Ethical

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Ethical Courageous Firing

• Reference
• The Management Bible
• By Bob Nelson Peter Economy

Firing Employees.ppt
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WHY TERMINATE YOUR EMPLOYEES?
Sometimes an employee does something that
requires immediate termination. Intolerable
offenses include verbal abuse,
incompetence, repeated unexcused tardiness,
insubordination, physical violence,
theft, intoxication on the job, and falsification
of records.
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Intolerable Offenses
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Verbal Abuse
No employee should have to tolerate abuse at
work. Cursing, repeated verbal harassment,
malicious insults, and similar behaviors are not
acceptable, and after giving fair warning, you
are free to fire employees who engage in this
behavior. Not only that, but if you dont take
action by firing a repeat abuser, you could be
personally sued for allowing this behavior to go
on. (p. 252)
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Incompetence
Tribal members deserve to be served by competent
staff. Not every employee is competent at his or
her jobIf your employees still cant perform
their duties at an acceptable level of
competenceeven after repeated attempts on your
part to help bring their skills up to paryou are
certainly justified in firing them. (pp. 252-253)
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Repeated Unexcused Tardiness
Employee schedules are designed to ensure that
customers are served during agreed-upon times and
vital services are always available. Late
employees upset these schedules, interfering with
the organizations ability to get work done. If
employees continue to be late to workafter being
warned that further late arrivals will put their
jobs in jeopardythen termination is the right
solution. (p. 253)
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Insubordination
This is when an employee flat out refuses to do
the work assigned to them. This is grounds for
immediate termination without warning. (p.
253)
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Physical Violence
No one should have to tolerate violence and
physical violence just to come to work. Not
only do employees have the right to a safe
workplace employers have the duty to provide
it.. (p. 253)
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Theft
Employees caught stealingwhether company
property, or the property of clients or
coworkerscan be terminated immediately and
without warning. (p. 253) Think about this
a person taking home a computer or office
supplies from Head Start is stealing from
resources meant for our children. It just cannot
be tolerated.
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Intoxication on the Job
Being drunk or under the influence of drugs on
the job is sufficient grounds for immediate
termination. Many companies take a more
compassionate route, however, offering their
employees the option of undergoing counseling
with an employee assistance program or enrolling
in a program such as Alcoholics Anonymous instead
of being terminated. (p. 253)
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Falsification of Records
Falsifying recordsproviding fraudulent
information during the hiring process (fake
schools, degrees, previous jobs, etc.) or
during the course of employment (fake expense
reports, falsified timecards, cheating on
examinations, etc.)is also grounds for immediate
dismissal. (pp. 253-254) Lets call this what
it is lying. Lying in the work place should not
be tolerated. It really is that simple.
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Reasons Some Avoid the Inevitable
Terminating an employee is not fun and few
managers enjoy it. Regardless, it can be helpful
to remember this old saying Hire slow, fire
quick. When youve got a serious employee
problem that cant be resolved, then dont
hesitate to terminate the employee as soon as it
becomes clear that that is the best alternative.
(p. 254)   Common reasons why managers might
avoid terminating an employee include fear of
the unknown, emotional involvement, and
possibility of legal action.
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Fear of the Unknown
If you fire someone, you will need a
replacement. Who will that be? How is your
employee going to react when you fire him/her?

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Emotional Involvement
Sometimes you might have to fire a friend
or relative. It is bad enough to have to fire
anyone, but if it is someone you know, maybe even
like, ouch! Thats 100 times worse.
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Possibility of Legal Action
The fear a fired employee will come back and sue
can cause a manager to freeze up when it comes to
terminating someone. This is a very real threat.
That is why, before you fire someone, you should
document why. Justify why. That is why your
write formal reprimands and performance
evaluations and put those documents in an
employees job file. That is your proof the
employee hasnt been performing competently.
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Firing Humanely

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Give Employees the Benefit of a Doubt
Be sure to give an employee a chance to bring his
or her performance up to standards before firing
them. If youre firing an employee because of
an intolerable offense such as stealing or
insubordination, be absolutely certain that the
employee did what he or she is accused of doing
(p. 258).
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Make it Clear When Expectations Are Not Being Met
Discuss minor problems with employees and how to
fix those problems, before they turn into major
problems. Be sure you document these discussions
in writing this clarifies your position, the
employees position, reinforces what must be done
to correct the problem, and provides evidence
that there was a problem and you have given fair
warning to the employee about the problemshould
termination become necessary.
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Act Quickly to Dismiss
Once you have determined an employee just isnt
working out, you need to fire that employee
immediately. If youve given them a chance to
improve and they just arent, then the sooner you
deal with the situation, the better. You can be
gracious and say something like, I thought
things would work out, but they havent and were
going to have to let you go (p. 259).
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Making Your Termination Stick
Be darn sure that before you terminate an
employee, you have documented the reasons why.
If you fire an employee without just cause, they
can come back and sue for wrongful termination.
So, before you fire a worker, make sure of the
following
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Documentation
When it comes to terminating an employee,
document, document, and then document some more.
If the employee is being terminated because of
performance shortcomings, you had better have the
performance data to back up your assertions. If
youre firing an employee for falling asleep on
the job, then you had better have proof that this
particular employee intentionally meant to bed
down during his or her shift. Believe us You
can never have too much documentation. (p. 259)
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Fair Warning
Be sure before you fire a worker that you have
made it clear to them they are performing under
par (substandard work). They must have fair
warning that their performance needs to improve,
or else, they will be fired. Except in the case
of an intolerable offense, you must put an
employee on notice, give them time to turn their
performance around, and only fire them after a
period of time when it is obvious they will not
adequately improve their performance to meet
company standards.
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Fair Warning (Cont.ed)
All this must be clearly communicated (a) what
you expect, (b) how the worker is falling short
of your expectations, (c) how the worker can
bring their performance up to your expectations,
(d) how much time the worker has to do this, and
(e) that if he/she doesnt improve, the
consequence is to be fired.
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Response Time
Make sure you give your employees enough time to
correct a problem before firing them.
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Reasonableness
Make sure your termination policies are
reasonable and fair. Be sure performance
standards are achievable. The test here is
whether or not you have set the bar so high that
no one could achieve it (p. 260).
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Avenues for Appeal
In the United States, our basic sense of
fairness requires that terminated employees have
some avenue available to present their side of
the story to higher management. On some
occasions, direct managers or supervisors really
do have it out for employees, or they are too
emotionally involved. This can cause errors in
judgment that a higher up will quickly see and
have the opportunity to correct. (p. 260)
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Terminating inThree Steps
Employees are ultimately responsible for their
performance and behavior, not you. (p.
260)   When firing an employee, keep two key
goals in mind employees deserve a clear
explanation for the firing, and employees deserve
to have their dignity respected. Many wrongful
termination lawsuits are fired just because the
employee wants to know why they were terminated.
So tell them before you are sued, not
after. Firing should occur in a private meeting
in an office with at least one witness,
preferably a witness that is the same gender as
the employee being fired. There are three steps
to the process
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Step 1
Tell the employee that he or she is being
terminated. Dont beat around the bush tell
your employee that he or she is fired. Firmly
tell the employee that the decision is final and
not subject to appeal. In most cases, the
announcement should come as no surprise because
he or she has already been put on notice for
performance or behavioral shortcomings. (p. 261)
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Step 2
Explain exactly why the employee is being
terminated. If the firing is the result of
misconduct, describe the policy that was broken
and what the employee did to break it. If the
firing is due to a failure to meet performance
standards, remind the employee of past
counselings and attempts to correct his or her
performance and the subsequent incidents that led
to the decision to fire. Stick to the facts.
(p. 261)
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Step 3
Announce the effective date of the termination
and provide details on the termination process.
A firing is normally effective on the day that
you conduct your termination meeting. Keeping a
fired employee around is awkward for both you and
your employee and should be avoided at all costs.
Now is the time to describe termination
benefits, if any, and to make arrangements for
gathering personal effects from the employees
workspace. Run through the termination paperwork
with the employee and explain the handling of
final wages due. (pp. 261-262)
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Persevere
Going through the process of firing someone is
not fun. You definitely do not want to repeat
the experience, if you dont have to. So dont
hire the person back once they are fired.
Persevere in your decision, and be more careful
about who you choose to hire in the first place,
in the future. It is within our power to be good
managers, so lets get to it.
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Full Reference
Nelson, B. Economy, P. (2005). The Management
Bible Including interviews, case studies,
worksheets, and cutting-edge techniques.
Hoboken, NJ John Wiley Sons, Inc. THANK YOU!