Nothing Personal

Most employers hesitate to fire people. Especially in a small operation where everybody knows everybody, it’s really an unpleasant 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 workforce.

Another thing, terminating an employee is a slur to the employer’s ego, a reflection of his earlier poor judgment—that of hiring a wrong guy. The top boss may find it unacceptable that he decided poorly despite all the test and interview results that were in his aid.

Everybody makes mistakes, but it takes a special fellow to admit his. This applies to both the employer and the problem employee. The employer must take the courage to rectify whatever previous judgment he’d made that turns out to be poor. Or the employee who could not cope with the demands of his job must do himself the favor of resigning honorably.

Oftentimes though, it’s the employer who must make the move. Operating a business is not running a charitable institution. Nor is it simply an ego trip. The employer must brave the guilt over his worker’s loss of job and the fear of what signals the act of firing someone might send to the other employees.

He must swallow his own pride, too. He should not be immobilized from doing what needs to be done – quickly. He would certainly resent it more later on if he allows the business to go down the drain because of a few bad eggs. Then even the good workers will lose their jobs, not to mention him losing his business completely.

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. There can emerge hushed criticisms and malicious jokes, about the worker or the boss or both of them.

When a decision to terminate is reached, so long as it had been thoroughly studied and reflected upon, it shall be implemented immediately. But the process shall take place with the least possible antipathy – without an argument, harsh words, or unnecessarily causing bruised feelings. There is often 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 is likely to degenerate into a nasty argument. The employer may soften the blow by telling the employee that he – the employer himself – had been through an agonizing process of deciding, and that he is now certain that the employee and the company must part ways. The choice of words is, indeed, important. The objective at the moment may not actually be to make sense, but to effectively deliver the bitter news and avoid an argument.

It hardly works to try to convince a terminated employee of his “faults.” He is momentarily just too emotional to be rational. However, the employer must see to it that the employee’s shortcomings are all properly documented in his personnel file and shall be available when required.

On the whole, firing an employee is a difficult process that must be carried out with compassion, composure and firmness. The employer must remember that the fired employee is a former ally, and that they once had been through good and bad times together. All efforts must be made to make the exiting fellow understand that letting him go is painful for the employer as well, but is necessary – to free them both from a relationship that is no longer working.

Letting go of an ineffective worker is nothing personal. It’s just something that has to be done, for good reason.