This is Part V and the last in a series on how to properly terminate an employee. Termination is an unpleasant but sometimes necessary task. All the more reason to do it correctly and professionally. I restrict the discussion to technology positions. I do not refer to union-controlled jobs or contract labor. My discussion addresses technology positions where you pay an employee for performance, assess that performance, and act accordingly.
There are two major categories that motivate your decision to terminate, either
1. You have run out of work for this employee
a.) There are no other jobs available in the company because you are already long on people everywhere and the company is downsizing.
b.) here are no other jobs available in the company because the person you chose to terminate does not have the skills necessary for transfer to another job.
2. You need to terminate for cause.
Since problem number two is the most difficult, let us discuss that interview process. You have decided to terminate the employee for cause, for lack of performance. To begin with, the termination should not come as a complete surprise to the employee. In your prior performance reviews, you should have made your position crystal clear and identified and quantified the lack of performance to the employee. You should already have pointed out areas that needed improvement, laid down the criteria for continued employment, and exercised a probation period. If you have not completed these tasks, you need to go back and do those steps. You are not ready to terminate. Give the employee a chance to improve.
If you have done all that, the task at hand is this: you must meet with the employee and tell that employee he or she no longer has a job. It is an unpleasant task. If you can perform it without feelings, then you need to find a different job; you are not management material. If you have never found reason or the wherewithal to terminate, then examine whether you are management material. Is is a required and necessary part of the business. Cultivation and growth does not come without a price. You must not let inadequate performance affect the entire company.
The interview will affect both you, the person in front of you, and all the other employees. Once you terminate one employee, all your employees will see you in a different light. Some will agree. Some will disagree. But, all will see you differently.
Make preparation for the meeting. If you can choose the day, I recommend a Friday afternoon. That way, the employee has all weekend to foment and assimilate without directly causing disarray with other employees. It takes time to recover. The employee can come back on Monday, clean out the office, or whatever else needs to be done.
Follow the security procedures of the company. Ensure a prior that the affected employee can do no damage to files, software, databases, or similar. Make sure backups are in place, just in case.
Select a room for the interview that is private, but not isolated. Be circumspect. Clear the room of anything that can be used as a weapon. We are dealing with professionals, of course, but be a professional, yourself and consider possibilities. Emotions can run high, engines can overload and redline. Ensure that the unexpected does not occur.
I recommend you either have another manager with you in the interview, or at least someone nearby who can and does hear everything said. Make it obvious that this person is there, cognizant, and available. You may need a witness to what was said. Lawsuits may follow so take notes and have the notepad clearly in front of you during the meeting. Make sure the employee sees you taking notes. Have beside you your file of documentation. You do not need or want to necessarily show this documentation in this meeting (hopefully, you have gone over the file with the employee in previous meeting), but the employee needs to see that you have all the information documented. Seeing this material will set the stage that this action is not personal. It is quantified assessment. It is business only.
Come directly to the point and keep it brief. Evoke Machiavelli’s sage admonition that bad news must be delivered quickly. This is not a time to chit chat. State the facts (and only the facts). Do this as unemotionally as you can. Choose your words carefully. Say nothing inflammatory, prejudicial, or libelous. In less than three minutes, lay out the previous interviews with the employee, what the results have been, how the employee has (not) responded, and now, your final decision. End with a phrase something like, “I have made the decision to terminate you as an employee, effective immediately.” Then stop.
Expect a reaction from the employee. The employee may curse, cry, raise an alarm, sulk, or do nothing. The employee may stare with hatred or look bored. I have encountered all these reactions and more. Do not expect the employee to agree with your decision, regardless of your documentation and regardless of your prior discussions with that person. I repeat, do not expect concurrence. You will not be disappointed.
Do give the employee a chance to vent. Let the employee have his or her day in court. You should not permit abuse, but err on that side. The employee is entitled to an opinion. You have been planning this meeting a long time. The employee has not. You have prepared. The employee has not. You have chosen your words carefully. The employee has not. Consider all this. Listen to the employee’s opinion, let the employee have a say, and then end the meeting. Do not defend your actions further or respond further. There is nothing more for you to say. Do not react or become emotional. Keep it professional and business. It is not personal. Make sure you keep it that way and convey it that way.
After the meeting, follow the security procedures of the company as to how the employee vacates the premises and returns for personal possessions. In some cases, you may want to end all contact at this point. All of which is a separate issue.
As a final note, if you have outside contact with the employee, or the employee is hired by some other part of your company (which often happens in a large organization), do not expect the employee to remain “friends” with you. Earlier in my career, I somehow thought that the employee would consider, come to understand that I had made the right decision for them, come to agree with me, and eventually return to be friends. This was naïveté and expecting the impossible out of human nature. On occasions, I have had employees see me somewhere, be civil, and even remark how my decision actually helped them in some way. Regardless, they never became friends again.
Terminating an employee – the implementation is not for the faint hearted, but it is part of technology management.