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ADMINISTERING DISMISSAL IN SIX STEPS
There will be occasions
in your managerial career when you need
to apply the ultimate sanction of
dismissing an employee.
(Check with your HR
department that your role allows you the
authority to administer a dismissal. If
not, you will still need to refer to
these steps in order to brief the person
doing it)
Sometimes this will be
for behaviour meriting instant
dismissal, in which case you can apply
this set of steps without any prior
processes.
More usually it will be
the last stage in a series of meetings
focussing on attempts to change the
unacceptable behaviour or performance.
By the time this stage is
reached, the person has had numerous
meeting to identify the causes of the
problem and has given a series of
commitments to correct it. These
commitments have not been fulfilled.
At each stage the person
has been made aware of the consequences
of further breaches of their commitment.
In a sense, you are not dismissing the
person; they have chosen to dismiss
themselves.
Nevertheless, dismissal
is usually an emotional shock. This can
result in expressions of anger, but, if
handled empathetically, the person often
will respond with relief, or even
gratitude. They have had a long time to
get used to the idea that they cannot do
the job in the manner required but have
not had the motivation to move on. Often
they need someone else to provide the
final nudge.
When you are in a job
that you don’t like, or that you can’t
do well, getting fired is a good career
move.
The steps are similar to
the previous disciplinary process, with
a couple of obvious exceptions:
1. Describe the problem.
Review previous meetings and
commitments.
2. Probe for reasons.
Listen and respond with empathy.
3. Document relevant
information and summarise.
(Option, close the
discussion and set a specific follow up
date)
4. Explain the
disciplinary action that you are taking,
and the reasons.
5. Remain calm and
respond with empathy.
6. Specify how and when
the dismissal will occur.
1. Describe the problem.
Review previous meetings and
commitments.
As with other
disciplinary action the purpose of this
step is to focus the meeting solely on
the sequence of disciplinary actions and
broken commitments which have led to
this point.
2. Probe for reasons.
Listen and respond with empathy.
Although you start this
meeting with a view to a dismissal, the
person has not been dismissed yet. There
is always the possibility that they
could now reveal the real story or the
reason for their behaviour, which might
cause you to consider a reprieve.
I encountered a case in
one organisation where an employee had
been disciplined for disappearing at
lunchtime and returning late in the
afternoon. In the final interview he
revealed that he had been going to
hospital for radiotherapy treatment in
his lunch break rather than taking
sickness leave.
Another more common
“reprieve” situation is where one
employee has been covering up for
another. In a culture where there has
been a history of erratic application of
discipline, they might believe that
their problem would blow over.
With a consistent
approach to management they will now
realise that this process will end with
the loss of their job, and decide to
tell the proper story.
The most likely response,
however, will be that the person
re-states previous reasons and tries to
justify their inability to meet the
commitments that they gave. Empathy is
useful to get over this stage.
Alternatively, they may
try to focus the discussion onto the
relative triviality of the most recent
offense:
“Are you really going to
fire me for being five minutes late?
Empathy again will help
here:
“I can understand that
you think this is harsh. You have
promised me on numerous occasions that
you could tackle the problem of your
timekeeping. You have not kept that
commitment. I gave you a commitment at
our last meeting that any further
lateness would lead to dismissal, and I
am following through on that
commitment.”
3. Document relevant
information and summarise.
(Option, close the
discussion and set a specific follow up
date)
If new information has
emerged which needs further
investigation, summarise it to check for
accuracy and adjourn the meeting. Set
another date to resume the process. In
the meantime, investigate the new
information.
Otherwise, if no further
relevant information is forthcoming,
just summarise and proceed to the next
step.
4. Explain the
disciplinary action that you are taking,
and the reasons.
Be clear in your own
mind. The action that you are taking is
to dismiss the person. The reason you
are taking the action is that they have
repeatedly given commitments to change,
and they have repeatedly failed to
honour those commitments. You are
keeping to the commitment that you made
at the previous meeting.
If you have gone straight
into this process because of a specific
serious offence, explain the relevant
part of the organisation’s rules.
There is a strong
possibility that the person may not be
thinking coherently at this point, so
ensure that you make it absolutely clear
that their employment is now terminated.
Be ready with all your
empathy skills for the reaction.
5. Remain calm and
respond with empathy.
Except in cases where you
are administering instant dismissal, the
person has had some time to accept the
fact that their job is in jeopardy. Once
they realise that their employment has
now been terminated, people react in a
wide variety of ways.
For some, if they have
been struggling with a job that they
either cannot do, or don’t want to do,
their reaction is often relief that the
situation is now ended.
Others are more concerned
with the financial, social or personal
consequences of not being employed.
Some express anger or
resentment. This is always a risk, but
physical attacks are quite rare. The
anger a person feels is usually
self-directed because, if the process
has been conducted in this step by step
way, they know that they have, in
effect, fired themselves.
However, it does not help
the situation to point this out.
The aim of this step is
to enable a smooth transition to the
practicalities of the next step. So the
use of empathy is essential.
Do not embellish the
empathy with additional phrases which
might stimulate a new reaction or
discussion.
Compare:
“I can see that you’re
upset, but it is your own fault you
know”.
“I can see that you’re
upset, and I understand that.”
6. Specify how and when
the dismissal will occur.
Having administered the
dismissal, you are now in a different
relationship with the person.
Most people are not
accustomed to being dismissed, and at
this point they do not know quite what
to do.
Check with your HR
department beforehand what are the
necessary actions and possible options.
Prepare a checklist so that you can now
go into helpful mode and explain the
procedure.
Some organisations may
require the person to be supervised
while they clear their possessions.
Others may give the option of working
out a period of notice. In all cases
there will be uncertainties about wages,
holiday pay, pension etc. There may be
arrangements needed for the return of
company property such as cars and
computers.
There is no reason why
you should not be helpful and
supportive. Bear in mind that the person
may be still in a state of shock, and so
may not be able to take in a long list
of facts, so take your time to answer
questions.
Surprisingly, you may
find that you arrive at the end of this
process and the person thanks you for
your help and support.
Remember, just because
they were not successful in this job,
they could still be successful in some
other arena. One day you might be
working for them.
Exercise:
You manage the regional
delivery of catalogues for a national
company. You employ a number of casual
workers for door to door delivery.
A number of catalogues
have been found in a skip, and traced to
one operative. This is a dismissible
offense.
The employee protests his
innocence, but subsequently admits that
he had paid his nephew to take over the
round on a day when he was sick. He is
very annoyed to find that he has been
let down
Consider how you would
conduct the meeting in order to find out
the extent of the non-delivery.
Would you proceed to
dismissal of the employee? |
