Is It Time To Move On?

A prospective client asked me this week, "How do you know it's time to let an employee go?" Well the answer is, it depends.

Making a decision about dismissing an employee can have an emotional, and, potentially legal, implication. Depending on your state's employment law, you may be faced with a formalized disciplinary process prior to the dismissal.

I have long been an advocate for holding employees accountable to their actions. And this includes accountability to their job description. Thus, here is the point. Do you have adequate and up to date job descriptions for your employee staff? If not, then dismissing an employee for failure to perform job duties becomes cloudier.

Good job descriptions become the basis for your relationship with your employees. This document describes what the employee's job function is, and, directs their daily activities. For employees who fail at their job duties, disciplinary actions are in order.

First, you must communicate, both verbally and in writing, your dissatisfaction with the employee's inadequacies. Second, you are well served to provide the non-performing employee some measure of time to improve their performance. If their performance improves, you are better off as you have now developed the employee. If their performance does not improve, then dismissal may be appropriate.

It is important to ensure that each of your employees is fully trained to perform their job duties. And this is your responsibility. Too often, employers dismiss poor performing employees because the employee was poorly trained. If you establish a relevant training period for your new employees, you will benefit from better performance.

The dismissal of an employee is never pleasant. It is expensive and time consuming when you consider having to replace this employee. Having a quality interviewing process will help you avoid making hiring decisions that ultimately lead to poor employee performance and potential dismissals.