FAST QuickTIP: Let a non-performing employee leave with dignity by expressing your concern for their future.
I recently did the big “rah-rah” on why you should get marginal, low-performing employees out of your life… NOW! To quickly review…
The longer you procrastinate on firing someone the longer you postpone recruiting that stellar employee for your Critical Mass Business team! Doubt me?
Then check out this hopefully introspective chart HERE on the differences between ‘Marginal Workers’ and the ‘Very Best People’!
IMPORTANT: This is why you need our 3-hour, online SFS: Hiring the Very Best! LIVE seminar. Click HERE for the class curriculum, to see upcoming dates or to easily register online.
And yet you put off this inevitable confrontation? Why? It’s that word “confrontation”! None of us enjoy the ‘adversarial situation’ of terminating an employee! (And yet- you MUST do it NOW!)
How to gently fire someone? I still remember a girlfriend letting me down softly when she dumped me! Instead of detailing my many faults she kindly told me: “Steve, its not you. It is me. But I think we both know this isn’t working out.” Ouch! But at least I still had my pride and dignity intact… sort of!
So how can you adapt this “Its not you. It’s me…” statement when firing an employee! Simply say…
“Bill, I think we’ve both come to realize your job here just isn’t giving you what you need and want in a career. So I’ve decided to let you find a new position where you can feel more fulfilled…”
NOTE: It is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you precisely follow state law when firing an employee. So work with your local attorney on developing a step-by-step legal process for employee termination. Or at the very least, follow closely your state’s Department of Labor termination guidelines.
CAUTION! I know it is so very tempting to ‘preach’ at a-soon-to-be-ex-employee. After all, you gave them a chance! And they repaid you by betraying your trust! So you feel recriminations are in order for this loser! DON’T DO IT! Instead, the less said the better. (Always treat a departing employee with respect and dignity… even if you think don’t deserve it!)
REMEMBER: As cleaning and restoration contractors we have a HUGE moral and ethical obligation! (And major financial liability too!) After all, your employees are working in your customer’s ‘inner sanctum’– their homes and businesses. If deep down inside you know your worker isn’t of the highest moral character… GET THEM OUT NOW and recruit a Very Best Person!
ONGOING RESOURCES? You’ll learn so much in our different online SFS LIVE seminars! Plus you can implement our concepts easily with our turnkey SFS: ‘Business Infrastructure’! Click HERE to see upcoming classes…
Steve
As an addition to what was said above, I believe we have an obligation as employers to give our employees every chance possible to succeed. With a few exceptions, I believe most people don’t intentionally do a bad job, so it is up to us to identify why the employee is under-performing and attempt to correct the problem through proper coaching and if needed, additional training. Who knows, maybe the problem lies in the training program itself? I know it is tempting to think ” I don’t have time to retrain my employees”, but I imagine the time needed to hire and train someone new is far greater. Only after we have exhausted all of our options and given the employee every opportunity to succeed, should we consider termination a viable option. However, once you’ve reached that step, you should proceed as the article states and move quickly (and carefully) to replace the employee. The added benefit to having gone through all this, is that you should be able to identify & correct problems in your new employees earlier during training rather than sometime after they’ve entered the field. This all applies to employees with performance issues however, as I believe that employees who willfully betray your trust will never truly respect you enough to warrant their continued employment, and therefore should be dealt with more swiftly.
I agree, Steve! One of my favorite sayings when teaching SFS is “The fish rots from the head down!” So sure, if you keep having to fire one employee after another then it is time to do a self-analysis of your hiring and training systems. (Actually ANY time is appropriate for an honest self-examination!)