The Difficult Task of Firing an Employee

Quite possibly the most unpleasant task in the workaday world is having to personally fire an employee. I have had some experience with this, and none of it was pleasant.

In the mercifully brief time I spent as assistant manager of a division in the company that Honeywell later purchased (thereby relieving me of that position, even though I got a raise in pay), I was the one who had the unpleasant task of firing people who, for one reason or another, needed to be fired. Note that last phrase, "needed to be." Mercifully, I have never had to lay a deserving employee off.

It was because I spoke up on one occasion, which I should have done, rather than keep my lip zipped, that I ended up having this most unpleasant chore awarded me. Let me elaborate.

In an earlier essay, My Colander List of Roles to Play , which was more about stagecraft than office work, I mentioned my boss at the time, a fellow known throughout the company as "Spanky." No, he did not believe in corporal punishment for errant employees. Rather, he strongly resembled an adult version of the "Little Rascals" character.

In time, Spanky would become the department manager and I, his assistant. Taken as a whole, Spanky was a good boss, but his performance was not entirely flawless.

We had on our staff a cynical, lazy fellow, who worked for us on the weekends. He was not stupid, by any stretch, but he used his brains to goof off as much as possible and not get caught. That said, he was not as clever as he imagined himself to be.

There came a point when we had caught him dead-to-rights in a number of violations of the company rules. Both Spanky and I called him into the manager's office, where Spanky told him the news, forthright and to the point, after having confronted him with his repeated offenses.

As soon as he got fired-so help me-the guy started crying. Okay, let me interject rule number one about the process of firing an employee: do not allow yourself to be moved by tears. If you are firing an employee for cause, the wet-eyed should get no better or different treatment than the dry-eyed.

Spanky was a strict boss on many levels, but he was not ready for this. He caved and let the guy off with thirty days' probation. I knew I could not question the boss's decision in front of an employee, so, what Spanky said, went. It did turn out to be a terrible decision. Of course the employee was crafty enough to keep his act together for thirty days. Later, after the probation, he would screw up in a way that caused considerable trouble, both for a customer and the company.

When I had a chance to talk to the boss in private, I told him how I felt about his decision, fully expecting one of the volcanic temper tantrums for which he was notorious. Instead, he just sighed and said, "You're right, Tommy. I'm no good at this sort of thing. From now on, you'll do all the firing around here." Naturally, he would back me up in all cases, but I was still on the front line, now.

The first few people I had to let go, I did in a way that is now illegal. However badly they may have performed and with however much malice aforethought, I gave them the choice of writing the company a quick letter of resignation, to avoid the stigma of having been dismissed for cause. I and the people like me who did this were generally trying to let the terminated employee down as easily as possible. It turns out, doing so may be a disservice to that employee. If he resigns, he absolutely may not collect unemployment insurance. If he is let go, he can at least try to make a case for compensation. That is why the tactic is now illegal.

So far, that is two things to remember: do not be swayed by emotion and do not pressure the employee into voluntarily resigning, even if you think it is for his own good.

Unless the employee in question does something so outrageous that even a complete nincompoop would know it was wrong, you should not fire, but counsel, for the first offense. Remember, replacing a discharged employee is a costly, burdensome and somewhat risky procedure. You should try to retain the resources you have to the best extent possible. I can think of a few people who turned their performances around after a constructive talking-to, when I could have been perfectly justified in giving them the sack, right then and there.

Even so, you should make note of these warning offenses. If the day comes when you have to terminate the employee with prejudice (that's formal talk for firing, not letting him go because of his race or ethnicity), you should tell him why and have these anecdotes at hand to support your argument. Obviously, it would be a case where the employee did not heed the counseling. You should never fire an employee without giving him a reason.

Along that same line, you must focus entirely on how the employee's conduct has compromised the company's mission, leaving your personal feelings aside. One of my most awkward situations came about when a newly-hired employee on the night shift turned out to have a really bad sanitation problem. His co-workers couldn't stand to be around him, and they all gave me and Spanky hail Columbia for inflicting him on them. Naturally, it was my job, not the boss's, to deliver the lecture on personal hygiene. Then, in a miracle like unto the parting of the waters to allow the Children of Israel to pass, before re-converging upon the Pharaoh's army, the new guy missed two nights of work without a call or explanation. The point is, I got to fire him for AWOL, not BO.

Another thing you ought not to do, even though it would make the job easier if you did, is blame "the powers that be" for your firing this person. Do not give the impression that you countenance the employee's unacceptable behavior. That can only lead to trouble. You may find it appropriate to bring top management into the picture, if it is justifiable to do so, but you need to make it clear to the employee, you stand with them, not him.

On one occasion, when I got an earful from the co-owner of the company about how an employee had dealt with an understandably disgruntled customer (and we had the conversation on tape), I ended up telling the guy, "Mrs. Smith will not stand for such conduct, and neither will I." I brought Mrs. Smith, the owner, into the picture because she was part of it, but also to cut off the employee's attempts to go around me, the way a child will go to one parent with a request after having been turned down by the other.

Finally, there is another thing managers used to do that you should not do any more. In Arthur Miller's excellent play, Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman's son, Biff, loses his job in a sporting goods store, apparently for pilferage. The owner of the store, not wanting any violent trouble from a big young guy like Biff, offers to write him a good letter of recommendation, if he'll just leave quietly. Quite obviously, the boss was just trying to avoid trouble, but Biff takes it the wrong way and pins his future hopes heavily on that recommendation.

These days, you can get sued for passing along misleading information about a terminated employee. If that employee does some damage to the firm that hired him, based in part on your report, you and your company could be held responsible. On the other hand, in this litigious society we live in, the terminated employee could attack you for giving out a bad report, however justified it may be.

Once Honeywell bought us out, they clarified the situation, not only for managers, but anyone who might get an inquiry about a former employee. All we were allowed to say is that the person worked for the company between this date and that date. Nothing more.

Let me close with a final word about substance use and abuse. In my working days, I drank, to an extent. I smoked pot, to an extent, but I was never, ever too messed up in the head to take care of business when it was time to take care of business. I am quite certain that between 95 and 99 percent of the people I worked with indulged in some sort of recreational behavior that might not serve them well on the job. All those indulgences were their (and my) business. When use of a substance becomes abuse of a substance, the practice becomes unacceptable. Robert Townsend, in his excellent management guide, Up the Organization, said the third time an employee comes to work too impaired to do his job, fire him without bothering to find out what he is on. That sounds like the right approach to me.

Sources

Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller

Up the Organization, Robert Townsend

Own experience