Terminating an employee on an impulse may not be a good move
for your business. If you want to reduce your liability, there has to be a fair
and practical process to terminate an employee. Besides, it’s always good to
give your workers enough time to be better, and tools that will help them get
to where you want them to be.
However, when you are left with no other choice but to
terminate a worker, the best thing you can do is follow a certain discipline
process so that your termination will be performance-based.
Take note of the following before you decide to get rid of
an employee:
1. Documentation is vital.
Unless you write things down, the other party may argue
those things didn’t happen. You may even use a notebook to write down informal
conversations, and it will be considered a form of documentation.
2. Communicate expectations clearly.
Every job needs to have a job description, which your
employees may refer to in order to understand the functions and
responsibilities of their role on your team. The worst thing you can do is
assume that your employees understand everything they need to know about their
jobs. Also, when roles are clearly defined and relayed, it becomes much easier
to pinpoint and address problems.
3. Offer to coach.
Existing and new employees need to be coached. Coaching is
an informal method of providing feedback to the performance of an employee. It
is important for your employees to receive feedback from you so that they will
know how they are doing in their jobs before you even consider terminating them
or giving them any disciplinary action.
4. Create a performance improvement plan.
Through coaching or even a performance review, you will be
able to see if there are concerns with the performance of your employees that
need to be addressed. A performance improvement plan indicates specifically
what the problem areas are, and it also provides detailed goals when such areas
are corrected. Typically, a verbal counseling is the better way to do this,
especially if the issues that need attention include communication issues,
attendance, and other behavioral concerns.
5. Terminate employment when all else fails.
If you think you’ve done everything in your power to help
your employee improve his or her performance, but no change has taken place,
then the only option you have is to terminate his or her employment. It is
important, however, that by this point, you have clearly documented what the
issues are, and what you have done to address them.
Any business coach would
tell you that when you implement performance-based terminations, they will not
come as a surprise to your employees. This process will also spare you from
worrying about your liability, or even the feeling of guilt because you know
you’ve given your employee too many chances to be better, but they didn’t.
