Before You Fire Someone

Terminating an employee is never and easy thing to do. It is difficult not only because you are dealing with the life of a person and this person’s career, but there is also the time and cost involved in hiring a another person, which you want to avoid if possible.
But it may appear that there are no alternatives. Presumably, you have run through a checklist of measures designed to salvage the employee, beginning with warnings, providing increased feedback to the employee, talking with the employee about the problems and how they can be solved, working out a plan of action, among other things.
Nothing seems to have worked, and it appears you have only one course of action left. But before you make that final decision, you should ask yourself a few questions first.
One thing to consider is whether the fault lies not with the employee but with you – were your expectations too high, so high that it would be difficult for anyone to do the job well? Were you thinking that the person would do the job as you would have done it, leaving no room for other ways of approaching it? Taking this into account doesn’t mean you have to lower your expectations, but it might change how you approach the situation.
Is the problem that the person doesn’t have the skills to do the job? If that is the case, then retraining may be able to take care of the problem. However, the problem may not be with skills but with attitude. If the person is just not motivated to do a good job, there may be little you can do about it, and termination might be the only option.
Another thing to consider is whether you have given them all they need to succeed in the job. Did they have all the equipment they needed, did they have all the training and mentoring?
Another question to think about is whether they are in the best position, one that best matches their skills, knowledge and experience. It could be that they would do much better in a different job that better suits their background.
When your company needs temporary, temporary-to-hire or direct-hire workers in the Anchorage area, send a message to the Opti Staffing Group. We would love to discuss how we can help your company with its contingent staffing needs.

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