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Dealing With a Problem Employee - Part III

Sometimes you have to fire people. If you have a stubborn low performer who just won't let you help him improve, sometimes you just have to fire that person. Now, managers will say to me, we are so overworked, all my people are overworked, I've got one employee who is a low performer but he's probably 50 percent, which is better than nothing in that case, right? And I say no, no, no. 50 percent is not better than nothing. And don't get me wrong. You have to choose your time. A little lesson we've learned from our friends in the restaurant industry is you never fire the dishwasher on Friday night. Choose your time. But sometimes you have to fire people.

There are four reasons why you have to fire a low performer who won't let you help him improve. The number one reason is low performers get paid. The number two reason is low performers cause problems that high performers have to fix. The number three reason? High performers hate to work with low performers. The number four reason is that low performers send a message to everybody else that hey, low performance is an option around here. No way, not on my team and it shouldn't be on your team, either.

Sometimes you have to fire people. Now call HR. Get somebody in HR to help you dot your I's and cross your T's so you do it right, if you have to fire someone. But here's the really good news. You'll probably never have to fire anyone if you manage in a hands-on way. If you spend time every day managing, if you spell out expectations every step of the way, one person at a time, one day at a time, if you track performance one person at a time, one day at a time, if you come down like a ton of bricks on small problems as soon as they happen, and try to fix them so they don't turn into big problems, if you reward some people more than others based on what they deserve, if you take this hands-on approach to management, you'll probably never have to fire anyone. Because low performers hate scrutiny. You shine a bright light on a low performer? Have you ever shined a bright light under a rock? You see what happens? The vermin scamper away. And the same is true with low performers. Shine a bright light on a low performer and pretty soon that person is going to start looking for a manager who is going to leave him alone. That person is going to go manager shopping for a manager who is going to leave him alone. And all you can do is hope that that low performer goes and works for your competition across the street.