At some point you’re going to be called on to fire someone – in fact it’s an essential tool to have, and you should learn how to be good at it.
It’s natural to dread having the goodbye conversation – delivering bad news is never easy – but it can, and should, be a reasonable experience for both you and the person you’re firing. In fact when I fire someone my objective is to conclude the meeting with them shaking my hand (in a warm and friendly way!) and for us to part on good terms.
Generally you’re going to fire someone because of their poor performance – this is different to redundancy, where their position has gone. First you must follow employment law, with verbal and written warnings and the need to demonstrate that you’ve tried to get them to improve. In many countries, however, you can dismiss someone immediately if they’ve worked for you for less than 1 or 2 years.
So how do you do it? Never, ever fire by text message – it’s cowardly and cruel. Always do it in person – face-to-face is the best.
Start by making sure you have prepared for the meeting, with a formal letter and a final payslip. Then call them into a quiet room, and explain that they should prepare themselves for a shock. Tell them you’ve thought hard about their performance, but it isn’t going well and they are not going to progress any further in their career in your company. It’s better for them, and for you, if they leave and look for alternative opportunities. If they ask, be prepared to explain what aspect of their performance is lacking, but never get personal.
The key is in maintaining dignity and moving the conversation on quickly to what happens next. My approach is always to agree when their departure will be announced and then to invite them to take the rest of the day off if they want to. Sometimes you want them to work their notice, but it’s better if they leave immediately with some payment for gardening leave and accrued holidays.
Always, always say (and mean) that you will help them to get a new job, or at least in writing a kick-arse CV, and that you will provide a reference. Say that you’re sorry things didn’t work out but you believe they will progress further in another job. Then stand up, smile and say thank you for the work they did. Be human and empathetic. Offer a handshake – and 9 times out of 10 you’ll get one back.
One final piece of advice. Use the fact that a colleague has left the business for poor performance as a message to the rest of your team. Call people together and say something like:
Today I've asked John to leave our business. I've not been satisfied with his performance for some time, and he wasn't able to show improvement. No-one likes it when this happens and I'm sorry that I've had to ask him to go, but we all have important work here and I need top performers in my team. I'll be providing John with a reference and helping him with his CV, but he'll be leaving on Friday, so you'll get a chance to wish him well. I want to emphasise that this is not the start of a process of headcount reduction and I have confidence that as members of this team you will continue with your fantastic performance.
The message will be clear enough!
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