My husband and I co own a small business.
The industry is personal services. Without getting too specific, think hair or tattooing.
Recently he got notice from one of the employees that she is quitting. She’s been with us for 6 years, but just finished her apprenticeship less than 2 years ago. Before her apprenticeship, she was working more of scheduling, cleaning, and selling products.
She gave us like 4 months notice, and that gives us time to at least start training someone else. But here’s the thing. She is already scheduled for a class pertaining to the industry that we’re paying for. It costs about $2k and the class takes place roughly two months before she leaves.
My husband asked if I think we should still pay for it, I said no because it’s an investment in an employee who will work for us. If we pay for it now, we’re investing in somebody else’s employee. He’s made up his mind he’s still going to pay for it because he doesn’t want bad blood, but I’m still annoyed. That’s money we can use for the business. Since him and I had a baby, I’ve really stepped back from working there, so I feel like he should have a final say.
But I’m still curious what other business owners think, what would you do?
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I worked for the government previously. It was very firm and consistent that there was no more paid training once you gave notice. And sometimes you had to pay them back for recent training. You’ll need that money to find and recruit a replacement.
Nah. Not gonna pay for that. Also, make sure that you have a contract for these types of paid trainings, if someone leaves within X time they have to pay part or in full the training.
Cancel company paid training for soon to be non company person. You go instead. $2k is a lot of money for a small business to flush down the toilet.
It depends on what the business will get from the employee over the next 4 months. And will the customers they service remain? Would they also remain if they were fitted immediately without a replacement? There’s lots of factors to consider.
It sounds like if it takes a year at least to train a replacement four months is highly valuable to still have a trained professional on staff. Also since employee is moving out of state, no risk of clients following her to her new position. Loyal clients might even like if she’s having a hand in training her replacement and not just suddenly gone. OP is being short-sighted especially given cash flow will cover training in one day.
Money isn’t the only factor lol. The very generous employee gave them 4 months notice about them leaving. If they were to renege on training they already said they were paying for the employee might say screw these people, and leave tomorrow. Treat your employees like humans — something op’s husband understands.
She’s giving 4 months because she is moving and presumably wants to work until ready to go. It’s not reneging on a training course if the business is going to get no use out of it or extremely limited use.
She finds and trains her replacement in exchange for the training. Everyone wins.
I would offer to split the cost with her, you valued her an an employee, and you may get some return on the training before she leaves.
In the future you may want to write u to your contract that for paid trainings you expect x number of months work after said training.
I work in education, and one of the few perks is paid courses. In the contract it explicitly states I must be employed for 1 year or MAYBE subjected to having to pay back the cost of the course.
I have never seen a district asked for it but it’s an option.
He said no.
Btw this is the second time an employee has done this after we’ve paid for training. Husband said those contracts don’t hold up
Btw this is the second time an employee has done this after we’ve paid for training. Husband said those contracts don’t hold up
Then this is a leadership problem not an employee problem
What will your net gain be from this employee giving you 4 months notice? If it works out that you will be profiting from this even while paying for the training then it makes sense. If you are going to lose money over this then I’d suggest canceling the training with the full expectation that oil get 2 weeks notice or less if they just quit.
What you need to do though is have this in a contract for the future. If someone leaves within x amount of time from taking company paid training, they owe the cost of training back to the company.
She’s saying it will take years to fully train someone for the position though as it can’t be just jumped into. I’d say the four months is really valuable for someone fully trained so they can at least START working with the new apprentice. It sounds like risking that two weeks is really risky.
This is business, bad blood shouldn’t be a thought on your mind with something like this. Exactly as you said, this investment is not going to benefit you or your specific business, take the offer off the table. I understand it’s harsh, but again, this is business. Your husband sounds like he has a good heart but I promise you it’s not worth paying for that training. Know how much essentials you could put towards your kid for 2k? Good luck with your choice.
I’d probably pay for it since she gave a lot more than necessary notice. I think it would be very likely that that generous notice might change rock the boat.
This is a learning experience.
In the future when you pay for training for an employee that’s not company specific you should set up a contract where the training is free if they work for $x months otherwise they pay back a prorated amount based on the number of months they worked.
Keep in mind we should be training that benefits both the employee and the employer. I’ve had customers try to get me to discount my rates or not get paid for training some obscure product that I think is a fucking joke and the certification has no value to me. That shit don’t fly with me.
Paying the equivalent of one day of the profit she generates in return for a smooth four month transition where the employee could help recruit/train her replacement as well is a bargain. I’d feel fortunate if I got a four-day notice. Who knows how her relocation will go. She could be back
If your industry is niche enough I think you would benefit from your husbands strategy. Keep your self known as a place for talented up and comers to be noticed and get experience. That said I do feel that moving forward you include some thing in a contract about the cost of training vs time spent at business.
If you cancel it, she’s not showing up to work tomorrow.
If the benefit is $0, you should spend zero time on it.
I wouldn’t. You could offer to pay it put of her remaining wages if she’s into that, she might value something like that. But you’re not in the wrong for not paying it. Most company’s, depending on the size of the training, have clauses that the employee has to pay for the training if they quit within x months from taking it.
I would find her replacement asap and that would be that. I wouldn’t pay a penny. That is your child’s money
A replacement will take at least a year to train. We found someone to start training, but it’s not a job someone can just hop into with no experience
Training is an investment and I wouldn’t invest in someone who’s leaving. Use that money to train in a new person imo.