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Tolerating
unproductive or disruptive employee behavior can quickly
poison the atmosphere of a business.
'Firing' - 'termination' - 'lay off' - whatever you call
it, it's painful.
Sooner or later, most business owners face the situation
of an employee who isn't working out.
How you handle that person and situation is important. If
you handle it poorly, you may be sued, or create a backlash
from remaining employees.
It's important to:
- Stay alert to complaints.
(Pay attention to complaints about problems in the workplace
- employees don't always bring these issues to the 'boss'
so you have to find ways to stay in touch with the day-to-day
work environment.)
- Deal with problems.
(Don't pretend that the problem will go away; it won't.)
- Talk with the employee when you're not angry.
(Try to communicate what is expected, offer training, model
desired behavior.)
It's common for employers to accept all kinds of excuses
for poor
performance, mistakes and problems.
Be careful about being sucked into an employee's personal
problems. You are not the employee's counselor. Focus on
job requirements and expectations. Encourage the employee
to get help with problems. The employee should not be in
the workplace if unable to do his/her job.
When it's clear that the employee isn't working out, you
need to terminate the person. In my experience, the longer
you delay the termination, the worse it is for everyone.
Unless the employee has a contract, employment is considered
'at will.' This means that an employee can be terminated
for any reason or no reason at all, except for the prohibited
reasons of race, gender, age, etc.
It's important to be consistent in how you treat employees.
You can get into trouble if you terminate one employee
for behavior that you tolerated in another.
Termination DOs:
- Treat the person with respect.
- Schedule a meeting for privacy.
- Plan what you will say.
- Explain WHY, WHAT & WHEN.
- Explain why the termination is occurring (e.g., work restructured,
out-sourced, consolidated.) If performance related, this
should be
documented. (It is better to give no reason for the
termination rather than give an untrue reason.)
- Explain what action is being taken, how and when it will
occur. 'Your last day will be, you'll be paid through .'
- Provide COBRA and Unemployment notices.
Try to avoid embarrassing the employee; express understanding
of the employee's upset feelings but avoid sympathy. Unless
you're worried about the employee damaging equipment or
computers, or causing disruption in the workplace, allow
the employee to say good bye to fellow workers.
Termination DON'Ts:
- Don't use banter, humor or small talk.
- Don't defend, argue or justify.
- Don't discuss other employees.
- Don't minimize feelings or offer false hope.
- Don't make promises.
- Don't let the process drag on.
The goal in 'letting someone go' is that the person leaves
feeling fairly treated. 'It didn't work out,' or 'the job
wasn't the right fit' are good endnotes for the relationship.
What's been your experience? Do you have any 'dos' or 'don'ts'
to share based on your experience?
Jean D. Sifleet
Attorney & CPA
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