Risks of Not Firing Someone You Should

Have a "bad apple" among your employees? Hope that things will improve on their own? Waiting to see if your performance management efforts will lead to the results you want? Feel sorry for the individual, who may have a difficult personal life? Too busy to terminate them? Nervous about the reaction of your other employees? 

There may be several reasons why you are procrastinating, but ever wonder what keeping that "bad apple" in your organization is costing your organization? Here are some of the implications of not firing when you really should.

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• Keeping the wrong people “on the bus:” In his book "Good to Great," author Jim Collins famously stated that that building a company is like driving a bus. You need a driver, but you also need the right people in all the key seats. Keeping employees that do not bring value to your organization both diminishes your company's ability to succeed and costs you the benefits the right person would bring. Writer David DeWolfe expands check the link on this metaphor by stating that just because someone was the right fit at the last stop doesn’t mean they are the right fit for the next stop. Companies outgrow employees. Employees outgrow companies. Learn to recognize when that is happening within your organization.

• Negative influence: A bad apple's negative influence on peers cannot be underestimated. Allowing someone to turn formerly effective team members into "problem children" is a real possibility. You can quickly move from one person with an attendance or performance issue to an entire department displaying that behaviour.

• Lost productivity: Achieving your company's objectives will be increasingly difficult if you do not have team members dedicated to achieving them or not possessing the skill sets your business needs. As well, if management's time must continually be focused on performance issues, they will almost certainly be unable to focus on growth and new opportunities. David DeWolfe encourages managers to measure production versus aggravation. A business owner may be willing to live with a certain level of "drama" from a high performer, although there are limits to this if the high performer serves as a distraction for the rest of your employees. Of course, lower performers with a high level of "drama" should be removed immediately.

• Damage to customer relationships and your business reputation: Having sub-par employees interacting with your clients can be incredibly dangerous to your ongoing success. You may be lucky enough to receive the "gift" in the form of a complaint or feedback from a customer, as discussed in Janelle Barlow's book, A Complaint is a Gift. and once you become aware of the situation, you can make quick adjustments. However, many clients who are disappointed in the service they are receiving or in the fact that you have assigned such a poor employee to their account may leave you without warning (and perhaps without the opportunity to win them back).

• Risk of loss of a key employee frustrated by performance of colleagues: We all know that not all employees are created equal. Some employees have a higher skill level and you must take specific steps to retain them as long as possible. However, if those high-functioning and high performing employees become frustrated by their lower functioning peers, they may decide to leave the company for greener pastures - and take the value they bring with them. Think about who you'll be left with then.

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Next steps:

Removing "bad apples" from your organization certainly has its benefits. But knowing you have an issue and actually going through the steps to revolve the problem including potential termination, are two entirely different things. 

Want to learn valuable tips and best practices? Join Clear Path for our "Hiring and Firing Effectively" learning session on September 25th. Click here to learn more or to register.

Related posts you may enjoy:

• Checklist When Terminating an Employee
• Big Brother Contestants - Rightfully Terminated?
  
• Number of Arrests in the NFL - Too Many Bad Apples?

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