a young buck (66) to replace him.