Should we fire this guy?

The moment you find yourself micromanaging a direct report, alarm bells should be ringing in your head, telling you that a poor hiring decision was made. I’m a firm believer in this. That being said, this statement is made assuming you are an experienced and effective boss with a clearly and accurately written job description. (As a supervisor, I first ask myself whether it is my fault for not explaining things clearly enough. FYI: It usually is my fault, but that is not always the case.) I’m getting a little ahead of myself, though. Here is the checklist of signs that we have a problem on our hands:

• The employee is just not picking things up, learning the job, or learning from past mistakes.
• Deadlines are not met, work is incomplete, or work is chock full of errors.
• The employee has a poor attitude, is disrespectful, or insubordinate, or just general lack of any gratitude.
• The employee is late, calls in sick, or shows little sense of urgency.
• There is a lack of results – like a salesman who can’t sell or an engineer who can’t design a part within a reasonable time.

These are all bad, but toxic people do a lot of damage, and it can last. For toxic employees, ask yourself if team morale will improve if you fire the employee. If you close your eyes and picture the team clapping at your decision, then that is a sign the guy needs to go.

On the other hand, if the employee has something going on physically or outside of work, but is otherwise capable, then have some patience. Be careful here. Mental health is at a crisis level, and there are many things you cannot ask an employee. I would empathetically and authentically start with, “Are you ok?” and carefully proceed from there.

To PIP or not to PIP?

A Performance Improvement Plan, (PIP), sounds like a good idea, right? For example, if we just redouble our efforts, focus on the employee, and reset measurables, then he can turn things around, right? In my experience, I am not sure I ever saw one PIP work. And I think if it did, the employee would have to have been initially mortified that they were not meeting expectations. If you deliver the news for a PIP, and the employee looks like a deer in headlights or is surprised to find out that their boss thinks that they are an underperformer, then I would probably suggest not even bothering with a 90-day or 30-day PIP. I firmly believe dragging out the inevitable is a rotten thing to do to the employee and to the supervisor.

Tip: at the first signs of struggles, the supervisor needs to give shorter durations and very specific task-oriented instructions. Public accounting was a great personal training ground for me to break down jobs into smaller digestible pieces, specifically hours per task. For example, it is Tuesday morning, and there are 15 steps to get a job finished by say Friday. Focus on today – Tuesday only – and tell the employee, “Before the end of the day today, the following three things should be completed if we are going to make our Friday deadline. If it gets to 2:00 p.m., and you are not done with the first two, then come see me right away.” Tell the employee precisely what they need to do, and when it needs to be done. Ask the employee if they know how to do it. If they don’t, then teach them again, and check in more frequently.

Conclusion

Thankfully, it is rare that a company really needs to fire someone. First, check to see if it is the supervisor’s fault. Sometimes a supervisor has been doing a job for so long, or not trained a new employee in so long, they forget or struggle to articulate how to exactly get the job done. Second, have some compassion and consider if something is going on with the employee. Third, decide whether to go the PIP route. Lastly, if you do need to fire somebody, do it face-to-face, and keep it concise and professional.

Bill Wednieski is the Managing Director for The Headhunters. Learn more here.