After expending a considerable amount of their time, begging for budget, placing ads, interviewing, and orienting candidates, it’s amazing how many experienced and new supervisors manage to sabotage their own and the organization’s efforts by failing to take care of their talent. That failure manifests itself in a variety of ways. I have seen everything from failing to prepare a workspace for the new hire, to failing to ensure adequate training. In less time than it takes to consume a ham sandwich, some supervisors manage to communicate to their newbies that they don’t much care about what happens to them after they are hired. What results is truly tragic. As manic manager strikes again, new employees who are otherwise eager to become productive team players instead become bitter and remorseful. For many, leaving what once seemed like a great fit, becomes a mission to be free of a bad match and a regrettable choice.

I once watched in horror as a newly-hired colleague sat in her cubicle for days on end with absolutely nothing to do. Our otherwise caring boss overly preoccupied with her own impending nuptials abandoned my colleague “Jane”, (not her real name) like a refugee from a leper colony. It is no wonder, that a month later when my boss left the company, Jane demonstrated all the symptoms of PTSD. In an unfamiliar, large and bureaucratic organization, a new employee was left to fend for herself. Folks, this is no way to take care of the talent.