Bob ... While your advice [to Needing to choose the lesser of two evils] is sound, I question whether the risk is worth the reward. Your reader's main concern was that by not taking her on, he would be overloaded and therefore could not manage the project to the extent that he would like to. The plus to hiring her was that he would not be overloaded and the project would potentially complete successfully. B Bob …While your advice [to Needing to choose the lesser of two evils] is sound, I question whether the risk is worth the reward.Your reader’s main concern was that by not taking her on, he would be overloaded and therefore could not manage the project to the extent that he would like to. The plus to hiring her was that he would not be overloaded and the project would potentially complete successfully. But let’s look at he downside. Suppose she does not work out. Even if he could terminate quickly (which is rarely the case) he now has a customer who is unhappy, potentially bad work from her that he has to overcome, and now has to take over a project in midstream that is failing. All which to me equates to MORE work that trying to just handle the extra workload himself.I have had enough of these employees in the past to know that good deeds don’t go unpunished and only a few were worth the risk of taking them on in the hopes they would perform differently.On a philosophical note – why does she have a job in the first place? While good employees continue to struggle to maintain their positions in companies, people like her seem to continue on and on… – Don’t take her!Dear Don’t …I confess, it was nearly a toss-up. What turned it in favor of giving the employee a chance is that this is the only way to end up with a new hire. It’s why I added the caveat that Choosing must have hire/fire authority before trying this. As to your other question: It’s because many managers lack the courage and/or thick skin required to deal with non-performing employees. It’s a case of the person in front of you being more important than an unknown stranger, simply be being the person in front of you. It makes no logical sense, but a lot of emotional sense to many people.And the result is that many deserving total strangers get turned away in favor of undeserving acquaintances and friends.– Bob ——– Technology Industry