August 2022 - MPL Law Firm

Shhhh, I’m Quitting

Last week, I was introduced to the following term – “Quiet Quitting”. Does it mean that people are leaving their jobs and not telling you? Not necessarily. If you have not heard about it, just do a quick search online or check out some of the articles below:

6 Signs That A ‘Quiet Quitter’ Is Among Your Employees And What To Do About It (forbes.com)
Everyone Is Talking About ‘Quiet Quitting,’ But Is It a Good Idea? (msn.com)
Kevin O’Leary: ‘Quiet quitting is a really bad idea’ (cnbc.com)

Essentially, employees are making a conscious decision to do the bare minimum when it comes to job performance. Throughout my career, people engaged in this type of behavior may have been called “slackers”, “entitled” and/or “lazy”. However, when you look into the reasons behind this new trend, I don’t think those descriptions necessarily apply. Making matters even more complicated, we are in the middle of a tight job market.

So, if you are an employer, what do you do? A few things I would suggest you think about:

What is your process for bringing new staff members on? Do you get a good sense that they will be a good fit for your company culture?
What is your current company culture? Do your employees agree?
Has your company culture changed over the last few years?

The heart and soul of your business is the company culture. You and your staff are the keys to maintaining that culture. If you think something is amiss or the culture is not the same, you may need to look in the mirror and figure out what needs to change. A good business mentor can also help. You just have to ask and be open and honest.

Helpful Resource Pages

As always, please don’t hesitate to email myself (jsanders@mpl-law.com), Andy Miller (amiller@mpl-law.com), Christian Miller (cmiller@mpl-law.com), Erik Spurlin (espurlin@mpl-law.com) or anyone in our office with questions or comments.  

Trust, but verify

I can’t tell you the number of times that a client has brought me an executed agreement and don’t know who they actually got into bed with. Knowing exactly who you are executing a contract with may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised. The party you sign a contract with may really be a shell company and the real party in interest is actually a shareholder. Good luck finding out who they are. In the private equity realm, that happens a lot. In other situations, you may be given a trade name of a company but may not know who the actual owner would be. That’s why it is critical that you verify the counterparty and make sure the person signing on their behalf is approved to do so. Below are some good ways to do this:

Require a W-9 from the other side
Look up the company’s name on the State’s Department of Corporations website
Do a search online
Look up the company’s name in the local prothonotary or county court website
Ask for a signed company resolution approving the authority of the person signing the agreement
Ask your professional business advisors

Knowing who you sign a contract with will be important not if, but when it comes time to enforce your rights. As Ronald Reagan famously said, “Trust, but verify”.

A few things that may be of interest:

Economic Review: August 2022 – Silvercrest (silvercrestgroup.com) (thanks to Sean O’Dowd for sharing)
Raising the Curtain: The Next Act for Alternative Investments (eisneramper.com) (9/21; 2-330pm, Virtual; 9/22 2-7pm, In-Person)
What does the Inflation Reduction Act Mean for Taxes (eisneramper.com)

Helpful Resource Pages