I have to fire an employee on Friday. How will this go?

mwebsters wrote:

Lucas Tanner wrote:

Yes, being in an “at will” employment state means that the employer is not obligated to provide a reason for “severing the relationship”. The employer could still be libel, however, if the termination was based on discrimination due to race, gender, etc. So the smart thing to do legally is to just give no reason. On the other hand, since employment discrimination suits are notoriously hard to win nowadays, most people don’t even bother. So a little feel-good diplomacy speak on is not going to hurt anything.

The word you are looking for is “liable”.

What’s even more pathetic is that I had to Google both words to confirm that you are correct.

Well how did it go Johnny Rotten?

How you approach it depends a lot on the type of job and who you're firing. I was a manager at a night job that mostly involved driving. Most employees were pretty normal/working class guys that did their job, but a decent portion were straight up crazy/unstable that would do things where firing was really the only option.

What I found worked best was being professional, firm and brief. If you've made the decision to let the person go, don't give any indication that there's room for negotiation. It's good to have a third party present if possible for safety, if nothing else.

Probably the easiest case was a guy that my assistant told me would repeatedly fall asleep during training, while he was driving him around showing him the route. I had a meeting with the trainee and asked him what was going on. He paused, let out a sigh and asked, "Have you ever heard of narcolepsy?" I still felt bad letting him go because he was a really nice guy, but we obviously couldn't employ a narcoleptic as a driver and he totally understood the decision. Though you have to wonder what made him think he should apply for this type of job in the first place.

The worst cases were people that were really struggling to make ends meet, had family problems and I could tell were trying to do the job right, but just couldn't make it happen for whatever reason, no matter how many chances they were given. It occurred to me that firing them might lead to homelessness or worse. I tried not to dwell on the individual circumstances in these cases because the bottom line is really whether or not the job is being done right, but it wore on me quite a bit nevertheless.

Agree it's lame. In tech, there are layoffs but often the "mistake" is the person has experience and has been with the company long enough to earn a higher wage so the tech companies layoff "high cost" employees to staff overseas or hire interns and college grads who are "low cost".

Well?

Hello Mr.Scott,

I have found the best way to handle letting someone go, is to remember you are letting go of them for their actions, or lack of action. They may be a great person in another role, or in another company, but if they are already aware that they were not meeting expectations at yours, they need to find a better fit for themselves as well.

Always remember, you are disceplining the action and not the person even if they feel otherwise.

Mr. Scott wrote:

I’m new in this position and have never had to let someone go. We have process for allowing an employee to correct their work but after a month the decisions has been made to terminate.

I don’t know whether they will be surprised but frankly, I want to throw up.

Have you fired anyone? How did it go?

In other words, an unacceptable 5K PR.

op is filing through the food line as we speak

So, have you fired your employee? And what was the reason?

I think that the main issue with almost all the employees is their productivity. But unfortunately people usually pay attention to that issue too late and they already have to fire the employee. If recommend you to try some kind of employee monitoring software like Kickidler https://www.kickidler.com/info/employee-monitoring.html that can help you to prevent some bad decisions.

Mr. Scott wrote:

I’m new in this position and have never had to let someone go. We have process for allowing an employee to correct their work but after a month the decisions has been made to terminate.

I don’t know whether they will be surprised but frankly, I want to throw up.

Have you fired anyone? How did it go?

This is how I find out I'm fired!? on LetsRun!!

... You could have at least emailed me :(