“OH MY GOD! I CAN’T FIRE ANYONE!”
IF THERE’S ONE MOMENT THAT LIVES forever in a manager’s memory, it’s the first time a direct report must be fired. It’s not a pleasant task. Firing someone can be traumatic for both parties in the drama. If you’ve done your job properly, the event will not come as a surprise to the person who is about to get the ax. But you can set the bar higher. Your goal, when dismissing an employee for poor performance, is to have him actually thank you for removing him from the position. Really. This cannot be achieved every time, but it is the goal you want to target.
Simply stated, if you have communicated openly with the employee and made her a part of the attempted performance-improvement process, it is very likely she will realize that her skills are not a match for the job. Before we get into the details of this process, let’s cover some basics.
The first is that sudden firings are nearly always wrong, except in cases where an employee has been dishonest or violent. Most companies have strict guidelines as to what offenses call for immediate dismissal.
Second, never fire someone when you’re angry. Never take such radical action on an impulse. When a direct report pushes you over the edge and you feel like “showing her who’s boss,” don’t give in to your emotions. If you do, you’ll regret it.
As you read this chapter, the thought may occur to you that some people don’t deserve the time and consideration that it takes to terminate someone. If those thoughts are surfacing, change your focus. Dismissing someone effectively is one of the most important and challenging responsibilities you have as a manager. Focus on investing the time necessary to do it well because you want to improve your skills.
Since most companies have guidelines on the termination process, you need to ask your manager or human resources department if you are not sure what they are. It is best to err on the side of excess deliberation rather than on the side of excess haste. In fact, some managers adopt the philosophy of never firing a direct report until everyone in the office is wondering why they haven’t taken the step already. A manager who takes that approach is not leading well.
TRYING TO MAKE IT WORK
The situations requiring dismissal that you are most likely to encounter in your managerial career have to do with poor performance or the employee’s inability or unwillingness to abide by the company’s standards. Sometimes the employee is just not suited for her position. Despite your best efforts, she may have been a bad hire or promotion. She may get to a satisfactory training performance level but will never advance beyond that point to the performance level the job requires.
Firing is not the first thought that should come into your head. Turnover is expensive. If you do ultimately have to let the underperformer go, you may incur costs related to the dismissal such as severance pay, transitional health benefits, and possibly outplacement assistance. In addition, you will have to invest time in replacing her. Doing all you reasonably can to bring her performance up to acceptable standards needs to be your first priority.
You must first satisfy yourself that the training was done well and clearly understood. Was there any kind of personality barrier between the trainer and the trainee that impeded the flow of adequate information?
Go back over the employee’s aptitude tests, job application, and other initial hiring data on the chance that you may have missed something. Meet with the employee to discuss her current level of performance, the required level of performance, and how she can get there. Assess whether she desires to improve or if she finds her current performance acceptable.
This is the stage in the process during which you want to move toward one of two outcomes. The first and most desirable is to work with her to bring her performance up to speed. The second outcome is to have her thank you when she is dismissed.
The key to both of these outcomes is communication. It’s time to be very direct. Make it abundantly clear to the employee that her job is at risk. This is not a time to be subtle. Just as important, make it clear that you want to see her be successful and will do all you can to assist her if she is committed to that success.
This is a time for goals and agreed actions to be in writing. Nothing fancy is necessary—a single page is sufficient. Once you and the employee have agreed to the steps she will take to improve her performance, put them in writing along with the date by which the action will be completed.
You need to be clear and unambiguous: “Your average daily errors are five. We need to cut that down to three errors per day by the end of the month.” Your precise specifications serve a dual purpose. If the employee meets the goal, you may be on the way to solving the problem and retaining the employee. Failing that, you’re ready to start the termination process.
Agreed actions may include things like a few additional days of training, assignment of a mentor, or a full day for her to observe someone in a similar role who is particularly effective. Written goals need to be specific. Include quantifiable levels of performance and the date by which they will be achieved.
Before the conversation is over, do three more things:
1. Have the employee sign a copy of the sheet to take with her.
2. Agree to the exact time and date the two of you will again meet to discuss her progress.
3. Let her know that you are open to hearing back from her sooner if it will assist her.
Your next meeting with the employee needs to be fairly soon. More than a month is too long. At that meeting, the actions and goal list needs to be updated and signed by the employee. Once again, the date and time of your next meeting needs to be established.
If she is not improving, the time until the next meeting needs to be shortened. If she is showing signs of progress, it may be appropriate to allow a bit more time until you meet again. This process will continue until the employee is either performing up to standards or is dismissed.
As this process continues, one of two things will happen. Either the underperforming employee’s performance will improve to a reasonable level or it will not. If performance has not improved, it will be clear to you and likely the employee that she is not suited for her current position. The time you have spent on this process is well worth your while because you now know quite clearly that you need to remove her from the position. It also may have the effect of making it clear to the employee that she is not suited for her current role.
Casting the employee’s potential dismissal in terms of helping her find a position for which she is better suited is how you just may get a “thank you” from her if you ultimately have to let her go. In addition, your efforts have made clear to the other members of your team that you are committed to everyone on the team being successful, if possible.
You owe it to the rest of the team members to keep them informed. And that includes telling them when they’re performing well. Too many managers assume that if employees don’t get bad performance reports, they know they’re doing okay. This is usually not the case. Those employees tend to believe you don’t give a damn.
YOU HAVE CONCLUDED THAT THE EMPLOYEE IS NOT A FIT FOR HIS POSITION
Only after you are completely convinced that you have a below-satisfactory performer with little or no hope of bringing the performance up to proper standards should you consider termination as a possible solution.
There are alternatives to dismissing the problem employee. Here are some key questions to ask yourself before taking the final step of termination:
• Is it possible that this employee could handle some other job in your own area that is currently available?
• If an opening is coming up in another area, can the employee make a contribution there?
• Is this a situation where a person has been hired for the wrong job? Does the company gain anything by firing someone who might be useful somewhere else?
• Is your company large enough that the employee could be moved to another area with no stigma?
Former employees are part of a company’s public. Can you handle the situation in such a way that you don’t deplete your company’s storehouse of civic goodwill?
Even though the employee won’t like being fired, can you handle the procedure so that the employee will acknowledge having been given every opportunity, consequently agree that you had no choice in the matter, and possibly even thank you for helping him realize that his position was not a match for his talents?
Listen to this warning against taking the coward’s way out and blaming the mysterious they. “As far as I’m concerned, five errors a day isn’t too bad, but they say we have to get it down to three, or they will force me to let you go.” That indicates you’re merely a puppet. Someone else is pulling the strings and you don’t have a mind of your own.
PREPARE THE GROUNDS FOR THE DIVORCE
Documentation of the underperforming employee’s results is critically important. Of course, you must keep these records for all your employees. If your company has a formal performance appraisal system, then you may be adequately covered.
Records are important because being sued for dismissing an employee is becoming more common. You should ask yourself, “If I have to, can I fully justify this dismissal?” If you can answer yes, that’s all you need worry about.
FLEXIBILITY AND CONSISTENCY
Some of your people will need to be dismissed because of excessive absenteeism. Companies have such a wide variety of sick-leave programs, however, that it’s impossible to discuss what level of absenteeism is satisfactory. Some companies have fixed programs that allow, for example, one sick day per month or twelve per year, cumulatively. Other companies have a method that allows managerial discretion based on the individual situation. Admittedly, this kind of program is more difficult to administer than one with hard-and-fast rules to follow. In evaluating the merits of each case, you must be able to defend your decision.
One disadvantage in having no formal program is the serious risk that decisions will not be made consistently throughout the company. For example, generous managers may be inclined to excuse almost any absence and pay the absentee; other managers may be stricter and dock for days missed. Having no formal program means the communication between departments and managers has to be extremely good, ensuring that approximately the same standards apply throughout the company.
MERGERS AND BUYOUTS
Mergers and buyouts are common. Often, everyone is told that the new corporation is planning on no personnel changes, but within six months, the personnel changes begin. Reorganization takes place and some people are fired. After a corporate takeover, people are scrambling to protect their own positions. Some people survive and some don’t. Those who do not survive are not necessarily inadequate. They may be filling positions that are duplicated in the parent organization. Some people are fired because they are too high in the organization or because their salary is too high.
If you become involved in one of these takeovers, you can only hope that the parent corporation is humane. If it is necessary to let some people go, it should be done in a way that acknowledges responsibility to these human beings. Continuing their salary for a reasonable length of time, providing office space and secretarial help while they look for a new position, and offering personal career counseling are some methods used to soften the blow.
It is doubtful that you as manager will have anything new to tell employees about the takeover, although you may get saddled with the job of telling some people in your area that they are being let go. It may even be possible that you have to select the people who are to be let go. You may be told to reduce staff by 10 percent or reduce salary costs by 20 percent. These are difficult decisions because they often have little to do with performance. All you can do is carry out the task in as humane a manner as possible.
When faced with this undesirable task, make all your decisions with a focus on the employees who will be retained. How you treat the departing team members will be closely observed by the team members who are staying. By being as thoughtful and humane as your organization’s policies allow, you send the message that you value the contributions of the departing employees. This strongly suggests that you also value the contributions of the employees who will continue on your team and lessens the long-term negative impact of the layoffs.
In this case everyone knows the staff reduction is a result of the merger, so you might as well tie it to that; it at least allows people to save face. If they can’t save their jobs, saving face is some consolation. Use whatever influence you have with the organization to generate some help for these people.
Seniority is often a poor way to pick employees to be let go, but that’s how many companies operate in the interest of “fairness” (and to avoid being sued). If the last people hired are the first fired, at least none of them can complain that such a system is personal.
DOWNSIZING
Downsizing is a word that strikes fear in employee groups. We won’t get into all the controversy over downsizing, except to say that it does not always achieve the desired results. We’ll discuss two basic elements: your survival as an employee and the role you might be required to play as a new manager.
Your boss is going to be worried about her own survival and looking at your area of responsibility. The downsizing tremor is felt through the entire organization. Many managers and executives who thought they were immune from the downsizing virus end up being totally shocked.
The best advice is, “Don’t let them see you sweat.” Have confidence in your ability. Asking about your survival is just another problem piled on your manager. Instead of going into your boss’s office and trying to find out what your prospects are for survival, take a different approach. Why not say, “I know that this is going to be a difficult time for you. I want you to know that I’m here to help you any way I can.”
No one can guarantee your survival in a downsizing operation, but you may increase the odds if you are a part of the solution rather than whining about your own job and putting an additional burden on your manager’s shoulders.
As a manager, you may end up giving some bad news to people who are losing their jobs. The comments in the previous section on mergers and buyouts also apply: It’s important that you find a humane way to handle these personal contacts with a keen awareness that your actions will be closely observed by the employees who remain.
Even if you survive the downsizing, it’s difficult to feel great about your good fortune when many of your friends did not fare as well. You may even feel a bit guilty about your survival, and that is a perfectly natural reaction for a humane manager.
THE DISMISSAL DRAMA
So far we’ve discussed events leading up to a dismissal. Now let’s focus on the dismissal, the timing of which you control.
Most managers like to stage the drama late Friday afternoon. By the time it’s over, all the coworkers of the person being fired have left the office. Thus, if it is necessary for the dismissed employee to vacate his workstation immediately, he won’t have to endure the humiliation of “clearing out” in front of an audience. Also, the employee can use the weekend to prepare for seeking other employment, applying for unemployment compensation, or doing whatever else needs to be done.
Any money due at the time of the dismissal should be given to the dismissed employee at the end of the interview. Being fired is enough of an emotional blow; wondering when the final check will arrive can only add to the misery. Severance pay—if that’s the company’s policy—should be given at the same time. Unused vacation time or sick leave should also be included in the compensation.
Put yourself in the other person’s position. Despite your best efforts, he may still not feel the termination was completely justified. Unless he receives every dollar coming to him, he might think, “Well, I suppose I’ll have to hire an attorney to get the money they owe me!” Remove that thought from the dismissed employee’s mind by taking care of all those matters in advance.
Another courtesy that is owed to the employee is to keep your intention to fire her as confidential as possible. Of course, the human resources and the payroll departments will have to know. But other than discussing it with the necessary management people, you should treat the matter confidentially.
The final scene in the dismissal drama is bound to be most uncomfortable for you, the manager. This is because in that highly charged final interview, it may be just the two of you face-to-face. If you are concerned the dismissed employee may behave poorly, you would be wise to include an additional colleague in the meeting. Someone from human resources or a fellow manager are good candidates. This way there is a third person present if the contents of the interview later become a point of contention. Whether or not you have a colleague join you, it would be wise to summarize the interview in writing as soon as it is over to assist you in recalling the details of the meeting if necessary.
A good way to start the dismissal or termination interview is to review in brief what has happened. Don’t drag it out and make it a recitation of all the other person’s mistakes. It should go something like this:
“As you know from our past conversations, we have standards on the position you were in that have to be met. As I’ve mentioned to you from time to time over the past few weeks, your work is not up to those standards. Unfortunately, our efforts to get you up to that level of performance have not been successful. I don’t believe it’s because of any lack of effort on your part. However, it hasn’t worked out. Based on all of our conversations, I don’t think that comes as any surprise to you. We’re going to have to terminate your services as of today. I really regret that. I wanted it to work out just as much as you did. But it hasn’t worked out, and so we have to face up to reality. Here’s the final check, including one month’s severance pay plus your unused vacation and sick-leave time. I am hopeful you will soon have a new position that is a better fit for your skills.”
You can vary your remarks to fit the individual situation, but the above words say what needs to be said. They don’t sugarcoat the bad news and they’re not too blunt either. You have to come up with a statement you’re comfortable with that fits the situation.
Fortunately, the days of putting a pink slip in someone’s pay envelope are gone. That practice was highly inhumane. One can understand the necessity for it in a factory where thousands of people are all being temporarily laid off or where the entire business is being closed and everybody is going. Situations like that are not related to the performance of the individual. When someone is being let go because of a failure to perform or live up to company standards, the only way to handle it is on a one-on-one basis. As manager, you might prefer to avoid the direct confrontation, but it’s part of your responsibilities and must be dealt with straight on. In most companies, this final interview is the last step in the disciplinary procedure and under employment law it is considered the appropriate thing to do.
LAST THOUGHTS ON FIRING
When you consider it thoughtfully, you realize that keeping an unsatisfactory employee on the job is unfair not only to the company but also to the employee. No one is comfortable in a job he is not performing well. It is also unfair to the team members who are performing at or above established standards.
There are many instances where being fired has turned out to be the biggest favor a company can do for an employee who isn’t suited for his job. It may not seem that way to the employee at the time, but later on, he’ll know it was the right thing and that he actually came out ahead in the long run.
Some managers feel like failures if they have to fire anyone. This statistic may help you out. Research on employee termination has shown that seven out of ten people who get dismissed do better on their next job, in both performance and salary. Their former job was a poor fit; being fired allowed them to find a better fit for themselves.
Let’s end on the most important point in this chapter. You must be absolutely certain in your own mind that the dismissal is deserved. You must be sure you’re being as objective as you can possibly be. If in doubt, use a more experienced manager or a human resources professional as a sounding board. Then when you know you have to fire the employee, make sure it doesn’t come as a surprise, and handle it in a considerate, humane, and thoughtful manner.