How To Fire Someone And Be Guilt-Free

A fable about making hard calls

James never fired anyone in his entrepreneurial journey. His legs start to shake every time he thinks about the possibility of doing that. He is afraid of feeling guilty to have to let someone go. Being a CEO of a tech startup isn’t easy.

Cry Tech raised US$10 million in Series A funding. The tech startup obtained the resources to hire more people to improve their face recognition software.

James founded the company five years ago, and he is worried about not finding the right people to help him. He has goals for Series B funding in the future, and he needs help from more people. So far, everyone that joined his company has stayed working with him. They are five senior professionals.

The CEO recently read the book Who from Geoff Smart and Randy Street, in which he learned that the average hiring mistake costs fifteen times an employee’s base salary in hard costs and productivity loss, and that is estimated that managers’ hiring success rate is a dismal 50 percent. All of that made him think about the time, energy, and money that he could waste if he doesn’t do a good job finding the right people for his company.

— Will I ever have to fire someone? — said James to himself while reading a piece of news about his company on TechCrunch. — We still have much work to do before raising more money.

New hires

It has been three months since Cry Tech got funded. James has been interviewing many people in the past couple of weeks, and it is time now to hire some people finally. He decided to hire two technical engineers. The CEO is afraid of working with the wrong people, and he shares his feelings with his mentor, Charles.

— It all starts when you hire someone — said Charles calmly.— When a new employee starts, it is essential that you set his expectations.

— Expectations?

— Yes! What are the goals of your company? How can the new employee help you with that? What are his responsibilities? What does your company believe?

— I know how to answer those questions! — James was proud of himself.

— Then go tell your employees! — James' facial expression changed as he listens to his mentor's words. — If you don’t do that, they won’t be able to give their best to your company.

— And how do I know if I am hiring the right people for my company?

— You need to work with them to find out — Charles paused then continued. — You will probably know after the first month if the employees you hired will continue working with you or not.

After the talk, James improved his company onboarding process. On the two employees’ first day, the CEO shared the company values, mission, and purpose with them, so they understand the long-term goal and what the company believes. In another meeting, he shared its goals for the year, how the new employees could help it achieve that, and why it will be good for them. Finally, James had a meeting to share the company process, so they understand how the company works.

James also decided to have a three-month test period with every new employee. It was an opportunity for him to see if the new employee really fit with the company. He would help the new people to stay working with him after the three months by giving feedback. He shared that with the new employees, and they are now ready to get work done in the company.

One month later, James already knew that the two hires would probably continue working in the company. It seemed that they culturally fit.

Feedback

— How can we know that we did something wrong? — Charles asked James.

— Through feedback, right?

— That’s right! — Charles was proud of his mentee. — Through feedback, we grow as we have the opportunity to learn and do something about it. As a leader, you have to help your team to grow as professionals.

— I am doing that.

— Good! An employee shouldn’t be surprised when his boss fires him. He needs a chance to improve before getting fired, and for that, he needs feedback.

— Got it…— James didn’t like to listen to the word “fired”.

— As a leader, you should be the role model by giving and being open to feedback.

Charles shared a study with James proving a direct correlation between the quantity and quality of feedback that an individual receives and his or her level of performance improvement. In other words, a lot of feedback equals a lot of improvement. A little feedback equals a little improvement. No feedback equals no improvement.

During the three-month test period, James gave the new employees feedback every month. They seemed to culturally fit with the company and, because of that, the tech startup CEO decided to keep working with them. He would continue giving feedback to his new employees, as well as he has been providing feedback to his older employees. His company needs everybody working with a good performance.

As James went back home confident, he remembered the talk he had with his mentor. He wants to create a culture of feedback in his company.

Obstacle

It has been one year since James hired the two engineers. Things aren’t going well, though.

During this time, he hired more people to help the tech startup achieve its goal. Every new hire participated in the onboarding process where James shared the company’s short-term and long-term goals, what they believe, how were its processes, and how the new hire could help it.

James has been giving his employees feedback at least once per month. He knew that he was doing an excellent job on that. However, he noticed that the overall performance of his team had decreased. They weren’t finishing tasks on time anymore and there were many unproductive discussions.

— I don’t know what is happening. — said James to Charles.

— Is any new hire being a bad influence on the company? — said Charles while taking a sip of his coffee.

— What do you mean? — said James scratching his head.

— Is there anyone specific that is taking more time to finish tasks than others? — Charles waited for an answer but then continued. — Maybe there is somebody spending more time complaining than working.

— Yes, there is one! — James was proud of himself. — I already gave him feedback about that.

— Did he improve?

— Not really…

Charles took another sip of his coffee patiently preparing for a lesson.

— Sometimes, an employee doesn’t improve his performance even with feedback, unfortunately. In times like these, you need to make the hard decision of firing that person.

— Seriously? — James fought in his head the idea of firing somebody.

— A bad employee is like a bad apple — said Charles while finished his coffee. — They are like a virus to their teams and can upset or spoil the whole apple cart.

James went home and decided he wouldn’t fire anyone. He would continue giving feedback and expected that the performance of his company would improve with that.

Suprise

— I am leaving this company — said a senior employee of Cry Tech to James.

— What? Why? — James wasn’t expecting that. It was the first time someone wanted to leave his company.

— It is not the same anymore — the employee looked down sad. — I’m not enjoying my work with the new hires. It looks there is some hidden energy making my work more difficult. I better go work in some other place.

— I don’t know what to say…

As the senior employee left, James opens a spreadsheet to check the performance of his company. The universe seems to be complicating things as the internet takes longer than usual to show the numbers. After hitting the table with a punch, the data finally loads.

— We are behind scheduled! — said James heavily breathing to Charles.

— Did you fire that unproductive employee?

— No. I felt guilty— James paused feeling he disappointed his mentor. — And not only that. A senior employee left us because he wasn’t enjoying his work anymore.

— You must think about what is best for your company, and sometimes firing a person is the best decision.

James is afraid of not achieving his goals and having to end his company by having no money. He thinks about when founded the company five years ago in his first small bedroom. Charles waited patiently then continued.

— You are doing everything you can to help your employees with feedback. You don’t need to feel guilty.

Firing

At his one-bedroom apartment, James watches Moneyball for the fourth time. The American biographical sports drama film has Billy Beane as the main character, starred by Brad Pitt. In one scene, he teaches his assistant general manager Peter Brand, starred by Jonah Hill, how to fire someone.

— Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death? — asked Billy Beane.

After watching the movie, James decides it is time for him to fire someone for the first time. His company needs that. Otherwise, they will die. He doesn’t want to lose any more good employees.

Cry Tech’s CEO arrives at the office the next day. As he sits on his chair, his legs can’t stop shaking, and he pretends to be playing the drums on the table while listens to some rock music. After a few noisy minutes, he calls the unproductive employee.

James explains to the employee that he has been trying to help by giving feedback in the past couple of months, but no improvement had happened. He adds that he decided it is best for the company not to continue working together anymore and explains the financial and bureaucratic things that needed to be done. He asks if the employee has any doubts and wishes him good luck in his journey.

As the fired employee leaves James’ office, he realizes that it took him less than five minutes to share the news. His legs are calm now, and he opens a smile as he noticed that he succeed in doing what was best for his company. He calls his mentor to share the news.

— After firing someone, it is also essential to tell the rest of the team why the person was fired — said Charles after congratulating the CEO. — The employees who are still in the company may feel afraid of being fired next if they don’t understand why the other employee was fired.

— I will handle that!— James was on fire.

Guilt-free

After two years of productive work, Cry Tech raises US$50 million in Series B funding. The tech startup obtained the resources to continue improving their software of face recognition.

After James fired the unproductive employee and explained to the rest of his team why he did that, their performance improved like magic.

— Charles was right — said James to himself while reading another news of his company on TechCrunch. — A bad employee is like a bad apple.

For the past two years, James has hired 50 people. All of them did the onboarding process.

Five people the CEO hired didn’t continue working in the company after the three-month test period. There was one hire that, after the second month, James decided he had to go. He remembered again what Charles told him about the bad apple and decided to terminate the test without waiting for the third month to finish. He called the new hire, explained the situation, paid for the third month, and moved on.

James fired another five people during these two years. Their performance decrease even with all the monthly feedback. The CEO had learned what he had to do. No employee was ever surprised when they heard the news about being fired. They knew that they weren’t doing a good job and understood the situation.

James didn’t want his company to have a bad performance and learned that he had to make hard calls to achieve his goals. His legs didn’t shake anymore. He knew that he was doing what was best for his company and was guilt-free.

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