We have all, at some point had to terminate a staff member.
As a nonprofit leader, you may have a staff person whose performance makes it clear that they are not a good match for the organization.
And you will have to let them go.
Most of us dread having that conversation telling them they have been terminated.
In a perfect world, you would never have to master the act of graceful firing- but we are in the real world.
So, today’s episode will provide some practical tips on how to terminate a staff in a way that is honest, kind, and graceful.
You can hear the entire episode at relishyourrole.com/24
The Problem Employee
You know who that problematic staff person, you can visualize them right now.
They do not get their work done on time.
Their work is consistently of poor quality.
They have issues with their co-workers.
They have a negative attitude which infects the rest of the staff.
They have trouble receiving feedback.
They have shown no interest in self-improvement
Whether this person is your direct report or is supervised by someone else, there are best practices to follow before you reach the point where the only option is to terminate the person.
Address Problems Early
I have spoken in other episodes about the nonconfrontational nature of nonprofits.
We tend to avoid conflict and unpleasant conversations.
Most of us do not want to have those awkward and hard conversations confronting poor staff’s performance.
But we need to have those conversations both for the sake of your agency and the growth of the individual. They may be unaware of their problematic behavior. What they do not know, they cannot change.
All staff deserves the opportunity to improve, and they can start their journey by receiving fair and objective feedback.
At the first evidence of problematic behavior or attitude, you must meet with the staff person and share the issue, being very clear about what is problematic, your expectations, and problem-solving ways thing can improve.
I have a full episode on how to give feedback. It is number 16 and you can hear it at relishyourrole.com/16
Once there is an agreement on expectations, you need to engage the staff’s problem-solving skills to change those behaviors which caused the problem.
The final and most important part of that meeting is to mutually identify what improvement will look like going forward. New behaviors may be completing assignments on time, following procedure when they have a disagreement with their co-workers, or practicing responses to irate clients.
There needs to be agreement on how the issue will be monitored creating mutual accountability from the staff and their supervisor .
Importance of Documentation
While those meetings are to coach your staff for improvement, the meeting also has a compliance element, requiring documentation.
This documentation should detail the issue(s) discussed, expectations moving forward, the plan to change the behavior, and the agreed upon monitoring schedule.
This documentation creates an accurate paper trail of the efforts made to address the situation. It provides an objective summary of the situation and can be referred to if the issue escalates or continues.
Depending on your organization’s policies, it may become part of the staff’s formal HR file and have the employee sign the meeting summary.
Regardless of if the summary comes a part of a formal file, the documentation shows you have made every effort to resolve the problem from a management perspective.
The Termination Decision
Assuming due diligence was met by meeting with the problem staff to discuss and problem-solve, and things have not improved, you have to weigh the impact of terminating the staff go against that of keeping them.
Think through those decisions sequentially.
The first decision is if there is another position they can fill where their problematic behavior would not have a negative impact on the work of the organization and the morale of the rest of the staff.
For example, if it is clear that they cannot complete paperwork on time, is there a role they can play where they would not have those responsibilities?
You need to decide if their positive traits in other areas make it worth trying to find a place for them.
While this may result in a decrease in status and or pay, you need to leave that decision up to the individual. That is not your call.
Your sole interest should be what is in the best interest of your organization.
You know the specifics of the situation and if moving the person would send a bad message about agency expectations or if it would be seen as a thoughtful move.
You want to support a positive respectful work culture, so think through the ramifications of keeping that person on board.
Preparing for the Termination Meeting
You need to have your documentation available for the person to review.
Prepare a clear list of property that needs to be returned to the agency. Your HR policies may list those things but review the list to ensure it is accurate.
If there are agency passwords that need to be retrieved, create a list so you can gather all that information before departure.
You need to have a termination letter already prepared with the remaining PTO time the person is owed and how they will be paid for that time. Depending on your agency policy, you may want to have the employee sign the termination letter, or at a minimum acknowledge receipt of the letter.
The termination letter should state the person’s position title, the hire date, and the agency’s decision to terminate employment due to the reasons that you should have well documented. It should be short and clear.
You need to have a clear plan of how that person’s job responsibilities will be covered in the short run. If there are client files to transfer or documents that need to be shared make sure you have made plans to address these issues.
The Termination Meeting
The termination meeting needs to be held face by face, i.e. not done by an email. If it is a remote position, schedule a virtual call, you do not fire a person with a disembodied voice.
This meeting needs to respect the privacy of the individual and be held in an office that ideally has a door and enough soundproofing that the conversation cannot be overheard.
I had a client who thought nothing of firing staff at a coffee house. There are many reasons why that is a bad idea.
A coffeehouse is a very public setting and if the person is upset, you are adding embarrassment to what is an extremely emotional situation and is deeply unkind.
The meeting should be concise. You need to clearly state that they are being terminated from their position. Review the problems, the efforts made to resolve the issue, and the lack of improvement.
While it is rarely a true surprise for the person, they may become upset, belligerent, or angry. You need to give them time to process their response and be willing to hear what they have to say.
Your goal is to end their employment, and it is in your best interest to avoid any future problems and to listen to them respectfully and patiently.
Usually, it is best to have the termination be made effective immediately. There is rarely any good reason to keep the person in the office for additional days. When you extend the time frame, the person can wreak havoc with your systems or spread unhelpful gossip.
Given the reality that there often is work that needs to be transferred, these meetings are best held in the morning so the transfer work can be done later in the day.
Often, there needs to be time spent to transfer client files or reports or in-process work like updating a donor list. You need to have the staff person who will take over those responsibilities on hand. This means they may need to have a heads-up a few hours prior. Hopefully, this is someone you can trust to keep the imminent termination to themselves. If you have doubts about that, pick another person to receive the transferred work.
You want to control the narrative, so it is my advice to send an all-agency email after the meeting notifying everyone that the person is leaving the agency and thanking them for their contributions. You should invite any staff to come to you with any questions.
These are never easy situations and ideally, you have done everything to avoid firing staff. But when you need to terminate a staff, you need to be certain you have followed your agency’s policies and approach the situation from a prepared and humane posture.
Having support in the firing process is just one of the ways Relish Your Role helps you manage up, down, and across your agency with confidence. Get in touch to learn more about our five-month signature system for women nonprofit EDs tailor designed to strengthen your relationship skills so you can focus on the big picture issues and bring joy to your work rather than it running you ragged.
You can do this and I am here to help.