EMPOWERED

CHAPTER 34Terminating

There's little question that the least fun part of being a people manager is dealing with terminations.

Of course, the best way to avoid terminations is to develop your skills in effective recruiting, interviewing, hiring, onboarding, and especially ongoing coaching. And you absolutely should.

However, there are always occasional situations where it is just not working out.

The first thing to realize is that you should not only consider the problem employee. You need to also consider the rest of the product team that is having to deal with the issues or carry the burden, as well as the message it sends to the product team, the broader product organization, and especially to the leaders and stakeholders by not correcting this problem.

There is a balance between being a compassionate employer and acting responsibly and promptly. This will partly be a function of your company's culture, and partly a function of the employment laws in your country.

Your partners in HR will help you understand and comply with the compliance‐related responsibilities.

I have always drawn a distinction in my own mind about how I handle the two main situations when it comes to correcting hiring mistakes.

The first and most common situation is that the employee is simply not able to perform the job at the necessary level of competence, despite serious ongoing coaching. Normally, I will give sincere best efforts for three to six months, but if I can't coach the person to competence ...