To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
Did you know the same thing is true in Human Resources?
When it comes to managing employees with best HR practices, there is an ideal time for every action.
Performance reviews in late January / early February.
Surprise drug tests on Mondays.
And terminating poor performers in the Fall.
OK, that’s not exactly true. The true season for terminating poor performers is actually much, much, longer … but Termination Season is coming to an end, and I don’t want you to miss it.
Why do I say there’s a seasonal end date to terminating employees?
Because once Thanksgiving Week is here, you’d have to be a cruel, heartless jerk to fire someone that you could have fired before the holidays.
Unless someone has committed some kind of gross misconduct like theft or physical violence, you’ll not want to put them out on the streets from the third week of November through January 1.
If you do, you’ll inflame an already-ugly situation, and the person you fire will be even more emotional and angry about being let go. (And nothing good comes from riling up a terminated employee or making them more emotional.)
The rest of your employees will look at you as heartless, too. Even if they agree that their co-worker was a dud, they’ll still think that your timing was cruel and they’ll distrust that you’ll be fair and supportive of them.
So if you have a chronically-underperforming employee you’ve coached and counseled but who just keeps letting you down, it’s time to get your documentation together and make a decision:
Can you live with their performance until next year?
Or is it time to make one last push with a Performance Improvement Plan, and either salvage them or cut ties with them by mid-November?
If you’ve got someone you want to terminate but you’re not sure your documentation is strong enough, run it by me! Click on this link to schedule a free 20-minute consultation, and I can tell you if you’ve got any documentation gaps or other exposure that’d make terminating a big risk for your organization.
There’s still time to get your documentation in order!
