Believe me, firing an employee isn’t that easy, but it is something you have to do if the need arises as a leader. There are reasons for such decisions, and they might include things like poor performance, misleading or unethical actions or remarks, property damage, violations of business policy, and so on. While firing an employee is justifiable, businesses are prohibited from engaging in discriminatory or retaliatory dismissal practices, such as terminating workers because of their immigration status or refusal to submit to lie detector testing. Although the recession is yet another reason why employers show employees the door, there’s a smart way to fire someone, there are also steps to be taken to avoid the financial, psychological, and sometimes legal costs of firing an employee which include what to and what not to say.
What Are Valid Reasons to Fire Someone?
Aside from underperformance, there are several other reasons why a company will fire someone. The following are some of these valid reasons
- Misleading job application
- Theft or misuse of company property
- Excessive absence
- Poor job performance
- Unethical behavior
- Sexual harassment
- Bullying
- Violence
- On-the-clock drug or alcohol use
- Company property damage
What Do You Say When You Fire an Employee?
Break the news to your team. Be honest, but don’t go into specifics about why they were fired. It’s fine, to be honest with coworkers about the termination, as doing otherwise could lead them to worry for the security of their own services too, but it’s also important to respect the employee’s right to privacy.
How Do You Fire a Toxic Employee?
Managers and business owners can fire a toxic employee if at any time the person’s attitude toward work becomes intolerable. However, you don’t just fire someone because you want to, it must be because the person has been underperforming or has a trait or attribute that is affecting the success of the business. The following are proven steps on how to fire a toxic employee.
#1. Arrange a Meeting to Discuss the Behavior or Issue At Hand
The first step to firing a toxic employee is simply to arrange a meeting to review the person’s behavior. As much as it’s possible, do not do this alone.
It’s important to have an eyewitness present who can attest to who said what. You’d like to have a quiet, private meeting, but you must also prepare for any potential fallout.
#2. Give a Clear and Detailed Description Of the Issue
Be as explicit as possible so that you may effectively request correction and evaluate any resulting behavior modification.
#3. Dealing With Employee Response
How often do you face this issue, Is this the first time you’ve dealt with it? If it is, the guilty worker will likely show shock and dismay, get defensive, and emphasize his or her achievements.
#4. Give Due Credit Where Necessary
At this point, acknowledge their accomplishments and then, explain that you are not criticizing their work but rather their attitude.
#5. Avoid Taking an Aggressive
A common trap is getting caught up in justifying your conduct. Don’t do that; instead, restate the issue and your goals to spur action.
#6. Keep a Record of It
Write up a quick summary of what was discussed and what was decided. Make careful to detail the employee’s transgressions, the expected changes in behavior, the metrics for evaluating success, and the repercussions for failing to meet targets.
#7. Schedule Follow-up Sessions
To check up on your progress, ensure to set up follow-up meetings. Make sure your witness is present and bring up anything you’ve talked about before.
#8. Give Room For Improvement
Before firing an employee, kindly give room for improvement. And then watch the grace period and see how it turned out. Acknowledge the employee’s efforts if you noticed they improve after giving them notice of the deadline.
#10. Fire the Employee If There’s No Improvement
If there’s no improvement after the grace period, fire the employee. Don’t waste a single second and fire that worker as their trial time is up. Similarly, make sure that the employee’s termination is handled in a direct fashion. The employee has been on probation but has failed to make the necessary modifications (provide proof) and today is the last day of employment.
Should You Tell an Employee Why You Are Firing Them?
Of course, you should. Even though it’s up to the employer, the position, and the company in question. However, it’s wrong to punish someone without telling him or her what they did wrong. So it’s actually right to tell someone why you choose to fire them. It’s also required across some states in the United States.
How to Fire Someone Over the Phone
There are several ways to fire someone whose performance is not satisfying to a business. You can send a mail, invite the person over to your office and hand over the dismissal letter or simply fire them over the phone. However, it’s not ideal to fire someone over the phone, except of course the nature of their job permit such. But then, you can’t just call someone and fire them with just a phone call. More like saying this over the phone “hey hello Bob, you are fired, it sounds illogical.”
It is more appropriate to arrange a meeting with the employee by phone or video chat and have HR listen in if you want to terminate them over the phone. Also, it’s important to give the employee adequate time to process the news, find out if there are any items that need to be shipped to them, and have a follow-up email prepared to send as soon as the phone call is complete.
#1. Schedule a Phone Meeting With the Employee
If you want to fire someone over the phone, first schedule a meeting with the person just like you would if you were firing them in person, and make sure they know the meeting will be held over the phone. To make this more ethical, you can simply schedule a video conference.
#2. Involve The Company’s Human Resources
Well, this is not entirely important but you can choose to get your company’s HR to be part of the meeting. You can also go ahead and schedule the meeting without them. If you intend t involve the HR team, you’ll have to introduce them to the employee.
#3. Release the Bombshell
Depending on the nature of the employee’s job, setting up an emergency meeting will get them all worked up. So it’s important that you tell the employee the purpose of the meeting without wasting time.
#4. Mention Performance Objectives and Offer the Employee the Opportunity
You don’t fire someone without reason. There must be a basis on which the decision was made. It’s just as crucial to bring up the employee’s past performance goals and how they were not met over the phone as they would be in person.
#6. Inform Them That You’ll Be Sending a Follow-up Email
Reiterate that the company agrees that firing the employee is the best choice for both sides and that it will not give in to any protests from the employee. To minimize resistance even more and to keep the phone call moving in the right direction, inform the employee that you (or HR) will be sending them a follow-up email with all the necessary paperwork confirming their departure.
#7. Offer benefit If There’s a Need For It
If your company offers a health benefit or other benefit to employees, you can decide to send it to them using business-class mail. For example, if you send an electronic COBRA healthcare document at this time, the employee will be able to keep their coverage for a certain amount of time after they leave their job.
This is also your chance to send an electronic COBRA healthcare document, which lets the employee keep their health insurance for a certain amount of time after they leave their job.
#8. Request for the Business Personal Items
If the employee is in possession of the business personal items, now’s the best time to request that they be returned. Again, you’ll have to get a confirmation from the worker, to return personal items to the worker’s preferred address.
#9. Appreciation and Goodwill
Don’t say anything fancy; just express your gratitude for their time spent working for the organization and your best wishes for their future aspirations.
What Should You Not Say When Firing Someone
Except when an employee has not in any way contributed to the growth of a business, laying them off is not entirely easy. If an offense was committed, then that wouldn’t be difficult, as you’d most definitely stand on the basis of that. But then, you must prioritize the well-being of your business above sentiment and emotions if you intend to get the most from it. This includes firing someone who has not contributed to the growth of your business.
1. “Hey, This is Hard for Me
It’s easy for you to say, but remember, you are not the one who is about to become jobless with a family to take care of and, of course, a lot of bills to pay.
In other words, it can’t possibly be harder for you than it will be for someone who is about to be fired. Notwithstanding how challenging it is for you, the situation is much more challenging for your employee.
#2. “You Are Still a Part Of This Business
Like seriously? Would you let go or fire someone who is that important to the business? Of course not. As much as it sounds encouraging, it’s not a form of encouragement.
#3. “Hey I’m Not Sure How to Say This”
One of the things you should not do is waste someone’s time when you intend to fire them. You know exactly what you or the management of the business have already decided. So go straight to the point without wasting time.
#4. “Pardon the Email, but You Are Fired”
Please do not try this; it’s unethical. It’s a lot to fire someone with an email letter, but adding this cliche is totally not necessary.
#5. “I’m So Sorry but, We’ve Decided to Go in a Different Direction”
Ging a differing direction? This is a direction that doesn’t involve the employee and also doesn’t give a damn about how he is going to survive without a job, right? Just forget. No, you decided to fire the person in front of you. If there is a good reason to fire someone, it is assumed that you did your research and came up with a plan for how to improve their performance. The employee will also know why they were fired. So just go straight to the point.
#6. “Report Shows You Under-Performed Compared to Your Teammates
It’s not a reality TV show, which means you should not compare employees. In general, an employee should be justified based on whether or not they have met the business’s performance requirements, not on whether or not they are more efficient than others.
In the event that you need to fire someone, do not compare. Not because of the comparison, but if an employee consistently misses deadlines, falls short of goals, or acts in a bad way, they should be fired.
#7. “Hey I’m So Sorry but We Are Downsizing Our Staff
If you are downsizing, the economy is to blame for it because businesses must efficiently manage their resources. However, there is a difference between firing someone and laying them off. The first is caused by being unhappy, while the second can be caused by things outside of your control.
So what happened when you claimed to downsize and then got someone else to fill the position after firing your employee? He can sue you for it, so rather than lie, go straight to the point.
#8. “Someone Will Gather Your Things, Leave Immediately
That sounds more like saying I need to get you out of here because your services are no longer required and, hey, someone will collect your belongings. You are fired; leave. As funny as this sounds, there are companies like that and trust me, it’s not exactly polite.
Every fired worker doesn’t need to be escorted out of the building unless there’s reason to believe they’ll cause trouble if they aren’t watched as they leave.
I worked for a company where the policy was to walk terminated employees out of the building. I hated doing it. A fired employee is not a criminal. Nor do they deserve to take a walk of shame. Unless you have reason to believe your employee will cause an issue if they aren’t supervised while leaving, there’s no need to escort out every person that gets terminated.
#9. “I’m Sorry But We Have No Choice, You Are Fired
Of course, you have a choice; if you had considered his or her feelings, you wouldn’t be letting him or her go like that. There are always other options. You also had a choice: to endure whatever blunders he or she makes or forgive their underperformance, but you chose to let them or go. So please try not to sound like firing someone is the only choice you have.
#10. “Hey, I Know How You Feel”
Before you tell someone you are about to fire them, know how they feel and ensure you understand their personal and family lives. How else can you know how they feel when you are not the one losing your job with a whole lot of responsibilities?
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