Even if it hurts

A friend of mine recently closed her bakery business. She shared with me her regrets. “I should have been quicker to fire hopeless employees,” she said. She often procrastinated, and hoped and prayed that her sloppy workers would improve. They did not.

Many employers hesitate in firing people. It’s understandable, especially in a small operation where everybody knows everybody. It’s really a difficult task to rid a worker of his livelihood and quite a burden to the employer’s conscience. There’s also the question of how it will affect the overall morale in the remaining workforce.

Another thing, terminating an employee can be a slur to the employer’s ego, an indication of her earlier poor judgment — that of hiring a wrong guy, in the first place. It may be quite unacceptable to find out that she decided poorly despite all the time, tests or interviews that it took her in choosing from a line of applicants.

It has now become clear to my friend that operating a business is not like running a charitable institution. Nor is it a mere ego trip. Everybody makes mistakes, although it takes a special fellow to admit his or hers. This applies to both the employer and the problem employee: For the employer to have the courage to rectify whatever previous judgment she’d made that turns out to be poor. Or, for the employee who could not cope with the demands of his job to do himself the favor of resigning honorably.

Oftentimes though, it’s the employer who must make the move. She must brave both the guilt over her worker’s loss of job and the fear of what signals the act of firing someone might send to the other employees. She must swallow her own pride, too. She shall not be cowed from doing what needs to be done — promptly.

Curiously, employers that are justly decisive in terminating employees usually earn the respect of their remaining staff. When the decision to fire an incompetent worker is dilly-dallied, the situation can cause demoralization in the workplace. The others will begin to doubt their own job security as hushed conversations creep around.

When a decision to terminate is reached, so long as it had been thoroughly studied and reflected upon, it is better implemented immediately. But the process shall take place with the least possible antipathy — without an argument, harsh words, or unnecessary fault pointing.

There may be, in some cases, no need to give the fired employee any reasons for his termination. It is enough to assure him that the decision is made after thorough consideration, so long as it is true. Explaining the termination may only degenerate into a nasty argument.

Firing an employee is a difficult process that must be carried out with compassion, composure and firmness. Choosing the right words to use will certainly help soften the blow. The objective is to effectively deliver the bitter news with the least ill feeling.

It hardly works to try to convince a terminated employee of his “faults”. He is momentarily just too emotional to be rational. I think, however, that the employer must keep a file of all the shortcomings of the concerned employee and make it available when required.

It is often enough to make the departing fellow understand that letting him go is difficult for the employer as well. But that it has to be done – even if it hurts – to spare them both from the noxious fumes of a relationship that is no longer working.

My friend resents it very much that she allowed the business to go down the drain because of a few bad eggs. That even her good workers have now lost their jobs. Not to mention that it has cost her a good part of herself. (E-MAIL: modequillo@ gmail.com)