Terminating Employees Should be a Relief
Effective Managers Shouldn't Feel Badly about Termination
Mar 1, 2009
Has the topic of termination ever come up in discussion? In general, is the act of termination looked on in disfavor, as though it's treating someone unfairly by firing them? In reality, supervisors and managers who feel that way probably have treated the employee unfairly. But it’s not the termination that’s unfair -- it’s been their lack of feedback to the employee that is.
Every manager or supervisor has been there at one time or another. An employee has to be let go due to poor performance. To some, this can be a dreaded experience, with sleepless nights before and after the ordeal. Fumbling with sugary words won’t ease the situation; there’s no nice way to tell them it’s over. The thing to remember through it all is how the employee ended up at this moment, and that in reality, termination is doing both the organization and the employee a favor.
What the Annual Review And Performance Review is For
If it comes as a surprise to an employee they are being let go due to poor performance, it means the manager or supervisor hasn’t been doing their job. Managers need to follow up frequently with comments, good or bad. Most companies evaluate performance annually, and often the review becomes like George Costanza’s Festivus, complete with an “airing of grievances.” Many managers take the review as the opportunity to take shots at the employee for every misstep in the last 12 months. Other managers sit down and try to recall the last 12 months off the top of their head. If either is the case, the procedure is wrong.
The annual review should be a back up to the many conversations and notes a supervisor has shared with their employee throughout the year. Managers should save memos in employee files to refresh their memory, as a lot can happen in a year. If a manager has had to meet with the employee over the year, they should take a moment after the meeting to write down notes about the outcome of the meeting. These should also go in the file. These notes, along with a good, honest review process, should give a manager a clear picture of how their employee is doing. The review shouldn’t be based on the most recent good or bad act a manager witnessed from the employee.
Managing Employees Out of Their Comfort Zone
In reality, if a manager gets to the point of having to terminate an employee, it should be an outright relief to both manager and employee. If a manager has been regularly documenting bad habits and performance and following up with the employee, then they already understand the organization's unhappiness with them. If this is the case, it means that they are coming to work every day with the burden of knowing they aren’t performing adequately. They are, as the expression goes, “out of their comfort zone.”
A manager should recognize someone is needed in their spot that can handle the workload. They also should recognize employees that are not comfortable in their role. Termination at this point relieves the pressure on them to meet expectations that they cannot fulfill. It also relieves pressure on the manager; is your company dealing with the employee’s shortcomings on a daily basis? Is the team suffering as a result? In both cases, the answer is yes! Termination should be treated as a tool in business, and not a punishment for manager and employee.
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