What is a Good Reason for Termination?
Let me answer that by telling you a true story that may leave you shaking your head in disbelief!
Just recently I was contacted by the Personnel Committee Chairperson from a local church, who is a trusted friend.
The conversation starts by saying that she already knows what I am going to tell her, but just wanted to confirm.
She starts by telling me that the Nursery Worker for the Church has used profane language in the Nursery and the Christian Education Committee wants to terminate them.
Sounds kind of reasonable, but I will need more information in order to agree with them.
She goes on to say that in the past this Nursery Worker has been violating several other rules.
I said ok, what else can you tell me about the situation?
She said that's it.
I said let's start with the use of the profane language. How do we know that she has been using profane language in front of the children?
She said we have a witness.
I said GREAT! What does the witness say happened?
Well they are waffling a bit and now they are not sure they heard her using profane language at all.
I then asked why did you call me? This is no reason for termination!
She said because the Christian Education Committee still wants her terminated. They said that they were all fed up with her and she needed to go!
I asked what is the reason for termination that they want to use?
She said they thought that with all the things that have happened that would be enough.
I then asked her about the rules she had broken in the past that obviously were troubling everyone enough to want her terminated. Can you get me a copy of the warnings that you had issued to her for those violations.
She said that no one ever issued any warnings to her.
I asked if there was any record of any conversation that took place with her about the violations.
There was none she said.
I again asked if she was serious about still wanting to terminate this person. I said as of now there is no reason for termination.
She asked if they could go back in time and issue warnings for those past violations that took place over the last year or so. I said not unless you have a time machine! We both laughed!
I then asked her a question. Let's say your child didn't make their bed six months ago, but was making it now. You decide that you should have punished her for this so you approach her and tell her she is restricted this weekend for not making her bed over six months ago. Do you think that it would be fair to do this to your child?
She kind of laughed and said I guess not!
I followed by saying that if it was important to the Christian Education Committee they should have taken action when it occurred. By letting it go this long you are sending a message that it is not that important and you can not go back in time.
I said this is a classic case of getting so fed up with someone that you almost go on a witch hunt to get rid of them. The only problem is that you drag out everything that has ever occurred since their arrival.
This is what a typical untrained supervisor will do. They keep hoping that things will get better and that somehow the person will just start behaving correctly. Guess what it almost never happens that way. It almost always gets worse.
I told her there was no reason for termination in this case; however, there is something that they should do.
They should sit down with the Nursery Worker and go over all their expectations with her. They should not drag up the past. At the end of this meeting both the Christian Education Committee Representative and the Nursery Worker should sign the document covering the expectations. This should not be confused with any type of disciplinary action though. This should be what everyone should do when meeting with a brand new employee or at the beginning of each new rating period.
Communicating expectations is the key to a successful relationship between an employer and employee.
Hope this helps.
Let me answer that by telling you a true story that may leave you shaking your head in disbelief!
Just recently I was contacted by the Personnel Committee Chairperson from a local church, who is a trusted friend.
The conversation starts by saying that she already knows what I am going to tell her, but just wanted to confirm.
She starts by telling me that the Nursery Worker for the Church has used profane language in the Nursery and the Christian Education Committee wants to terminate them.
Sounds kind of reasonable, but I will need more information in order to agree with them.
She goes on to say that in the past this Nursery Worker has been violating several other rules.
I said ok, what else can you tell me about the situation?
She said that's it.
I said let's start with the use of the profane language. How do we know that she has been using profane language in front of the children?
She said we have a witness.
I said GREAT! What does the witness say happened?
Well they are waffling a bit and now they are not sure they heard her using profane language at all.
I then asked why did you call me? This is no reason for termination!
She said because the Christian Education Committee still wants her terminated. They said that they were all fed up with her and she needed to go!
I asked what is the reason for termination that they want to use?
She said they thought that with all the things that have happened that would be enough.
I then asked her about the rules she had broken in the past that obviously were troubling everyone enough to want her terminated. Can you get me a copy of the warnings that you had issued to her for those violations.
She said that no one ever issued any warnings to her.
I asked if there was any record of any conversation that took place with her about the violations.
There was none she said.
I again asked if she was serious about still wanting to terminate this person. I said as of now there is no reason for termination.
She asked if they could go back in time and issue warnings for those past violations that took place over the last year or so. I said not unless you have a time machine! We both laughed!
I then asked her a question. Let's say your child didn't make their bed six months ago, but was making it now. You decide that you should have punished her for this so you approach her and tell her she is restricted this weekend for not making her bed over six months ago. Do you think that it would be fair to do this to your child?
She kind of laughed and said I guess not!
I followed by saying that if it was important to the Christian Education Committee they should have taken action when it occurred. By letting it go this long you are sending a message that it is not that important and you can not go back in time.
I said this is a classic case of getting so fed up with someone that you almost go on a witch hunt to get rid of them. The only problem is that you drag out everything that has ever occurred since their arrival.
This is what a typical untrained supervisor will do. They keep hoping that things will get better and that somehow the person will just start behaving correctly. Guess what it almost never happens that way. It almost always gets worse.
I told her there was no reason for termination in this case; however, there is something that they should do.
They should sit down with the Nursery Worker and go over all their expectations with her. They should not drag up the past. At the end of this meeting both the Christian Education Committee Representative and the Nursery Worker should sign the document covering the expectations. This should not be confused with any type of disciplinary action though. This should be what everyone should do when meeting with a brand new employee or at the beginning of each new rating period.
Communicating expectations is the key to a successful relationship between an employer and employee.
Hope this helps.
Source...