Managers make a lot of clumsy mistakes with firings. And it’s usually because they don’t know what to say. Sometimes they want to make the firing easier on…
MANAGING STAFF
The competent jerk: Managing a top performer who alienates his coworkers
1:25 pm by
By Lynne Curry Question: My top producer, “Luke,” out-performs any three employees. I love him to death. I wish I had more employees with his energy and drive. I also want to wring his neck. He alienates other employees with his brash “my way is the only way” attitude. When others are speaking in company meetings, he talks over them and cuts them off, using a condescending tone as he discounts their ideas. He never pulls anything like this with me. When I talk with him about how he ticks one or another of his colleagues off, he insists they’re jealous and out to get him because his results make them look bad. I’ve told Luke he’s gained a problem reputation in our company and warned him that negative stories… . . . read more.
MANAGING STAFF
How to handle a scamming, scheming staffer
10:50 am by
By Lynne Curry Question: I run a small firm. When I advertised for a new hire, I didn’t find anyone who had the right skill set. “Will” applied. Although he lacked the skills I sought, he interviewed well and said he was willing to learn everything necessary to become my No. 1 employee. I took a chance on him and invested months in training him. He shadowed me, developed rapport with my key clients, and learned strategies I’d spent 20 years developing. We had one skirmish. When he found out how much I was paying his predecessor, he lobbied fiercely for a raise. Although his work didn’t justify the salary I was already paying him, he had good natural talent and I didn’t want to start over with a new… . . . read more.
EMPLOYMENT LAW UPDATE
Non-compete agreements and deceiving your employer
10:48 am by
By Lynne Curry Question: I was so stoked when the premier firm in my area of professional services hired me that I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I told my former manager what I thought of her. She ordered me to leave her company immediately. No problem, I had a new job to go to. I also had my entire future mapped out. I’d work for my new employer for a year, learn everything I could, and then start my business. I told all my friends my new job was the ideal stepping stone. On my first day when I went through orientation, my new manager handed me an employment agreement that included a noncompete agreement. It was a complete shock. I’d never seen one… . . . read more.
MANAGING STAFF
Don’t delay if you have to deliver bad news
10:43 am by
By Lynne Curry “It’s not the difficult conversations that bite you the hardest,” I told the manager. “It’s the ones you put off until too late.” I listened to the manager’s reasons and told him, “Here are the risks you take. You dread telling ‘Robert’ what and how he needs to improve because he lashes out at you and remains sullen for days after you’ve counseled him. You finally draft a written reprimand, but before you deliver it, Robert voices a safety concern in front of others. Now your reprimand seems seem retaliatory—and Robert’s an employee who feels justified in reporting his grievance to a regulatory agency.” “You’ve told me ‘Caitlin’ spends more time talking with coworkers than working. She makes lots of errors. You keep hoping she’ll improve, but… . . . read more.
TERMINATION
Model Policy: Progressive Discipline and Employee Termination
8:01 am by
Why you need this policy:
MANAGING STAFF
5 lessons employers can learn from Elon Musk’s Twitter crises
1:56 pm by
By Lynne Curry When multi-billionaire and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter on Oct. 27, he assumed leadership of a company that hadn’t earned a profit in eight of its ten years, By Nov. 4, eight days later, 1.3 million users had fled Twitter. Revenue dropped dramatically as advertisers, Twitter’s main revenue source, pulled out. One could feel sorry for Musk—except Twitter’s crises resulted in part from Musk’s own “I wing it” actions. His mistakes provide valuable lessons for other employers. Don’t alienate those you most need to survive Musk’s own tweets and heavy-handed actions alienated Twitter’s employees and stakeholders. In his first eight days, Musk fired massive numbers of Twitter’s full-time workforce, throwing remaining employees into survival mode. Remaining employees heard about the mass layoffs but didn’t learn… . . . read more.
TERMINATION
7 strategies for firing without backfiring
4:15 pm by
By Lynne Curry The final revenge of the difficult, fired employee. You’ve hesitated to fire him, you’ve given him chance after chance, but he’s not getting better. In fact, he’s getting worse, and so is the situation. You owe it to your other employees, who consider this employee toxic or carry his shirked workload burden, to bless this employee out the door. Unfortunately, you then make a critical mistake that results in a painful payout to this employee. If you want to fire without backfiring, you need to pay attention to: The doctrine of good faith and fair dealing; The guardrails of just cause, and Ask yourself 22 questions. If you’d like to fire an employee without backfire, you need to consider good faith and just cause, then ask yourself… . . . read more.
HIRING & FIRING
The dreaded “you’re fired” interview
5:54 pm by
By Lynne Curry You dread what you’re about to do. Even though your employee deserves to be fired, you hate firing anyone. You also fear the damage a fired employee can create with false wrongful termination allegations. If you’d to fire without backfiring and in a way that leaves the fired employee with dignity, here’s what you need to know. Do your job right Have you done your job? Have you clearly let your employee know your expectations; and given your employee the resources, training and support needed to do their job, along with corrective feedback, and chances to improve? If you’re not sure you have, check out the suggestions in “Pressing Reset” (chapter 7 of Managing for Accountability, https://bit.ly/3T3vww8/. If you’ve done your job, you’ve minimized the risk of… . . . read more.
TERMINATION
To avoid a messy workplace theft investigation, can we just fire our prime suspect?
11:17 am by
By Lynne Curry Question: Several years ago, when one of our employees was stealing from other employees’ purses and lockers, we called the police. The process — calling the police, alerting our insurance carrier and interviewing multiple employees to show fairness so we wouldn’t get sued for wrongful termination when we fired the one employee — tore apart our company. Some of our best employees couldn’t believe we didn’t trust them. We tried to explain we had wanted to be fair, and that if we only singled certain employees, we’d stigmatize them forever, but two of our best, long-term employees were so angry they quit within a few months. Once again, we have a problem. Several employees have reported missing small things from their desks. These items appear to be… . . . read more.
