5 signs it is time to terminate an employee

One of the hardest tasks for any manager is deciding to terminate an employee.  You wonder how difficult it will be to replace them, and even if we find a new person quickly will the person be better than the known quantity I have now?  Of course, there is the emotional toll on the manager and employee.  It isn't easy to turn someone's life upside down.

Separating from an employee is never good or easy, but many times it is necessary.  Here are the 5 signs you need to suck it up and say goodbye to your team member.

1) the soap box employee

You have the soap box employee.  They have to spread their negative opinion to anyone they can get into earshot.  No complaint is too small, and they consider railing against management their best way to bond with fellow employees.

While having employees that are willing to voice differing opinions is valuable to any business, this morale killer has to go.

2) the clogger

Frustrated with waiting on people to complete work so you can do your job?  The clogger is the person that stops all the work from moving forward.  Businesses rely more and more on specialized talent that work together.  Each time a loop in the chain doesn't get their part finished everyone is held up.

When one person is killing the productivity of an entire department it is time to find someone that can get the job done on time.

3) the walking dead

They don't care about their work, the company, the customers, or their coworkers.  The zombie just shambles through their day without a care for the people around them.  Not willing to take one extra step to help anyone around them, or any pride in their own work.

If they don't care about you, don't lose sleep over them.  Let them sleep walk through a different job.

4) the drama queen

Ever have an argument and almost forget how it got started, then finally realize that someone else kicked everything off and sat back to watch the show?  We all have these drama queens in our life.  They thrive on watching conflict, hurt feelings, and personality issues.  The drama queen is usually the author of the rumor mill.

Time to write these bad actors out of your company.

5) the endless loop

Correct, rinse, repeat, correct, rinse, repeat, arghhhh!  The employee that drive you nuts because it seems you are correcting the same issues again and again.  You are thinking about recording your conversations about doing their job differently, because you know they are going to be back in your office for the same issue next week.

If you have given the endless loop multiple opportunities to heed your advice and warnings and nothing is different, stop trying to fit this square peg in a round hole.

Terminating any employee is hard, but sometimes necessary.  If you have one of the employees we described make the end of their employment quick and painless.

Greg Gershman - Employer Brand Ambassador - Recruitment HQ

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