When a business reaches a size that needs staff there is always all sorts of problems that come with staff, and not just financial. They are people and personalities, and sometimes conflicting ones too.

Things I have personally come across in my working live from staff who have worked for me in one manner or another are;

Fear of Change.
I used to have a lady who I was promoted above who would get upset and cry even if we only moved the office furniture around. She was a fantastic assett to the company and I enjoyed working with her normally, but any change whether in policy or moving the coffee machine had to be handled very carefully.

Staff Affairs
My female assistant had having an affair with one of my married colleagues, then he called it off and things got nasty and needed to be handled carefully by my then boss. She then had an affair with two other people in the same company before leaving

Conflicting Personalities
Some people just do not get on well together. Conflicting personalities I feel is one of the hardest ones to manage.

Abusing Trust
This can be in many forms. I once employed a friend who was looking for work and could do the job I needed doing. Unfortunately he felt that as his mate was the boss he didn't really have to work, could turn up late and pack up his desk at 4:45pm ready to finish at 5pm on the dot. Other forms can be theft of cash, hardware, data, etc.

More and more examples are coming to mind and to be honest this list could go on and on. The main issue is that staff are people not machines, and as such need to be handled quite delicately. Good ones must be looked after well and bad ones got rid off quickly.
In today's Blame culture, where everyone blames everyone else and sue's at every opportunity you cannot be too careful, and you must have all the right contracts in place before you start. There is so much red tape involved in employing people these days that it becomes almost impossible, and my personal opinion is that the government and society in general is become pathetic in its approach to employment rights. I agree that people must be looked after and certain regulation are in place to protect those that need protection, but those same regulations are also be abused by those that are out for the take. End of closing rant
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Richard Osborne
Quick Formations Limited
A simple online company formation and company credit checking service...
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Originally posted by: troi
I would love to hear of any issues or problems with recruiting and keeping staff (especially sales) that anyone might have had. I feel like we're the only ones!

LOL sales people are great ( ok slight bias having a company full them), motivate, support and look after us and we will make you rich. Manage us badly and we will only do enough to keep our jobs. Take on bad sales people and they will cost you a fortune.
Summery
Take only good salespeople on.
Look after us and be pleased to be paying our commission and we will be nice back and make you lots of money.
avoid bad sales people like the plague

If you have specific issues with them let me know and we will try to help