Firing people should [usually] be hard. Regardless of their work performance, a person’s job is often their livelihood and when you terminate their employment, you’re taking an active role in making their life harder.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t fire someone for legitimate reasons. But if you do, you should try to be as fair and generous as possible. Whining about someone saying you “lack empathy” on LinkedIn as though you’re some sort of victim definitely shows a lack of empathy.
I’ve had to fire a handful of people in my career. I felt terrible about all but one of them and tried to make sure they got the best severance possible.
The one I didn’t feel bad about stole money from poor people and was completely remorseless. He can (and did) get fucked.
I like the way we handle it at my company. We sit down with them, tell them specifically what the issue is, how much time they have to fix it (usually 4-ish weeks), and what will happen if they don’t.
This gives them a chance to start applying elsewhere, or fix the issue. Usually it’s the former.
I feel less bad firing people this way, because it’s not a surprise to anyone, and they have time to fix the issue, if they want.
That said, for poor behavior, we fire immediately. The above policy is assuming poor performance, not policy violations.
Firing people should [usually] be hard. Regardless of their work performance, a person’s job is often their livelihood and when you terminate their employment, you’re taking an active role in making their life harder.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t fire someone for legitimate reasons. But if you do, you should try to be as fair and generous as possible. Whining about someone saying you “lack empathy” on LinkedIn as though you’re some sort of victim definitely shows a lack of empathy.
I’ve had to fire a handful of people in my career. I felt terrible about all but one of them and tried to make sure they got the best severance possible.
The one I didn’t feel bad about stole money from poor people and was completely remorseless. He can (and did) get fucked.
I like the way we handle it at my company. We sit down with them, tell them specifically what the issue is, how much time they have to fix it (usually 4-ish weeks), and what will happen if they don’t.
This gives them a chance to start applying elsewhere, or fix the issue. Usually it’s the former.
I feel less bad firing people this way, because it’s not a surprise to anyone, and they have time to fix the issue, if they want.
That said, for poor behavior, we fire immediately. The above policy is assuming poor performance, not policy violations.