Firing a Popular Employee

[Sam]

Sports bar brethren - I find myself in an un-envious position of having to let a staff member go who has a great personality and is well-liked but simply hasn't gotten the job done over the years. Has anyone dealt with a situation like this and have any feedback on how to handle it and the potential backlash from the rest of the company? I work in college athletics and our Athletics Director is on board with it as is our Sr. Administration so I at least have their back but the rest of the department is likely going to be caught off guard.

[Archon]

Is there any latitude to reassign the employee to a role more suited to their skills?

[baldgriff]

HOLY CRAP - an ARCHON sighting

[Mithrandir]

Fire the chump ASAP and don't regret it.

I hate it when employees don't carry their weight or do their job, but "hey he's a good guy" so he gets a break and doesn't have to work as hard? Fuck that.

There are plenty of people who have good personalities and you know, actually are excellent workers.

[TranaGreg]

I think we should restrict this thread to anyone who hasn't posted in the past six months.

I just broke my own rule.

[Moonlight J]

If he hasn't been doing the job for a few years, he's already cost you too much time & money. Cut the loss

[DJBeasties]

What exactly entails "not getting the job done?" There are a lot of variables to that. Can he be trained up? Is it a skill he can re-develop? Do you think the upside is there or is he simply coasting on his personality?

If it's a done deal you need to do it quietly and swiftly and then have a team meeting to firmly break the news then open your door to anyone who wants to discuss it. Then you need to closely monitor the temperature of your team and keep things in check.

[In the Corn]

Firing is never easy, especially when it's a popular co-worker, but most of the time, people know when someone isn't pulling their weight. In some ways, it's a relief.

DJ is right, do it quickly and quietly. Then rally the troops afterward and keep your door open for people.

[mjl]

I'm assuming you have, but just in case - have you ever explicitly told them "this is not sufficient, here's what you need to do to keep your job?"

[Lucky]

I'm assuming you have, but just in case - have you ever explicitly told them "this is not sufficient, here's what you need to do to keep your job?"

You usually get one of three things, with the most common being okay outcomes. 1) He already knew he wasn't cutting it, and just quietly quit. 2) He will go on a self-improvement campain and become the employee you need. 3) He can be the biggest POS in the world between then and the time you actually fire him.

[mjl]

I just went through this at my work. Basically what we do here is "Here is a project that should take the next month or so. Here are all the deliverables, here are due dates, here's the expected quality of the work. If you don't do all of these things, you will be let go at the end of the month. If you do all these things, and then continue to work at that level of performance in the future, everything will be fine."

[Fresno Bob]

I think Sam is probably beyond that, hopefully they put the guy on a performance plan before this.

My only advice would be to schedule a quick meeting after the firing, and convey the message that "Hey, we all liked Slackerman, but he was not producing at the level we needed from the position. We worked with him to get that performance, but he couldn't deliver what we needed, so we had to let him go"

[TranaGreg]

one observation from having been in a similar situation - I was surprised by the number of comments after the fact from co-workers like this ... "too bad - he was a good guy, but yeah, he really didn't do anything ..."

[nots]

I think it's different in athletics than it is in most other fields. Either you are getting recruits and winning, or you aren't. There probably isn't a lot extra training or things you can do to improve someone who has been coaching for a long time. I would say make the change and explain your move and then allow the other coaches to vent.
By chance are you an AD?

[heyelander]

Firing is never easy, especially when it's a popular co-worker, but most of the time, people know when someone isn't pulling their weight. In some ways, it's a relief.

This was my thought too. There's people I like at work as friends and have a good time hanging out with, but I would perfectly understand if we had to let any of them go.