How to fire for employee misconduct fairly and legally.
Procedure and forms.
Terminating a high level employee can be intimidating if you
are a small business owner or a Human Resources Manager. If you
are a small business owner, terminating a high level employee
may also be emotionally challenging because you have likely formed
a close relationship with that person. Nonetheless, you may need
to terminate the high level employee for the survival of your
business.
Steps to Follow when Terminating a High Level Employee
In many ways, terminating a high level employee is no different
from terminating any other employee. It involves gaining proper
documentation and having discussions with the employee about
his or her poor performance. In addition, you must draft an employee
termination letter and conduct an exit interview.
Terminating a high level employee presents its own set of challenges.
For example, you will likely need to draft a severance package
for the employee. You might also need to negotiate whether you
will provide the employee with support in finding a new position.
If the termination is amicable, you can also discuss the potential
for rehire. You must document all of this information in your
employee termination letter.
The Impact of Terminating a High Level Employee
Terminating a high level employee garners much attention from
other employees. After all, this may be their boss you are firing!
You will need to assure workers that business will continue to
run as usual after terminating this person. While you obviously
cannot discuss the reasons for the termination with your other
employees, you should call them together in a meeting and explain
the high level employee will no longer be working for the company.
During this discussion, make it clear who their direct supervisor
will be and whether that person is permanently or temporarily
in charge.
Your employees will likely have a mixture of feelings about
the termination of the high level employee. More than likely,
some will be happy to see that person go while others will feel
disappointed. Regardless of their personal feelings, all will
be nervous about working with the new supervisor. You must work
to make this transition go as smoothly as possible. You can do
this by formally introducing the new supervisor to the employees,
if the supervisor is new to them. Then explain why you have such
confidence in that person’s abilities. By seeing your confidence
in the new high level employee, the rest of your employees should
feel more confident too.
When
Mr. Betts completed his guidebook, terminations became much
easier for us.
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