CHAPTER 12
Fire People to Be Fair
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.
How long before you know if a new hire is going to work out in a job?” I often pose that question to executives at client organizations.
Their answers vary from “a few weeks” to “three to six months.” But the most troubling situation seems to be correcting those mis-hire decisions quickly. Although most leaders embrace the adage “Hire slowly, fire fast,” they dread those dismissal conversations and struggle far too long, trying to correct a bad hiring decision.
But to be fair to all concerned—the organization, other team members, and the person being fired—leaders need to change the way they think about terminating someone’s employment. A termination is a logical result of an employee’s job performance. Their employee’s work, behavior, attitude, or skill (or lack thereof) has led to the outcome. The decision to terminate is simply the final step in the process.
CONSIDER EVERYONE’S STRESS
The firing doesn’t seem so difficult when someone has flagrantly violated company policy. Such conversations prove far more difficult when the person’s expertise simply does not make the grade—that is, when the job has outgrown the employee’s skill set. But in both cases, you want to be fair to all the players involved in the work situation.
Team members know when a coworker isn’t pulling his or her weight. Yes, they may “cover” for a weak performer. They may remain silent and “grin and bear it.” But their own workload increases as they watch and wait to see how the leader handles the problem.
Your organization must absorb the cost of a poor player—nonproductivity, mistakes, rework, morale. You yourself have to spend extra time in supervising, in coaching, and maybe in disciplinary actions.
Finally, underperformers themselves feel stress when they don’t meet job standards. It’s not fair to keep an employee in a job with false expectations that the situation will improve or that standards will be lowered to his or her performance level. The person feels tense just waiting for the ax to fall.
DOCUMENT YOUR DISCUSSIONS AS PREP
Theo called the head of HR into his office: “Just want to get your approval on this before I take action. I need to let Kimberly go.”
“Why?”
“She’s just not working out.”
“But why specifically?”
“She’s just not working out. Several things.”
“Have you had discussions with her? Given her a chance to correct those things? Documented those discussions?”
Theo shook his head no to all these basic actions.
This scenario happens so often it is a classic case study in an HR manual. Don’t repeat the mistake. You need to provide feedback, tell the employee specifically what changes he needs to make, and give him opportunity to improve the performance. Then document your conversation, summarizing the issues under discussion and capturing the employee’s response. If you’ve given the employee an improvement plan, include those details in your note, date it, and file it. If the employee doesn’t make changes in a reasonable amount of time, then you move to the next step—either a second warning or termination. (This file documentation provides support should difficulty develop later in the process.)
COMMUNICATE YOUR DECISION TO THE EMPLOYEE
If you’re a compassionate person, telling someone they’re fired will never be easy. In three decades as CEO of my own small company, I’ve had to fire very few people (one for stealing equipment, two for excessive absences, two for repeatedly lying about projects/assignments, and only five for underperformance). Even firing the one for stealing proved a difficult situation because she was a competent employee and very likable.
So don’t wait until you’re “up for it” to make the decision. You will never be up for it unless you have a heart of stone. But think strategically.
Adopt the appropriate mindset. Acknowledge that dismissing someone will be hard. Understand that leaders must make tough decisions. Know that after the emotions of the immediate situation fade, the underperformer will feel relieved of the stress of failure. He or she will be able to move into a more successful position somewhere else.
Prepare for the conversation. Decide when and where you will have the conversation. Plan the phrasing. How will you summarize the reason? What’s the effective date of the dismissal? Immediate? At the end of the day? Does your organization give outplacement support? What’s the policy about comments to a future employer—to verify only dates of employment and positions held? Be ready to explain how and when the rest of the team will be told about the termination.
Avoid arguing. This is not the time to rehash the employee’s performance or listen to an appeal. Simply restate your decision. “We’ve made the decision to let you go.” Restate it after an appeal: “I’m sorry, Bill, but we’re going to have to end your employment.” Restate it again if necessary: “I hear you, Bill. But the decision has already been made. Our outplacement service can be very helpful to you. I hope you’ll take advantage of that.”
Do not focus on yourself. Comments like “This is the part of my job that I dislike the most” or “I hate this as much as you do” will only anger the other person. Although such comments may make you feel less guilty, they are simply meant to win sympathy for yourself—definitely inappropriate in conversations of this nature.
Demonstrate compassion and sensitivity. Prepare for the employee’s emotions—everything from anger to devastation. Examine your planned phrasing for “hot words.” Eliminate comments that sound pompous, parental, or heartless: “You’ve been unwilling to. . .” “You’ve ignored all my attempts to help you.” “I’ve given you far more than your fair share of time and attention to improve, but you haven’t taken any responsibility for yourself. You leave me no choice but to. . .”
Never treat employees as if they are criminals—unless they are, of course. In that case, you’ll need to press charges or risk having your firing decision judged as unfair or illegal. Otherwise, let them leave their dignity intact. Remember the Golden Rule and handle the conversation accordingly.
Effective leaders never like to fire employees. In fact, they loathe the task. But that action represents a strategic decision leaders need to communicate for the well-being of the entire team—its morale and future growth.