Firing someone is never an enjoyable or easy task. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s inevitable. When someone who’s working for you is no longer performing up to par, it’s time to let them go, and it’s always better to do it sooner rather than later. Why waste any more time and money?
However, as with everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way to fire somebody. You might think that since you’re letting them go from your company anyway that there’s no wrong way to do it, but that’s not true. Use these tips as a guide in firing a staff or employee the correct way.
- Analyze Your Decision Before You Make It
Does the person really deserve to be fired? This is a question that you need to ask yourself before taking action. Sometimes people end up making rash and hasty decisions in the heat of the moment without giving it some more thought. Make sure that the person you are going to fire really deserves to be fired and that you are making the right decision for the company.
- Give A Warning
Ask yourself whether or not you’ve given the employee enough chances to improve his or her performance. Have you given the employee hints that you are dissatisfied with their work? Don’t fire someone out of the blue and shock the employee. Instead, sit the employee down and let them know that you are no longer happy with their performance and that you have no choice but to terminate them unless they turn things around. Give the employee a time period for them to try and make improvements.
- Be Prompt
Once you really feel as though someone is no longer a good fit for the company and that you have given them enough changes to change, act quickly. Do not wait around and just terminate that person quickly. There’s no sense in wasting any more time than you already have.
- Keep It Short and to the Point
When you finally have “the talk” with the employee, keep things short and simple. Let them know that you are firing them and then let them know why, but only in a general sense. Tell them that you are no longer happy with their role in the company and that they are being let go. You do not have to go into detail about the specific things they did wrong as that would most likely only cause an argument or debate. Whatever you do, never apologize to someone for terminating them. All it does is send a confusing message.
- Ask the Employee to Leave Immediately
This may sound harsh, but it’s necessary. Once you’ve terminated someone, ask them to kindly leave the premises right away, right after they’ve packed up their belongings of course. Doing this avoids any further arguments, as the employee still has not fully processed what happened.
- Call A Team Meeting
After an employee has been fired, it’s always good to have a talk with the whole team to let them know why you had to let someone go. This will enable the other employees to understand the need for the termination as well as avoid others from panicking that they could be next.
- Reassign the Terminated Employee’s Duties
Once the person has been terminated, it is crucial that you immediately reassign his or her duties to other employees. This will ensure that everything that needs to get done still gets done even though you’re now one person short.
- Get It Done
Speaking of getting it done, do not hesitate about firing an employee just because you feel bad for them. Get it done! Remember that business is business. Keeping an employee on board who’s not performing well or causing problems in the workplace is toxic and will only be harmful to the company in the long run.
Firing someone and telling them that they no longer have a job will always be difficult to do, but the important thing is to do it right. This will lessen the blow for the employee and also ease some of the guilt on the employer.
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