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Terminating Employment.
Has any manager ever had to terminate the employment of a fellow worker? I have had to do this only two times. It hurts me to think about it. I am wondering what your thoughts on this are and what the best way of handling this would be. Of course I have my own opinion, what is yours?
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Replies
Ronnie,
You have a good point. One good way to be my friend is to do your job better than others can. If I had to choose a person to befriend out of a group of employees of which none are my friend yet, I would choose the best performer and get to know him well because he may be the best resource for training the others.
ronnie r. monilla said:
Rusty, sorry about the paradoxical reply last time. Friends have been a rare commodity in my life -- true friends, not just buddies. In a match between a true friend and a good employee, I would give the true friend the benefit of the doubt.
-Scott D. Warner, RLS
Rusty Smith, PLS said:
Rusty,
If you had the choice to keep a good friend who is a bad employee, or a good employee that you just can't seem to befriend, which would you choose?
I realize that we can not train a person to be a good friend, neither can we train a person to be a good employee.
Basically, if I had two equally bad employees of which one is a friend, I might keep the friend and terminate the other because the friend may be easier to work with and develop professionally, but I would need to be certain that the friend was not using the friendship as an excuse to be lazy or careless about performance because he knows that he is a friend and feels safe because of it.
-Scott D. Warner, RLS
Rusty Smith, PLS said:
even though the idea of firing someone you have spent many years with is not one you look forward to it is a part of the job and a task that has a good side (I always try to look at the good side). It is after all, a business decision. if that employee is not working out he may find another place where he fits better and you may find someone whom will fit better in your company. a person can be a good person and good friend but not a good employee, sometimes you have to terminate one to keep the other, employees are easier to find than friends.
I'm a product of that situation. My boss simply could not afford me anymore. I was like that fancy new laser-scanner that cost a lot per month, was worth every penny, but the contracts werent coming in to make the payments.
Jay & I remain good friends and the possiblity of a return to work is always on the table, once things pick back up.
But believe me, it was a shock to the system. When I was in college, my prof always said that if I knew how to set up a gun, I always had a job. I had never been out of work before then. So you adapt, improvise, and overcome. I keep beating the surveying drum, and maybe somebody out there would be willing to hire me.
Scott D. Warner, R.L.S. said:
Good points. Now what if you need to terminate an employee simply because the contracts are not coming in and the employee did nothing wrong at all, but just happens that he is the low man on the ladder? How hard it is to explain this to a young man who ordinarily - in better economic times - would be one that you would be mentoring? This is the most disturbing situation I have ever faced. It's nothing personal, it's just business. It's nothing personal, it's just business, It's nothing personal......nightmares!
I have had to fire a few people, but I made sure that there was enough reason. Some people, myself included, take their jobs seriously ... it is what pays the bills and when the income is no longer coming in, you can lose everything. So I make double-sure that there is good reason and that they have been warned for the offense before unless it is something severe such as fighting, drug or alcohol use at work, etc.
If it is for poor performance, I always try my best to train them in weaker areas, and if they just don't get any better, I will sometimes find what they are good at and have them do that instead. I can't stand "fire-happy" people who sling the power around because they can. I want to be able to sleep at night knowing I at least gave them a chance. But sometimes, some people just can't or won't, I often find the latter to be the problem as "can't" isn't in my vocabulary.