Savor the Success - The Premium Business Network for Women Entrepreneurs.

 

One of the reasons I used to be afraid of firing anyone, no matter how much grief they were giving me, was because I thought I could get sued. Here are the issues with that:
1) Anyone can sue anyone at any time for any reason. We business owners must make peace with that.
2) I have realized I used to dream up unsubstantiated legalities to avoid standing up for myself. It was an excuse for me not to change.
3) Aside from my own peace of mind as a boss and remaining on top of my own game, I must consider the well-being of the rest of my employees. When I am too "chicken" to confront and/or fire a problem employee, I am planting the seeds for resentment and disrespect from the rest of my team. It doesn't matter who the problem employee is. It could be my best friend, my spouse (yes, you heard me), my relative, my business partner, an employee with me for a long time, if they are serenity-busting, I have to deal with it or my team goes down.

That said, I want everyone to understand the basics of the "At-will" employment law, and which exceptions to the rule your state has adopted, if any. For starters, please refer to  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment.

For further clarification on the employment laws of your state, and for contracts that protect your serenity for the long haul, I highly recommend that you leverage a lawyer. (http://www.leveragealawyer.com). That's Savor sister Jessica Eaves Mathews' company.

Also, I'm a big advocate for taking certain steps prior to letting someone go. Generally, unless someone blatently lies, cheats, or steals from me which is grounds for immediate dismissal, I give employees the chance to turn it around. Here are some things I do that ease my conscience, alleviate my fears of legal issues and also give the employee a fair shot:

1) My managers and I keep dated memos, in the employee's file, of incidents.
2) We give a verbal warning and then a written warning.
3) With termination, we give a written letter clearly expressing the reason for dismissal.
4) I do the firing, but never alone. I always have a witness, usually a manager with me.
5) The actual firing conversation is 3 minutes or less. Warning conversations are much longer (sometimes up to 60 minutes, usually more like 15 minutes) and often take a "coaching" tone. Sometimes a formal warning conversation is held and documented by my managers alone. More often than not, however, I'm there.
6) If it's a matter of sub-par performance, I consider changing the employee's position within my company, if appropriate, needed and available, to suit the employee's strengths/gifts. At the recommendation of my managers, we have done this successfully with two employees with me today. One person we took off the front desk and put them in a full-time teaching position; another we also took off the front desk and put into a sales position. Both employees are way happier and doing excellent work for my business.
7) Oh, and I almost forgot! I don't just jump in to these uncomfortable (and vitally important) conversations cold. I ALWAYS run it by a therapist or coach, and sometimes even a lawyer first! I also do not gossip about it. I don't even tell my hubby most of the time, I don't speak to the whole world or personal friends about it. I speak with my managers, then a therapist or coach and/or lawyer, then I have the conversation. Got it?