When you have to cut IT, here’s how to choose who goes

Sometimes, less is more, more or less. That applies to people, specifically who you keep when you have declining budgets that force tech staff layoffs.

Got that?

What follows might not be for you. I’m not sure it’s for me, for that matter. Read and decide whether this is good advice for you, or whether it would make you a cold-hearted member of the illegitimi.

[ Learn all about the concept of doing less with less the Slow IT way. Rant on our wailing wall. Read the Slow IT manifesto. Trade Slow IT tips and techniques in our discussion group. Get Slow IT shirts, mugs, and more goodies. ]

Start with a well-documented statistic: The best employees are, by every measure, 10 times more effective than average ones. Next, check your compensation system. I’ll bet you don’t pay them 10 times as much.

The curve is nonlinear, which means that, in general, if you have an accurate eye for talent, every additional dollar you pay for talent pays off more than the dollar before it.

Which means your most expensive employees are cheaper than your cheapest ones. Conversely, your least expensive employees cost you the most, when viewed from the perspective of bang per buck.

Next, we need to talk about your standards — namely, whether they’re high enough. Put plainly: When you rate that an employee “meets expectations,” are your expectations as high as they ought to be? Or are you giving accepting mediocrity because you just aren’t willing to insist on more and to take the unpleasant steps needed to get it?

It’s a difficult question to answer, because you only know what you know, and you have a strong incentive — the intense desire all of us have to practice avoidance in the face of unpleasant tasks — to give yourself the benefit of the doubt.

Here’s one way to start getting a handle on the question: Look closely to determine whether you have any employees who “hide behind the herd.” They’re the employees who handle routine responsibilities just fine, but who only accomplish anything beyond the routine by “collaborating” with other employees, even when your instructions were for them to handle the situation on their own.

If you have any employees like this, you can do much better.

If you can, it’s time to raise your expectations so these folks no longer meet them. Don’t hide in the bushes to trap them. Be open about it. Make it clear you’re raising the bar and let them know what it’s going to take from now on to continue to be considered a successful employee.

Many will surprise you. They’ll wreck the premise of this blog, because they’ll help you do more with less, rather than do less with less. Sorry, and so be it.

Lay off the rest. I’m sorry — I really am — because unless they’re bad human beings, laying them off is going to be tough on you and on them. But you should lay them off anyway the next time your budget is cut.

[ When you do have to make cuts, here’s the right way to lay off IT staff. And when it’s time to evaluate or hire new tech staff, here are the 30 skills every tech staffer should have. ]

Because the relationship between performance and employee rank is nonlinear, it means that while you will get less total work done in your department due to the layoffs, it won’t be as severe as a simple look at the numbers will suggest.

And as soon as you are in a position to rehire, you should be able to hire a much better grade of employee than those you let go. With the unemployment numbers hovering around 10 percent, and with many of the unemployed jobless as a result of becoming company-less, not because of layoffs or their own performance deficiencies, it’s a reasonable goal.

So long as you improve your eye for talent, and your standards, beyond those you used to hire and retain the folks you’re going to let go.