Has anyone ever demoted a highly paid manager? This individual was one carrying this company and handled so much, now has really taken steps back for many reasons (health, age, etc), but has the exact same salary.
Does anyone have experience with this?
I just fired Sama. I can give you some pointers.
Have a conversation first. It can put your concerns across. You can think of alternative options as well. A part time Advisor role may be suitable for both with cost savings for the company and a honorable exit for the manager.
Not been in this exact position but demoting them will cut their moral and motivation down significantly, offer him less hours in thesame role as a consultant/ trainer but now paid hourly as opposed to salary .
I do. I had demote a director of operations and return him to an estimator.
I ended up firing him 2 months later for intentionally sabotaging projects and not meeting his responsibilities.
He already wasn’t meeting his responsibilities in his higher role, but he was causing much more damage in a director capacity because of it.
There was about 30 days where his incapabilities weren’t affecting anything after his demotion, but as things started to right themselves, he was getting impeding progress.
The demotion 1000% soured him and enraged him.
No one ever takes a demotion well, unless they really feel like they weren’t meant for the role and took it out of pressure.
His pay had to remain the same, just as a side note, when I demoted him.
You’re better off to fire them unfortunately. This is why you lay off instead of pay cut when times are lean. There are not many greater DE-motivators than a pay or position cut. If you think he’s bad at this high level position wait until you cut him down to a lower position.
If he’s a REALLY well adjusted person you may be able to have the convo with him- maybe he’s feeling overwhelmed too and wouldn’t mind a smaller role. That would be the minority of people who can handle that convo though.
Tough all the way around for sure. I feel for you.
Theyre not better off being fired
Of course not. But that isn’t the point. OP may be better off firing them.
It’s about what is better for the business.
Usually there is no step back. You’ll just have to move on and replace.
terminate employment, dont demote. I tried it once b/c the guy had a family and I felt guilty. Two weeks later he said he hurt his back and filed a disability claim.
Demote yourself.