6 steps to managing hired help
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By Louis R. Carlozo
If that personal Mary Poppins you hired isn't flying, can you handle it?
First the good news: You're the boss of your household and your service providers. Now the bad: You're the boss, and that means tough decisions on reprimanding sloppy work and firing come down to you.
It's not easy -- even for psychotherapist and life coach Kathryn Keller. "I had a cleaning woman who came down with cancer, and for two years I'd let her come to my house, lie down on the couch, and would pay her and talk to her," she recalls. "Then I'd clean the house by myself. I just didn't have the heart to fire her."
Keller says the experience taught her plenty about why people have problems cutting hired help loose. "You're looking at conflict avoidance," she says. "I don't want to sound sexist, but women may be more uncomfortable having someone as an employee -- and being in this supervisor position where they have to fire." Experts and pros in various service fields offered these rules for being a good boss -- and knowing when it's time to cut ties...
