How to dismiss IT pros
Joseph Powell began to suspect that something was wrong when his admin refused to cede administrative rights to accounting software. Powell, who worked as a manager at a private school, began to notice other oddities. When the school authorities finally made the admin provide the username and password, Joseph found here and there intentional errors in the school database. “We also noticed that our network works much worse when he was dissatisfied with one or another decision of the management towards him,” says Powell.
By the time Powell and the school decided to dismiss the admin, he had already read all their mail. Therefore, Joseph was forced to correspond with the bosses from the public library, from where he started an alternative mailbox.
In the context of the Cold War, the manager had to hire a special team of IT specialists who were instructed to backup everything they could find in the school network. This decision was very timely. When the administrator was informed about the dismissal, he said that he “built this network with his own hands and would take it with him”. And really tried. On the last day of work, the admin logged in and deleted all documents from the network. If it were not for Powell’s forethought, the school would have lost all of its digital assets.
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Powell's nightmare is a good example of why dismissing an IT professional can turn into a tricky task. These are employees who have the keys to the most valuable, they can merge confidential information into a few keystrokes or disconnect anyone from the network. So what to do when you need to dismiss some of them in such difficult conditions?
Step 1: Damage Control Plan
First you need to think about how you can repair any potential damage.
This is what Todd Stefan, president of high-tech risk management at Talon Cyber, says: “Don't cut it off. Everything needs to be carefully planned. Planning and forethought is what I consider most important. ”
He says that there are three important aspects to consider when dismissing an IT person: “Access to the network; the programs to which he has access; logins and passwords that he knows. ”
Therefore, before you fire someone, you need to secretly find out what type of access he has in different company networks. Find out who else has access to these systems, if no one else, add another user to these rights.
In addition to finding out what kind of access to different systems an IT professional soon dismissed (but not yet aware of it) has, you also need to prepare for the smooth transfer of his powers to other employees, and also consider special security measures in connection with the dismissal of the employee. If you are not ready for one hundred percent to all necessary actions, then it is better to postpone the dismissal.
Perhaps at this stage it makes sense to involve a third-party company to audit networks. If there are any backdoors on the network or if the IT specialist suspects that he can be fired, he can create some more potential problems, and then the auditors will find out in advance and warn him, detect any sabotage or signs of removing traces of criminal activity. They can backup critical system elements.
Step 2: Always keep the replacement ready
Before you dismiss an IT person, make sure that someone else knows what the employee is doing and how to do his job.
“You need to organize your IT department so that it doesn’t have a single irreplaceable person,” says Robert Monroe, now a professor at Carnegie Mellon, who has been involved in software development and project management for 15 years.
One of the main obstacles to dismissing someone is the thought that he may be the only one who has the knowledge of performing critical tasks. Monroe advises as early as possible to knock the crap out of such "informational hoesawners" who accumulate information and do not want to share it.
“Always, always, always act with the thought: what if it’s got a bus?”, Says Monroe. Even if such a prospect does not frighten the disserter, then explain to him three more truths that more strongly affect his interests. People who do not have a reliable mate will never go on vacation. They can never take sick leave. And what else is interesting, they will never be offered a promotion, that is, a more prestigious and highly paid job is no longer available for them.
One way or another, while leading strategic battles with the thesaurus on the emotional front, be sure to try using several tactical techniques that guarantee retreat in case of failure. Monroe recommends alternating responsibilities between IT staff on a periodic basis so that everyone can partially acquire the necessary skills and information about critical tasks.
The manager must ensure that employees are familiar with the work that their IT teammates are doing.
Step 3: Do it quickly
But how in reality to pull the trigger? Jim Lansalotto, vice-prezidet Yoh outsourcing agency, advises to go to the cinema: "Have you watched the movie " Office Space " ? So, do exactly the opposite. " He explains: in the film, the management hires labor efficiency consultants who conduct detailed interviews with each employee to find out which one to fire. This creates a barrier between employees in the office, which is wrong.
If you are going to fire an employee, do it quickly. Monroe recommends starting some standard procedure. It should include a check on the list of all items on admission to critical systems, as well as a final interview with the dismissed one on clarifying all key points regarding non-disclosure agreements.
Stefan recommends asking questions during an interview to help get rid of problems. For example, find out what passwords are in possession and to which systems. And what should be done in case of his dismissal. At this time, another employee must, during the interview, examine computer systems and ensure that nothing is damaged. Another employee should change the passwords and authorization systems, so that after leaving the interview room, the dismissed IT specialist could not log in with someone else's password.
All these preventive actions are completely normal, and they do not mean that the employee is treated as a potential criminal. During the dismissal of an IT person you need to treat him with respect, to communicate in a professional manner. If you need information and you treat him as a criminal, by this you incline him to give you bad information or damage the system, or stop communicating with you altogether.
Warning: do not do this on Friday
Being fired right before the weekend only increases employee confusion and gives him time to do more damage to your systems during the weekends, when most employees are out of work.
Stefan pays attention to the benefits of being laid off on Monday morning. In this case, you have a weekend to do the necessary preparatory work: backing up files, finding and removing backdoors on the network, closing access to other systems, and in the process there are not many people who can guess about upcoming events.
True, Lansalotto believes that the dismissal of an employee on Monday may adversely affect the productivity of the rest of the workers, because they will discuss this event all week. However, in any case, you can not dismiss on Friday.
Step 4: Handling Survivors
The unpleasant part of the work may be over, but the consequences of dismissal are not only related to information technology. Employees may be nervous and not find a place for themselves, so managers must act quickly to defuse the situation.
“Be as open as possible within the corporate culture,” says Monroe. “If you bring to them the idea that the decision was not despotic and accidental, then you will eliminate a significant proportion of the fears that have arisen.”
In addition, an honest discussion increases the likelihood that an unbalanced office will re-establish itself on its own. Monroe says that in most cases, if someone is fired because of incompetence, this is not surprising to his colleagues. When for the first time employees gave him a stormy ovation for firing a problem employee, Monroe realized that the man who is a headache for a manager usually gets in the way of his colleagues too.
By the time Powell and the school decided to dismiss the admin, he had already read all their mail. Therefore, Joseph was forced to correspond with the bosses from the public library, from where he started an alternative mailbox.
In the context of the Cold War, the manager had to hire a special team of IT specialists who were instructed to backup everything they could find in the school network. This decision was very timely. When the administrator was informed about the dismissal, he said that he “built this network with his own hands and would take it with him”. And really tried. On the last day of work, the admin logged in and deleted all documents from the network. If it were not for Powell’s forethought, the school would have lost all of its digital assets.
')
Powell's nightmare is a good example of why dismissing an IT professional can turn into a tricky task. These are employees who have the keys to the most valuable, they can merge confidential information into a few keystrokes or disconnect anyone from the network. So what to do when you need to dismiss some of them in such difficult conditions?
Step 1: Damage Control Plan
First you need to think about how you can repair any potential damage.
This is what Todd Stefan, president of high-tech risk management at Talon Cyber, says: “Don't cut it off. Everything needs to be carefully planned. Planning and forethought is what I consider most important. ”
He says that there are three important aspects to consider when dismissing an IT person: “Access to the network; the programs to which he has access; logins and passwords that he knows. ”
Therefore, before you fire someone, you need to secretly find out what type of access he has in different company networks. Find out who else has access to these systems, if no one else, add another user to these rights.
In addition to finding out what kind of access to different systems an IT professional soon dismissed (but not yet aware of it) has, you also need to prepare for the smooth transfer of his powers to other employees, and also consider special security measures in connection with the dismissal of the employee. If you are not ready for one hundred percent to all necessary actions, then it is better to postpone the dismissal.
Perhaps at this stage it makes sense to involve a third-party company to audit networks. If there are any backdoors on the network or if the IT specialist suspects that he can be fired, he can create some more potential problems, and then the auditors will find out in advance and warn him, detect any sabotage or signs of removing traces of criminal activity. They can backup critical system elements.
Step 2: Always keep the replacement ready
Before you dismiss an IT person, make sure that someone else knows what the employee is doing and how to do his job.
“You need to organize your IT department so that it doesn’t have a single irreplaceable person,” says Robert Monroe, now a professor at Carnegie Mellon, who has been involved in software development and project management for 15 years.
One of the main obstacles to dismissing someone is the thought that he may be the only one who has the knowledge of performing critical tasks. Monroe advises as early as possible to knock the crap out of such "informational hoesawners" who accumulate information and do not want to share it.
“Always, always, always act with the thought: what if it’s got a bus?”, Says Monroe. Even if such a prospect does not frighten the disserter, then explain to him three more truths that more strongly affect his interests. People who do not have a reliable mate will never go on vacation. They can never take sick leave. And what else is interesting, they will never be offered a promotion, that is, a more prestigious and highly paid job is no longer available for them.
One way or another, while leading strategic battles with the thesaurus on the emotional front, be sure to try using several tactical techniques that guarantee retreat in case of failure. Monroe recommends alternating responsibilities between IT staff on a periodic basis so that everyone can partially acquire the necessary skills and information about critical tasks.
The manager must ensure that employees are familiar with the work that their IT teammates are doing.
Step 3: Do it quickly
But how in reality to pull the trigger? Jim Lansalotto, vice-prezidet Yoh outsourcing agency, advises to go to the cinema: "Have you watched the movie " Office Space " ? So, do exactly the opposite. " He explains: in the film, the management hires labor efficiency consultants who conduct detailed interviews with each employee to find out which one to fire. This creates a barrier between employees in the office, which is wrong.
If you are going to fire an employee, do it quickly. Monroe recommends starting some standard procedure. It should include a check on the list of all items on admission to critical systems, as well as a final interview with the dismissed one on clarifying all key points regarding non-disclosure agreements.
Stefan recommends asking questions during an interview to help get rid of problems. For example, find out what passwords are in possession and to which systems. And what should be done in case of his dismissal. At this time, another employee must, during the interview, examine computer systems and ensure that nothing is damaged. Another employee should change the passwords and authorization systems, so that after leaving the interview room, the dismissed IT specialist could not log in with someone else's password.
All these preventive actions are completely normal, and they do not mean that the employee is treated as a potential criminal. During the dismissal of an IT person you need to treat him with respect, to communicate in a professional manner. If you need information and you treat him as a criminal, by this you incline him to give you bad information or damage the system, or stop communicating with you altogether.
Warning: do not do this on Friday
Being fired right before the weekend only increases employee confusion and gives him time to do more damage to your systems during the weekends, when most employees are out of work.
Stefan pays attention to the benefits of being laid off on Monday morning. In this case, you have a weekend to do the necessary preparatory work: backing up files, finding and removing backdoors on the network, closing access to other systems, and in the process there are not many people who can guess about upcoming events.
True, Lansalotto believes that the dismissal of an employee on Monday may adversely affect the productivity of the rest of the workers, because they will discuss this event all week. However, in any case, you can not dismiss on Friday.
Step 4: Handling Survivors
The unpleasant part of the work may be over, but the consequences of dismissal are not only related to information technology. Employees may be nervous and not find a place for themselves, so managers must act quickly to defuse the situation.
“Be as open as possible within the corporate culture,” says Monroe. “If you bring to them the idea that the decision was not despotic and accidental, then you will eliminate a significant proportion of the fears that have arisen.”
In addition, an honest discussion increases the likelihood that an unbalanced office will re-establish itself on its own. Monroe says that in most cases, if someone is fired because of incompetence, this is not surprising to his colleagues. When for the first time employees gave him a stormy ovation for firing a problem employee, Monroe realized that the man who is a headache for a manager usually gets in the way of his colleagues too.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31597/
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