Posted on 02/14/2015 4:03:10 PM PST by rickmichaels
I never used to believe in the expression, “Hire slow, fire fast.” After all, I told myself, I was an understanding, compassionate boss and I’d give my employees the time and support they needed to grow.
I also struggled with the idea that I’d be hanging them out to dry if I fired them. Without the job I had promised, how would my former employees pay their bills and take care of their families after I let them go?
That all sounds pretty naive, right?
Back then, I was the poster child for bad HR, making decisions that protected my employees, instead of my business. I’ve since come around on the subject and put certain measures into place to prevent me from failing to fire staffers when it's necessary.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
Your employees are not your family.
You can treat your family with indulgence.
That’s no way to run a business.
On the other hand, there is no reason just to get rid of employees as a principle. Jack Welch’s idea of letting the bottom 5-10% of employees go every year makes sense at companies where a large amount of deadwood has built up. However, at places that are reasonably good, it produces excessive turmoil and distracts from business.
You have to fire employees who don’t contribute or make life difficult for every one else. That’s a given.
But you don’t want to fire an employee because you feel like it. You better have a valid reason or be on the receiving end of a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Make sure your employees can always see you before things take a turn for the worse. If you can avoid having to fire, things might still look up.
If not, you can say you tried everything and this was the means of last resort for the company.
I believe that an employer should treat his employee with as much respect as he has for his customers...until the moment if and when that employee has broken the trust between the two.
Good advice but tough to follow until you make the same mistake once or twice.
I agree that employee’s are not family. Plleeeeasssee don’t make the mistake of telling them they are part of the family. That is just about the most stupid thing an employer can say.
Treat employee’s with respect as long as they earn it.
Make your expectations clear, reward good work openly, correct immediately and you’ll have less occasion to fire.
That’s true if you hire a friend. And if a friend takes advantage of your friendship, you’re in a difficult position.
One is emotionally invested in a friend and that can be hard to separate from an employee.
If it works, it works. Just don’t anticipate things will always be trouble-free in the workplace.
I’ve hired many employees and had to fire several. Never liked having to fire an employee, unless they were stealing or committing some other gross infraction. But got to do what has to be done.
I never hired a friend.
A valid reason?
How's this for a valid reason: "Because I determined that's what's best for my business."
Do you live in the Northeast? California? Where does such collectivist nonsense come from? Only in socialist strongholds does such ridiculous policy exist. Such notions are alien to those of us who live in Free states.
Employees enjoy their status at the pleasure of the employer, and barring a formal contract which restricts the employer in some way, an employer can fire any employee for any reason, or for no reason. That's how it works in a free environment. A job is not an entitlement, it's a privilege which is enjoyed at the whim of the employer.
Anything else is communist bullshit.
“If not, you can say you tried everything and this was the means of last resort for the company.”
I don’t think you need to try everything before you fire an employee. If the employee is not working out, and you think it can be fixed by the company, then you do it. If you think it can be fixed by the employee, you say “hey this has to improve, and soon.” If it does not, he’s gone. If it does, well you don’t have to pay severance and go through the whole hiring process again.
But really, its a two way street. An employee has to want to do a good job. Most do, but some are just in it for the paycheck and make everyone else frustrated by their poor effort.
I think you have to wait for his contract to expire in Jan 2017.
Find out why. It may be that this employee needs a bit of motivation to get the job done or something may have changed in the job.
People develop shortcuts so they can get through their work more quickly. Sometimes that means that something important gets skipped. If that "something" is not something they see they may not know their their little shortcut is causing an increase in workload for someone else.
An employee is vocal about dissatisfaction with parts of the job or all of it, affecting overall morale.
Once again find out what changed. They may just be a whiner in which case let them go. Or they may be the lone person who is willing to tell you that something has gone wrong.
Organizational changes make an employee’s role unnecessary or redundant.
Careful about this one too.
Over the past couple of decades I have seen a number of receptionists and secretaries given the boot under this concept.
Computers mean executives can type their own letters and voice mail means no need for someone to answer the phones.
You end up with customers who drop you because they don't have the time to sit through your phone tree and you have executives you pay a quarter of million to stand in front of a copy machine.
An employee’s skills are not at the level required for the position and you don’t have the time for needed training or believe it will help.
In the "more training will not help" yes. In the "we don't have time," that was likely poor planing on your part.
An employee abuses company policies and privileges by being excessively late, taking too many vacation days or stealing items from the office.
If they have the days you were the one who gave them the time. Now if it is unpaid time different story. As long as it is not covered by FMLA. As for the rest, show them to the door.
An employee isn’t motivated about developing his or her skills to grow with the company.
Have you asked them to do so? Don't fire the guy for not leaning Japanese when you never mention that it will be a requirement for the job in the future.
You are suppose to be a BOSS. So lead. Tell them what you expect in plain language not in "mission statement" language.
You might have noticed that in nearly all cases I suggest that the Boss find out what is going on first. That is because I have seen many of them jump feet first into the abyss blithely unaware that it was there when a five minute chat with the employee concerned would have saved them much time and trouble.
Don't expect the person that you are firing to be helpful by passing along such useful information as they go out the door.
The reality is that small businessmen lay awake at night worrying that their good employees might leave. You pay them a lot of money and benefits and hope they stay.
Sometimes its a money game where there is little to the job and most people can easily do it well. But I have been in a business were I really needed my employees. And if they left, I was screwed. So I tried to pay them as much or more than they could get anywhere else. And I treated them with respect. And I provided a nice work place that was as friendly as possible. And I had formal Christmas parties that cost $100 a person where a date was encouraged so I could reward the best employees in front of their spouse.
If you have good people you depend on them as much as they depend on you. And of course I fired the jerks as fast as I could. Anyone who was making someone else’s life harder than it needed to be.
I had a rule, everyone has a right to enjoy their job if they are doing a good job. Everyone who is not doing a good job or stopping someone else from doing a good job or liking their job, needs to be gone.
bummer
The reality is that bad management causes a lot of problems. Most people don’t know how to be good managers. They need the respect of their employees. They need the desire to get the job done in the most efficient highest quality way. And they need to know that when employees aren’t working out, you look into, figure out the problem and solve it decisively. If its changing something or communicating dissatisfaction or getting rid of the employee. But if the manager is motivated by getting the job done. Then he will likely make the right choice.
I was a partner in a small company where I had the unpleasant job of letting some technicians go simply because I did not have enough contracts on the books. And these were good techs. I did make it a point to provide good references and even contacting some other companies to see if there were openings. Of course this was during an economic downturn and a northern liberal state with a just elected crazy eyes governor which did not help matters any.
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