[ishiz]

I think this is the reason I was hired at my current company and it put me in an awkward position.

I was hired as employee #2 for a critical team at my company. For the first 3 months, my colleague and I worked closely together on everything I was doing. From production problems to day to day PR reviews, I had no one else to ask besides my colleague. We didn't even have a manager we reported to. Then suddenly I was told they didn't work at the company anymore. I was told they were still available for 2 weeks on Slack for any knowledge transfer I needed, but they would have no other access to our network, our Github, or anything else.

My advice is that option 1 in the SE question (hire a replacement, then terminate) should be avoided. How is that going to look to the replacement? It really shook me up. I was only a few months in, I didn't have time to build trust in the company yet. If I could have, I probably would have went back to my old job right away. Then what happens to that knowledge you were hoping to retain? A year later I still wonder if someday the same will happen to me.

Instead, I would recommend approaching the employee and working out a deal for them to amicably train a replacement. The replacement should know going in that they are a replacement and they should be told to focus on training themselves and others on this knowledge. If they don't agree to the deal then you fire them immediately. Yes, that'll suck, and maybe you even have a production problem because of it, but you can make it work.

[foolfoolz]

> If they don't agree to the deal then you fire them immediately

this does nothing but hurt the business. it hurts the person being hired the most, which in this story is you, because that new hire will still happen and they won’t have as good of training.

[sharts]

Indeed it should be a standard practice to maintain some kind of paid retention/consulting relationship for a few months post exit. It’s a win-win for just a few months extra cost.

[jacquesm]

That all depends on the reasons for the departure, in some cases the company and/or the former employee want nothing to do with each other.

[bugglebeetle]

Or, you can do what I did when an evil manager tried to do this to me: tell the new hire what’s going on, work as a team to do a great job for your customers while turning them against management, then use managements opposition to all your great work together to get said management fired.

[ThePowerOfFuet]

> Or, you can do what I did when a manager tried to do this to me, tell the new hire what’s going on, work as a team to do a great job for your customers while turning them against management,

Okay, I'm with you so far.

> then get said management fired.

Then draw the rest of the fucking owl? How did you do this?

[DoreenMichele]

I'm guessing you were somewhere relatively large. I knew someone who got replaced like this and it was a small enough company that I don't think this could have been done because there was no layer of management between them and the top dog doing this to them.

Oh, and no one above that guy either. He was the owner of the business.

[bugglebeetle]

Yeah, this only works if you can play some higher than your boss against your boss. You’re screwed if it’s a smaller place or the CEO or someone like that is directly doing this to you.

[sharts]

why would customers turn against management if you did a great job for them?

[bugglebeetle]

Turned the new co-worker against management, not the customers. Apologies for the confusion.

[croquemonsieur]

When I graduated I really struggled to find a job. It took 18 months and the first job I got was a small place. I was hired directly by the owner and I had one colleague. On the last day of the first week, the owner took me to lunch and said, "we are going to fire [the other employee] and you will do his job". I was gobsmacked. I quit when we got back to the office. Fire the other person if you want, but don't make me complicit.

What a shitty way to start my shitty career.

[chalcolithic]

> struggled to find a job. It took 18 months

> I quit when we got back to the office.

Wow. Just wow.

[sharts]

Integrity is rare. Wow indeed.

[KeplerBoy]

Is it really unethical to replace employees?

I'm not invalidating your decision, maybe that owner really was an asshole, but I don't think the move in itself is deplorable.

[croquemonsieur]

I think it was unethical to do it like that, yeah. And you're right I don't know the history between the two of them, so I can't say which was the asshole. But I do think I'd have been an asshole had I stayed after learning that.

[SlightlyLeftPad]

I agree, it’s equally likely that the person they were trying fire was an asshole too.

[croquemonsieur]

I've written/read the word asshole so many times, I'm reminded of Spaceballs!

But you're right, I didn't know them enough to judge who was in the wrong. I think that was the problem. If he'd just fired the guy without telling me, I'd have been surprised but there wouldn't be anything I could do. Instead, he effectively gave me a choice: stay and someone you barely know loses their job, or leave.

[j-bos]

Yeah that is an odd way to handle it, almost like the owner didn't want to fully own their decision.

[listenallyall]

Gale Boetticher?

Unlikely (because he's dead), but... small place, hired directly by the owner, exactly one colleague, told (over a meal) you're going to take over his job.

[jacquesm]

Apparently not, but even if you probably shouldn't reveal identities if the OP didn't do it already.

[dullcrisp]

Not the place for deep cuts sadly

[croquemonsieur]

No, I'm afraid not. Sorry.

[jacquesm]

Yes it sucks. But from the company's perspective not hiring a replacement first is even more risky.