Sometimes… it’s like a Death in the Family…

Bit morbid isn’t it? Sometimes… it’s like a Death in the Family… I mean it’s not really like a Death in the Family, unless there’s actually a Death in the Family… And… in this case… there’s been no actual Death in the Family…

You’ve probably all heard it – or even said it to your candidates – before.

‘It’s important to like the people you work with, because you spend more time with them than you do your own family or friends…’

Hell, I see the guys at the office more than I see my own kids. And, in the Melbourne office – where I spend most of my time – we have created a really nice culture. Everybody likes each other, everybody respects each other… but it was only recently that I realised just how much…

We had a girl working in our office for a little over a year. She was not just ‘a girl’, She was everything you could have wanted in a consultant. Bright, fun, hard working, intuitive, caring and – just to top it off – successful. She was like a doughnut with extra jam, a takeaway chinese order when they throw in the free bag of prawn crackers, or the resort holiday with the unexpected fruit platter and champagne waiting for you on arrival… I guess what I’m saying is we got what we paid for… and much… much… more.

Then, about 2 months ago at exactly 9.34pm we got the dreaded text…

‘I was hoping we could catch up in the morning. There’s something I want to discuss with you.’

You don’t have to be Dr Stephen Hawking (pre or post his cool robot voice) to work out that she was about to resign…

To cut a long story short – she did.

What? Too short? Ok… She wanted to travel to the UK and live abroad for a couple of years… there’s no real come back for that… is there? Can’t counter offer going overseas and fulfilling a lifelong dream…

What I did notice was that as soon as the decision was made public a little bit of spark, a little bit of fun and a little bit of culture disappeared from our office. She worked out her 2 week’s. We had a party. There were tears… and then… she was gone.

For a few weeks we kidded herself that she would arrive in London – hate the place and be back before I’d nicked her office chair – it’s the only one with both armrests still in tact. But that sadly, didn’t happen.  (On the positive though, I do have a new office chair).

And today, the weight of reality has forced me to accept the sad truth… she changed her Linked In profile to her new role… she ain’t coming back.

I may sound a little self-absorbed, but I don’t care… It’s not that I have invested in a resource that now someone else is benefitting from. It is not that I have lost a revenue producing machine, that’s left a big hole in my budget projections. And it’s not that now I am going to have to rely on Google™ to tell me what YOLO and LMAO and G1 means… It’s that we no longer have the pleasure of spending 8-10 hours a day with a really special person…

We have all lost someone from the work place that has made us sad, and it takes a bit of time to bounce back – as individuals and as a group.

If you are a business owner, take some time to empathise with your staff and take measures to protect the culture that has been created. If you are an employee, be aware that your boss has lost someone too…

My advice is that you remember what you admired about, learned from and enjoyed about that person. Reflect a little of that person in your own behaviour and your workplace culture will not only survive, but improve…

Oh, and Natalie if you do read this, please come home… I’ll give you your chair back, get you a new notebook and promise not to tell anyone that you secretly wish you were a member of S club 7… Whoops! Did I say that out loud?

Craig Watson