In a post I wrote back in March [Hiring for Success], I discussed the importance of finding and hiring great Product Managers. But in the same way that great workers can be a boon to your organization, poor performers can drag you down. Not only do they create more work for others on the team, but they can poison the atmosphere and cause other members to become frustrated or leave.
“When they (managers) finally decide to get rid of the under-performing slob who plays PC solitaire all day in her cubicle, it can be surprisingly tough to do. And that, in turn, affects productive workers. Few things demotivate an organization faster than tolerating and retaining low performers,” says Grant Freeland, a regional leader in Boston Consulting Group’s organization practice.
The quote above comes from the cover article in this week’s BusinessWeek, “Fear of Firing” which talks about how difficult it can be to fire under-performing staff due to the risk of costly litigation. The author describes several cases where companies were sued and lost because they terminated an employee who felt that they had been discriminated against, even though the employer had documentation verifying that the employee’s performance had been weak or that they were demoralizing to other employees.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I wholly support anti-discrimination laws in the workplace and elsewhere. There has been a long history of discrimination (workplace and otherwise) in the U.S. I am a strong believer in the value of diversity in the workplace, which includes hiring staff with different perspectives, backgrounds, training and experience.
The more diversity on your team, the more likely you are to come up with creative solutions to challenging problems. The problem is that for all of their promise for equality, anti-discrimination laws can be abused and it is difficult and costly to defend against discrimination claims in court.
Unfortunately, what this means is that in order to protect themselves against such claims, companies are becoming fearful of terminating any poor-performing employee who is not a white male under 40, and even employees in that group can be considered victims of reverse discrimination.
So, what does a Product Manager (or any manager with subordinates) need to do in order to remove poor-performing and/or destructive staff while still protecting themselves and their company from litigation. Here are some key things to do and consider if you are looking to unhire someone.
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Talk to the person
It’s not fair to terminate an employee if you never gave them a chance to rectify the problem first. Whether you are a peer or a manager, don’t be afraid to discuss a performance issue with the individual first. It can be uncomfortable, but flip the coin over and envision how you would react to the same information if it were being presented to you. Wouldn’t you want to know and have the opportunity to correct the situation? -
Documentation
As soon as you start noticing a problem (or problems), start to keep track. A detailed accounting of consistent will help back up your concerns when you move to step 3 and will allow you to provide specific examples to the individual when you (or their manager) talks to them about the issue. -
Get HR involved
Many managers don’t think of HR as an ally, but in this and many other situations, your HR team can make the process less painful for everyone. They are considerably more experienced with personnel issues than most managers and can help keep the process in line with corporate policies and local/state/federal laws. They can also provide support to you as the manager or peer on how to effectively address the issue/individual. HR is also an important part of item 2. -
Be quick
Don’t let performance or personnel issues fester. They can have long-lasting effects on the team even after the issue has been resolved. For example, if it takes a long time to address a problem, the team may lose confidence in you (or the person responsible for resolution). Team members may be so frustrated that they start to look for another job. -
Be concise
When you finally get to the place where you have to fire someone, be brief. Explain the situation and how the process will work. The decision is made; don’t get tied up in a discussion about what the individual can do to fix the problem. Be prepared for the individual to be emotional, but don’t let yourself get caught up in it. Here’s a checklist to help you make sure that you take care of what is necessary. -
Don’t make it personal
There is NOTHING personal about firing someone. Performance, disruptive behavior, headcount reduction due to business conditions–these are legitimate reasons for letting someone go. If you find that your reasons do not fit into those categories, then you should re-evaluate whether you a being truthful about your criteria for terminating the employee. -
Communicate with the team
Once the change is made, make sure you communicate with your team about it. Staff changes are disruptive enough without the ambiguity of not knowing what is going on. A short staff meeting (or an email if your team is remote) to tell everyone what happened and what is going to happen in the future (new responsibilities, change in business goals, a new hire, etc.) will go a long way in helping the team recover and become productive again.
Beyond just the welfare of you and your team, you also need to consider the needs of the terminated employee. Karma works in strange ways and that employee that you sack today, could be a hiring manager in the future. Give every staff member the respect and dignity that you would want to be afforded. Jack and Suzy Welch wrote an article in an earlier edition of BusinessWeek that highlights how to fire someone with dignity and integrity. It’s a good perspective on the inverse of hiring great people.
Whether you are building a new team, augmenting an existing one or filling in some gaps, you want to make sure that you have top notch people. Sometimes that means unloading someone you have hired (or someone you inherited) so that the rest of the team doesn’t suffer. Just make sure you do it the way that you would want it done to you.