It is risky for any business to have involuntary terminations. Letting someone go is obviously a difficult but sometimes necessary decision. Having knowledge of your staff and creating an established protocol is a vital step to a confident and tactful execution of involuntary terminations.
At-Will Employment
When you speak of at-will employment, it means that unless it is otherwise specified in the employment, the employer and employee alike have the right to terminate employment relationship any time without or with notice for no or any reason.
Healthy Terminations
A messy termination is bad for wellness of employees, but poor performers are not good as well. Employees can easily notice it if there is a significantly underperforming colleague. If the repeated failure of the employee in meeting expectations is ignored or allowed by the company for a long time, this could have devastating effects on the productivity, retention, and moral of good performers.
When it happens, the best thing that can be done is to be more proactive with the decision you make. Safe terminations are those you are ready for.
Safe Terminations
What is an unsafe termination? In general, there are two possible negative effects an employer would want to safeguard against during the execution of termination for performance. First is the undue approval of unemployment claim and second is the lawsuit which implicates the manager or employer of a wrongful termination.
After the submission of the former employee of an unemployment claim, often, the company receives a document which requests for more details regarding the circumstances involved in the termination.
Performance Reviews
The written appraisals of the performance of the employee are a crucial asset for the HR departments. For small companies, it might be hard to maintain a regular performance review cycle. However, these are an indispensable asset for employees and employers alike.
In the perfect world, you are conducting performance reviews for all employees on a regular schedule. However, at the very least, it is a must to acknowledge when things start to go very wrong or very right. When someone is prepared for a promotion, the achievements and merits they’ve got must be catalogued not just for the purpose of recordkeeping but also to educate the rest of the employees as to what it looks like to be successful in the company.
Final Vacation and Paycheck Payout
It is a must to know that the final vacation and paycheck payout laws for the state where your employee is working. Requirements can differ drastically, thus, it is important to familiarize yourself with the specific laws in the specific state.
The Bottom Line
An involuntary termination is no doubt a very difficult thing but it doesn’t mean that it must be scary as well. At the end of the day, an effective management of performance can make the process of termination a better and easier experience. As a result, a properly executed termination can improve performance of employees. This is a positive feedback loop which can help in the stable, successful, and safe growth of your company.
