24. Terminating an Employee with Grace

It is never easy to fire someone.  We tend to ignore employee problems until things reach the tipping point.  This episode takes the fear out of the termination process by outlining the process of responding to employee problems, documenting your interventions,  and preparing for and holding the termination meeting.

Find more practicable tips on my website Relish Your Role. com. I have so much respect for the work you do!
Thanks for listening.

Transcript

We have all, at some point in our career, had to fire someone.

As a director of a nonprofit, you have more staff and undoubtedly, you will have a staff person whose performance makes it clear that they are not a good match for the agency.

And you will have to let them go.

Most of us dread having that conversation when we are letting staff go.

In a perfect world, you would never have to master the act of graceful firing- but we are in the real world.

So, today’s episode will provide some practical tips on how to terminate a staff person in a way that is honest, kind, and graceful.

You can hear the entire episode at relishyourrole.com/24

The Problem Employee

You know who that is, you probably can visualize them right now.  

They do not get their work done on time.

Their work is consistently of poor quality.

They have issues with their co-workers.

They have a negative attitude which infects the rest of the staff.

They have trouble receiving feedback.

They have shown no interest in self-improvement

Whether this person is your direct report or is supervised by someone else on your staff, you need to make sure that you have followed best practices before you reach the point where you decide the only option is to terminate the person.

Address Problems Early

I have spoken in other episodes about the nonconfrontational nature of nonprofits.

We tend to avoid conflict and unpleasant conversations.

This tendency extends to dealing with problem employees.

Most of us do not want to have those awkward conversations to discuss problems in a staff’s performance.

But we need to have those conversations both for the sake of your agency and the growth of the individual.  They may be unaware of their problematic behavior, and what they do not know they cannot change.  

You should give everyone who works for you the opportunity to improve, and they can often start that journey by receiving fair and objective feedback.

So, at the first evidence of problematic behavior or attitude, the first step is to have a meeting with the staff person and share the issue, be very clear about what is problematic, and the agency expectations, and then problem-solve with them ways the issue can be addressed.  

I have a full episode on how to give feedback.  It is number 16 and you can hear it at relishyourrole/16

Once there is an agreement on what the expectations are, you need to engage the staff in their problem-solving skills to change their behaviors or reactions that caused the problem in the first place.

The last and most important part of that meeting is to mutually identify what improvement will look like, perhaps it has to do with completing assignments on their due date, following procedure when they have a disagreement with their co-workers, or practicing responses to irate clients.  

Lastly, there needs to be agreement on how the issue will be monitored, both how and how often.

There needs to be mutual accountability on the part of the staff and their supervisor on follow-up steps.

Importance of Documentation

While those meetings are to coach your staff for improvement, there is also a compliance element.

There must be clear and detailed documentation of the meeting.  This documentation should detail the issue that was discussed, expectations moving forward, the components of the plan to change the behavior, the staff person’s contribution to the meeting, and the monitoring schedule agreed to.

This documentation creates an accurate paper trail of the efforts made to address the situation.  It provides an objective summary of the situation and can be referred to if the issue escalates or continues.

Depending on your agency's policies, you may want to make a part of the staff person’s formal HR file and have the employee sign off on the meeting summary.

Regardless if the summary comes a part of the formal file, you need to have documentation that shows you have made every effort to resolve the problem from a management perspective.

The Termination Decision

Assuming you or your staff have done due diligence by meeting with the problem staff to discuss the issues and things have not improved.

You have to weigh the impact of letting the staff go against that of keeping them.

You may want to think through those decisions sequentially.

By that, I mean if you are clear that you have made every effort to try to resolve the problem and the staff shows no improvement, the first decision point is if there is another position they can fill at the agency where their problematic behavior would not have a negative impact.  

For example, if it is clear that they cannot complete paperwork on time, is there a role they can play where they would not have those responsibilities?

You need to decide if their positive traits in other areas make it worth trying to find a place for them.

While this may result in a decrease in status and or pay, you need to leave the decision to take those demotions up to the staff person.  That is not your call.

Your sole interest should be what is in the best interest of your agency.  You decide based on the agency's needs and the individual can decide if they want to keep working based on the new terms.

In deciding if you want to offer the person a different position in the agency you also need to weigh the impact on the rest of the staff.  

You know that the rest of the staff know the person has been problematic.  They may also have caused conflict among their co-workers or have been underperforming to the point where others have had to pick up their slack.

What is the message you are giving if you keep the problem person on staff?

You know the specifics of the situation and if it would send a bad message about agency expectations or if it would be seen as a thoughtful move.

You want to support a positive respectful work culture so think through the ramifications of keeping that person on board and you make the termination decision accordingly.

Preparing for the Termination Meeting

You need to have your documentation available for the person to review.

You have to prepare a clear list of property that needs to be returned to the agency.  Your HR policies may list those things but review the list to ensure it is accurate.

If there are agency passwords that need to be retrieved create a list so you can gather all that information before departure.

You need to have a termination letter already prepared with the remaining PTO time the person is owed and how they will be paid for that time.  Depending on your agency policy you may want to have the employee sign the termination letter, or at a minimum acknowledge receipt of the letter.

The termination letter should state the person’s position title, the hire date, and the agency’s decision to terminate employment due to the reasons that you should have well documented.  It should be short and clear.

You need to have a clear plan of how that person’s job responsibilities will be covered in the short run.  If there are client files to transfer or documents that need to be shared make sure you have thought that through.

The Termination Meeting

Either you or the staff person’s supervisor is responsible for holding the termination meeting face-to-face.  If it is a remote position, schedule a virtual call, you do not fire a person with a disembodied voice.

This meeting needs to respect the privacy of the individual and be held in an office that ideally has a door and enough soundproofing that the conversation cannot be overheard.

I had a client who thought nothing of firing staff at a coffee house.  There are many reasons why that is a bad idea.  Logistics aside, concerning getting all of the staff’s keys, passwords, and agency equipment,  a coffeehouse is a very public setting and if the person is upset, you are adding embarrassment to what is an extremely emotional situation and is deeply unkind.

The meeting should be concise.  You need to clearly state that you have asked to meet with them to tell them that they are being terminated from their position.  Review the problems they have had over the period, the efforts made to resolve the issue, and the lack of improvement.

While it is rarely a true surprise for the person, they may become upset, belligerent, or angry.  You need to give them time to process their response and be willing to hear what they have to say.

Your goal is to end their employment, and it is in your best interest to avoid any future problems and to listen to them respectfully and patiently.

Usually, it is best to have the termination be made effective immediately.  There is rarely any good reason to keep the person in the office for additional days, it is awkward, and the person can wreak havoc with your systems or spread unhelpful gossip.  Given the reality that there often is work that needs to be transferred, these meetings are best held in the morning so the transfer work can be done later in the day and there is time to have the staff hand off work and return all agency equipment, passwords, etc.

Often, there needs to be time spent to transfer client files or reports or in-process work like updating a donor list.  You need to have the staff person who will take over those responsibilities on hand to get the information they need after the termination meeting.  This means they may need to have a heads-up a few hours prior.  Hopefully, this is someone you can trust to keep the imminent termination to themselves.  If you have doubts about that, pick another person to receive the transferred work.

You want to control the narrative, so it is my advice to send an all-agency email after the meeting notifying everyone that the person is leaving the agency and thanking them for their contributions.  You should invite any staff to come to you with any questions.

These are never easy situations and ideally, you have done everything to avoid firing staff.  But when you need to terminate a staff member, you need to be certain you have followed your agency’s policies and approach the situation from a prepared and humane posture.

Having support in the firing process is just one of the ways Relish  Your Role helps you manage up, down, and across your agency with confidence.  Get in touch to learn more about our five-month signature system for women nonprofit EDs  tailor designed to strengthen your relationship skills so you can focus on the big picture issues and bring joy to your work rather than it running you ragged.

You can do this and I am here to help.