I’ve recently had to deal with some delusional employees. In all three cases, they thought that they were top performers, worth double or more their current compensation. This, even though two of the three had been here for less than a year, and had average performance at best. But they had told themselves stories. In their minds they were top performers, far superior to everyone else in their same position. And (in their minds) they were woefully underpaid. This, despite the fact that they could see by our open-book record keeping that their performance was unexceptional.
None of them works here anymore.
We have a rigorous hiring process. But we have not yet figured out a screen for delusional people. If you have found one, please let me know.
Meanwhile, if you find that a new hire is completely and consistently unhinged from reality, let them go. Life is just too short…
