A senior manager once asked me this question and stated that ‘Everyone has had enough. Surely we don’t have to issue a formal warning?’ The employee had a lengthy pattern of poor performance and regularly caused conflict in the workplace. Their supervisor and manager, probably hoping for the best, had spoken with them numerous times over their conduct and performance. However, there was no improvement, nothing had been documented, and no performance improvement plan had been implemented.

For the sake of their business, and their long-suffering team, they were ready to terminate the employee. However, they were missing the essentials:

• No formal process had been applied.

• The employee in question did not know their employment was on the line.

• The company had not, to this point, applied procedural fairness.

• The company had not undertaken a basic risk assessment.

Here is what I did:

1. Looked at the situation objectively, and helped the business understand the risks of failing to follow a good process.

2. Got them to hit the pause button.

3. Developed a specific plan, including related comms, for implementation.

4. Supported the manager to have the conversations, and in the right way.

5. Got the manager to document everything.

The result?

After formal discussions with the employee, and realising their conduct and performance was not acceptable, the employee made the decision to resign (voluntarily) and move on. This was a good outcome, although it doesn’t always end up being as amicable.

Takeaways:

• Frustration isn’t a strategy, and a strategy without a plan is destined to fail.

• Warnings must be the result of a fair process, and without confirmation and being documented are of much lesser evidential value.

• A quick exit is tempting, and due to the frustration is an understandable reaction, however a clean and procedurally driven exit is much safer.

• A well planned, fair, and appropriately implemented process is highly defendable.

If you have ever been asked to ‘just terminate’ an employee without a applying proper process, contact us to discuss how we can support you to best manage the situation and lessen the associated risks.

At Watson Workplace, we solve workplace problems.