I'm a sales manager at a building materials distributor(dealing with contractors)...we had a huge turnover where 20 employees out of 60 went to a competitor(which created this opening for me). regardless we revamped a new sales staff and i have one salesperson who i want to get rid of. he's been employed for 3 weeks now and has been late 3 times. he's displayed poor organizational skills and has not followed through with two projects i gave to him. however i have screwed up by not documenting any of this other than mentioning it to him and another manager...

i've never had to fire anyone before. i know it has to be done though. i also have a replacement lined up who is ten times more qualified than this guy.

i can offer this sales guy another job in our wharehouse doing manual labor which pays almost the same amount. but honeslty the only reason i would do that is because i'd feel bad for the guy not having a job and the fact that a few other employees know him personally...

what would you do? give him a written warning and let him screw up again then fire him? or offer him the wherehouse job and he eihter turns it down or quits...option 3 is the simplest:fire him, no choices or warnings given... any input is greatly appreciated




"I buttfuck MC's" Pharoahe Monch

1) Have a sit down with the guy, outline your concerns, document the meeting and send a follow-up e-mail. Note the areas that you're expecting improvement in.

2) Synch with HR,

3) Give him 30 days to show improvement

4) If nothing improves, than have a meeting you, the guy and HR, note that you're putting him on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP)

5) If he doesn't meet the plan, sack him - after step four it's clearly outlined and documented that he knew what would happen if he didn't perform.


The above is the process you should always follow.


As a manager your job is to select, recruit, retain and develop people. Make sure all of your people understand that as your goal and always use the above process when people don't perform.

That way, your people understand that you're being fair and did make an effort to invest in each person you sacked and they won't be afraid that they're next, as they know you will try.


Peace,








M2

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I agree with M2 completely, but for different reasons. I have worked at a couple of law firms that deal with employment law. It is VERY VERY important that you follow some procedure when terminating employees. Terminating an employee without some sort of due process is fertile grounds for being hit with a discrimination suit.

Check with HR to see if you have a discipline/termination procedure and if they do FOLLOW THAT PROCESS TO THE LETTER. Any deviation from that process could be costly. Also, it is important that the employee in question know about said policy (usually by signing a statement acknowledging they have received the policy).

Its important to realize that at the management level, "business" decisions often have an impact beyond just business. Terminating an unproductive employee might be a good idea for the bottom line, but not thinking about post-termination lawsuits would be worse that just keeping dude on. This is not legal advice, check with your HR or in-house legal counsel before you make a final decision. I hope this helps.

i like the idea of the PIP M2 and i definitely dont wanna bring upon a lawsuit to my company...

however if i have that meeting for the PIP, im pretty sure i know what will happen...he'll stop being late and flakey and will TRY a lot harder...which is a great thing. however i honestly don't think this guy has the qualifications/knowledge or even simple math skills to perform at this job...can i fire a guy for being dumb?

"I buttfuck MC's" Pharoahe Monch

LOL! The first time I read your post, I could tell you really wanted to get rid of him, but now you're putting it out there.

I'm too lazy to go back to read your original post, but did you hire the guy or was he already there? I'm only asking because if you hired him, I think this will make you more selective in your hiring practices, but if he was already there, just transfer him to the other department. That way, he won't unemployed and you won't have to deal with him.

and yes i do want to get rid of him, he's making my workload heavier than it should be. they hired him knowing he was inexperienced out of desperation...we had a few people leave without giving notice. things have settled down a bit, but originally the location manager hired 2 people out of pure desperation which was understandable at the time but i would have preferred to weather the storm and get someone with some more experienced and logic even if it took a little longer. either way i have to deal with what i've got.

i worked out a semi compromise today though. seeing as i think firing him suddenly without any prior written warnings or a pip like post above suggested i have decided to throw him in our wherehouse for a month-he needs to learn about our products, thats half his battle. he agreed to that and the candidate i had lined up to replace him will come inside to the sales counter during this month...

this creates a few possible situations, most being good. he will either learn the products and come back to the counter more productive and able..or he will hate the wherehouse and quit before the month is up...or the guy i have coming in during the month proves to be so good at the job that we find a way to keep him there regardless of what happens with the original dude...possibly however, wherehouse guy gets mad that he has to go back to the wherehouse after a month of proving what he's capable of if thats what happens...its complicated but if he does show and prove and homeboy who i said is dumb steps up after the month of hard work, i may just get both of them at my sales counter and replace someone completely different who is underperforming...lol thats a lot to read, its a complex situation.


"I buttfuck MC's" Pharoahe Monch

I think the experience in the warehouse is what he needed before working in your department anyway.

http://www.boomrevolution.com/index.php?file=profile&video_id=22125

In all honesty, without proper documentation, firing someone can devolve into the kind of mess that requires a lawyer. If it's not your company, at what point do you let the employee flail as he invites his termination?

I agree with M2, as others have as well. If you inherit slackers, and you must be responsible for them, then to get rid of them you must document and show due dilligence in moving forward.

If he screws up, then you are covered. If he performs, maybe you have brought something out of him that he was not doing before.

It will all work out in the end.

Knowledge + Motivation + Timing = Success
See you at the finish line ...