Firing Someone - Its a Sad Day

Well, if you know for sure that something bad (like illness) isn't the issue and they work for you but are unresponsive, then I think the only thing you can do is fire them.

Hey, it sucks but that's business.

This *exact* same thing happens to me anytime I have to fire someone.

Hiring and training them is fun but firing is not. But it's my business that suffers if I keep those who are not up to the mark. So, I have to do that.

It feels really bad, to me at least. But got to be done.

Actually, I remember a lil' story: couple months ago, I hired a girl, she sounded perfect at that time and all that, she asked for a little upfront, I paid. She disappeared for the whole week and then the next week - exactly on the pay day she appeared and asked for a payment. What guts!

Now those are the people who are easy to fire. :-)

Thank you guys are right, it is business.

I think I am also emotional since he is a really good content write from the Philippines which are rare, so I was hoping it would work, but again it is business and need to do it or it will only get worst.

Cheers,
Mukul

Having to fire someone is a joyless experience for most people. Its not something that anyone really particularly enjoys (in most cases) but sometimes there aren’t any other options available, especially when you’ve repeatedly given the person chance after chance and they've continued to let you down. Sometimes having to fire someone hurts you more than it hurts them on an emotional level. Some people really don’t care if they're employed by your organization (or anywhere else for that matter) or not.

Its always a very tough call and usually a depressing experience to fire someone.Yet very often as one door closes another one opens (for both parties)

Good luck and all the best,
Paul

Tell your wife if things don't work out she can come work for me

I have fired close to 100 or so people since I started my business 15 years ago. Usually when you fire someone it's because they are not performing at their peak potential. So when you let them go you are actually giving them the opportunity to go somewhere else where they will have a chance at performing better. Which will make them happier in the long run.

Of course. Why wouldn't you do that? I have clients in several countries that I work for regularly.

kay

When I was promoted to my first job where I hired and fired people it was almost impossible for me to fire anyone. I would only do so in the worst situations and put up with nonsense from the others. Then a few years later I was promoted again to a job where I had to travel the U.S. to areas of my company that were having problems. BIG problems. I was given a short period of time to fire the local supervisor and correct whatever other problems existed in 12-15 retail stores with 60-85 employees.

I soon learned that any delay in firing the supervisor prevented me from achieving that goal. The head office had already made that decision so after a few assignments I just sucked it up and immediately fired the supervisor. Over the next two weeks or so I visited every store on all shifts and evaluated every employee. I made a list of those that couldn't be salvaged (thieves, abandoned the store, etc.), those that were bad but possibly salvageable (dirty store, not properly attending customers, etc.), and those that were doing fine.

The next day I went to the best manager and offered them the supervisor's job. If they accepted, I asked them their opinion of the other managers. If their opinion of the unsalvageable ones agreed with mine I fired them immediately. Together then, I and the new supervisor trainee chose assistant managers and part-timers to offer those manager positions to and placed newspaper ads for any positions that couldn't be filled with current employees.

The marginal managers were told that I understood that their old boss was lax and didn't present a good example and we were wiping the slate clean on past discretions but left a list of things to be done to bring their store up to standards. Typically, about 1/2 did fine and the others got nasty about the changes or drug their feet and had to be fired.

Then the same procedure with assistant managers and then part-timers. Then the new supervisor and I rolled up our sleeves and went back to each store to assist the new and salvaged staff with the changes they wanted to do but were having problems with.

Those changes over a 3-4 month period typically increased profits by at least 30%. Some of that went to overdue raises for the employees I found doing an excellent job under poor circumstances.

After all was done, the area was full of happy, motivated, and full-filled employees. Really! The mood change was amazing! Good people want to do a good job! And for the ones that just refused to do a decent job, I learned to care not about their dilemna.

The point to that long story is that there is a contract between an employee and an employer. There's an agreement that the employee will perform their tasks in a reasonable manner and the employer will compensate them properly for their work. If the employer didn't pay properly, do you think for one moment that the employee would hesitate to replace them with a new boss? So why should an employer lose sleep over an employee who doesn't understand that they have to earn that paycheck or fee?

Been in business for over 20 years. I used a lot of sub-contractors during that time. Policy was that they had to call in and let us know they were on the job. They would call in... but not show up. People that do not show up for work think you are dumb and don't know they are not there doing their work. In my case, they seemed to forget the client that my company serviced would call us and let us know they did not show up and do the work they were assigned. When questioned, they always said the client was lying and they were there and did the job, even when the client had proof they did not showup. The result was that my company lost several good clients because of this. As always, they came in on payday to pick up their pay. Fire them, don't feel bad... look what they did to you and your company...no respect given deserves no respect in return. Sounds harsh, but my company would be a lot better off if it had not been for people like this. This is a 20 year lesson learned the hard way.

It is official, i just did.

Thanks for all the tips. I think you guys made me realize that today I did not fire anyone, today I had my first employee fire themselves.

Cheers,
Mukul

There's always a give and take relationship specially in a business environment, particularly on a employer and employees relationship. Business is business, if the firing of your staffs have done with due process there's nothing to worry.. Yeah, its sad but you need to move on and accept the fact..that's life.

Think of it like you are probably helping them. Not everything is for everyone. Some people actually needed to be fired somewhere in order to become very successful. It sucks, but that's why owners get paid the big bucks to make the difficult decisions.

Devil's advocate time!

In the US, I don't know if a simple email constitutes firing.

How do you know he got email?

I once had a problem, and was away from email for a WEEK! My mother was away from any sort of phone for 2 MONTHS.

But yeah, I had to fire a few people. Evem those I HATED I somehow felt guilty about. I don't know why, since they didn't do THEIR work, I had to do their work.

Steve