New Reality TV Idea

Donald Trump makes it look easy when he points a finger at a contestant on the Reality TV show Apprentice and says “You're Fired”. But in real life, firing someone is important business.

Over the course of the many years that I have managed, I have had to call employees into my office to let them go. This is the hard part of the job and it is not done lightly.

There are generally three reasons an employer will terminate someone:
1.Behavior
2.Performance
3.Downsizing

Terminating an employee because of behavior issues is usually a no brainer as long as the employee knew or had reasonable belief that their behavior would have consequences. Back up what you will say.

On the other hand, terminating an employee for performance issues is different. There are many reasons that an employee fails to perform:
1.The performance expectations you set are too high.
2.You failed to ensure that the employee had sufficient training and/or resources to accomplish his/her job.
3.You failed to provide proper motivation and leadership. (If you feel that a paycheck is sufficient motivation, you are in the wrong position.)
4.The employee had personal issues that you failed to recognize.
5.Your hiring techniques are inadequate. You hired the wrong person. The person did not possess the proper skill set.
6.The employee simply got lazy or burned out.

There could be more reasons, but this covers the gamut. As you can see, the majority of the reasons for poor performance issues lay with the manager. But as with behavior issues, the employee should not be surprised as long as the employee knew his/her expectations, was coached for success, and understood that failure would have consequences. Back up what you will say.

The last type of termination is the most difficult. Letting a good employee go because of lack of work is really tough. Many years ago, most employers would downsize based on seniority. Unless you are in a union shop, seniority does not count like it used to. Today, employees are kept based on their ability to perform more than one task. The value of an employee is measured on what they are able to bring to the table. Employers value the ability to cross-utilize an employee. If you have an employee with two years of service that has volunteered to learn numerous jobs and then you have an employee with five years of service that has been content doing just one job, the choice is simple. Of course, the choice is certainly not going to be agreeable to the employee being terminated. Most people feel that they perform better work than their counterparts. This feeling is purely human nature. It would be difficult to have back up for this one.

Treating the terminated employee with dignity and respect is very important. Being honest with an employee could seem hurtful; however, honesty is the best policy. You should never hold any animosity against any of your employees. A sign of mutual respect will be a handshake at the end of the termination meeting.

Do not think that everything is rosy and peachy because you got a handshake. The terminated employee will have a wide range of emotions for many days or even weeks. At one point or another, the employee will place blame on almost everyone at the company then place blame on himself/herself, thinking they are a failure.

I have read that being fired ranks right up there with the top three circumstances that are usually the most difficult in life:
1.Death of a child/loved one.
2.Divorce.
3.Being fired.
4.Moving.

In the past I could attest to experiencing three of these circumstances in this ranking. And as of last Friday, I can now attest to the feeling of number 3. I knew my time at the company was short-lived. I had already downsized the staff to the point that it would be difficult to keep the doors open if I let anyone else go. So the decision was made to let me go. If I owned the company, I would have made the same decision, but probably much sooner.

Unfortunately this is not Reality TV and the person that fired me did not have a head full (toupee full?) of barely manageable brownish-grayish-reddish hair. Also, after being fired, I have no real job to go back to. Perhaps I could come up with another new idea for a Reality TV program and call it…. “Life”......

God’s speed....