Culturally Misfit employees – Do They Deserve To Stay?

Any seasoned manager can sense the warning signs that trigger his / her decision on whether an employee needs to be fired. It is up to the discretion of the manager to identify these early signs and provide the employee with feedback & give them an opportunity to change their behavior or decide if it is time to ask the employee to leave.

There can be multiple reasons for an organisation to ask an employee to leave. But there are a few business-critical signs to look out for, when making the decision to fire an employee.

Below are a few signs, which would help managers accelerate their decision on firing a certain employee, in the order of merit.

• Does not fit into the culture of the company
• Lack of integrity & ignores Company Code of Conduct
• Tries to spoil the work environment and has a highly toxic infectious nature
• Demonstrates passive-aggressive behavior & emotional instability - Unproductivity, missing deadlines, frequent absenteeism
  

Some employees may be toxic, while others may be plain lazy and irresponsible. Firing is a far more tedious task than hiring an employee.

If the employee demonstrates just one or majority of the above concerns is not what regulates the firing of the employee, it is also the intensity and the regularity at which this unethical behavior is portrayed by the individual.

It is now important for the employer to know when is the right time to let go of the employee.

The three points to be considered when a manager considers if it is time to fire an employee.

• Is the employee meeting the goals and responsibilities of the job?: This would be the first and foremost cause of concern as a management representative. In case the employee is meeting the responsibilities listed in his job scope, yet showing some behavior that seems to be a cause of concern, the individual might need some constructive feedback and second chance. But if the employee fails to meet the job requirements it would be best to fire the employee and avoid any organisational hassles caused by this misconduct.
• Can you hire a better employee with the same compensation?: If you are looking for employee who has the same amount of dedication, skill and commitment as the employee you think you need to hire, it might be a sign to have a second thought. The time and resources to find a new employee might be large, but if you think that the market has a chance to offer a far better employee at the same compensation it would be good to consider this daunting process.
• If the employee decided to resign, post sharing feedback, should you convince him/her to stay?: If the employee in question has decided to resign the job would you offer him everything in your capacity for him/her to stay? This question would easily help you make a decision on whether an employee needs to continue in the job or shown the door. If the employee portrays unacceptable behavior on a regular basis, it would be very easy for you to let the employee leave the organisation, when they decide to resign, and make the manager’s job easier.

Now that we have identified the warning signs of misconduct and the question of whether it is time to actually let go of the employee, it is time to complete this task without causing too much of a scene or loss to the organisation or the individual.