Firing someone over Teams

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla

Soldato
Joined
2 May 2011
Posts
12,075
Location
Woking
I've got a guy whose termination I've been putting off for a while hoping he'd get better, but he just hasn't and it's time for him to go.

Due to travel commitments and my personal life (impending baby) I can't really make it to the office he works in without either losing a full day or work or spending a small fortune on trains.

We are a predominantly in-person business, with little WFH (4-1 days hybrid), so Teams is pretty normal. I just feel a bit **** about the prospect of letting someone go over Teams.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.
 
I feel for you in this situation and it would really depend on the person in question. If they're a jack the lad type who will just go out and get drunk after then Teams is probably OK. If they're really not expecting this and have a baby on the way or new flat and are likely to do something stupid with the news then in person would be best and I'd even get HR involved too.
 
In my last role I was terminated (<2y) over teams and my boss didn't turn up. Only the strategic HR partner. The decision was made by the group CTO whilst my boss was on vacation. A month or so later I find out that my boss also failed to find a new position in the reshuffle.

1. Decision has been made.
2. HR has been advised and aligned.
3.a. Arrange for HR to terminate with immediate effect, so basically you don't have to do anything, or,
3.b. Arrange with yourself and HR to terminate.

A simple short, but sweet call is all that's required unless they're over 2 years at which point there's the performance improvement plan needed.

I've worked completely remotely, interviewed and hired remotely and resigned remotely but also been terminated remotely. I wouldn't worry about being remote but I would address the situation sooner rather than later. It should assist in performance of the team for next year.
 
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Depends a lot on the person and how long they've been in the company for. Taking a half a day/day out for someone whose been there a while is reasonable. If its someone newer - under 2 years - then Teams would be fine but obviously make it clear that it's a serious chat in the invitation. Either way isn't nice!
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. Really genuinely appreciated.

Diagro said:
whats been done to help him improve?
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We have spent a disproportionate amount of energy trying to get him up to scratch, so effectively we've spent a hell of a lot of time with him, but haven't really got anything back.

I took about 6 months for me to realise that he's probably very autistic and has no idea, but I also can't really just call him out for being autistic. We don't have the resources to support that, particularly if he hasn't bothered to mention it.

He's been on a grad scheme rotation, so moved into a new module every six months.
 
NickK said:
I assume that this was structured - informal, formal verbal, PIP and now termination with a written record and KPI at each stage? If so that should be straight forward.
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It wasn't. There were informal bits done, but we haven't done anything formal. Basically, it's not the way the company does it. It's happy to support on wrong cultural fit, that sort of thing. I have examples of the colleague just having complete holes in their knowledge on stuff they have been educated on many, many times. But they've also been here for under two years.

In short, I should have got rid of him a long time ago but I was too scared about having the conversation. I really hoped he'd step up, and he just hasn't.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
It wasn't. There were informal bits done, but we haven't done anything formal. Basically, it's not the way the company does it. It's happy to support on wrong cultural fit, that sort of thing. I have examples of the colleague just having complete holes in their knowledge on stuff they have been educated on many, many times. But they've also been here for under two years.

In short, I should have got rid of him a long time ago but I was too scared about having the conversation. I really hoped he'd step up, and he just hasn't.
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I really empathise with this situation. The best time to do something about it might have been a while ago, but the second best time is now. Make sure to keep reminding yourself that you are helping your team and customer in the long term, even if it's a bit more work to recruit someone else. If you're naturally a nice guy it can be difficult to keep it in mind but, as said above, it's them that have failed to step up, and are now the one putting you in the awkward situation. The fact that you're making this post means that you've already gone over and above and seemingly taken on the stress of dealing with the outstanding situation, so you're likely the kind of person that - no matter how you approach it - will almost certainly deal with it more softly than the average person anyway.
 
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dirtychinchilla said:
I took about 6 months for me to realise that he's probably very autistic and has no idea, but I also can't really just call him out for being autistic. We don't have the resources to support that, particularly if he hasn't bothered to mention it.
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What gave you this impression? If he's "very autistic" it shouldn't have taken 6 months to notice unless you had minimal communication with him.
 
Ayahuasca said:
What gave you this impression? If he's "very autistic" it shouldn't have taken 6 months to notice unless you had minimal communication with him.
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I don't work with him that often. One of my team having been training him. He's very good at masking, though. He apparently did the best interview my colleague had ever seen (I didn't employ him), but when you speak to him in any other condition it's a one way conversation with two word answers from him.
 
Zefan said:
I really empathise with this situation. The best time to do something about it might have been a while ago, but the second best time is now. Make sure to keep reminding yourself that you are helping your team and customer in the long term, even if it's a bit more work to recruit someone else. If you're naturally a nice guy it can be difficult to keep it in mind but, as said above, it's them that have failed to step up, and are now the one putting you in the awkward situation. The fact that you're making this post means that you've already gone over and above and seemingly taken on the stress of dealing with the outstanding situation, so you're likely the kind of person that - no matter how you approach it - will almost certainly deal with it more softly than the average person anyway.
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Thank you, that's very generous of you. I'm going to script what I say actually, because I don't want to say anything that could cause problems, knowing that as a company we don't do PIPs etc.

I always feel stuck between a rock and a hard place of firstly, being a nice, secondly, trying to be positive with people as that has a huge ongoing impact, and trying to balance that with effectively telling them they're doing a bad job.
 
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