Scared to hire, in case it’s too difficult to fire?
- hrbytara
- Dec 12, 2024
- 2 min read
There’s been much talk about a key policy of the new Labour government relating to how easily, or not, a business owner can dismiss someone who turns out to not be right for the role they were hired for. There’s been a bit of fear-mongering (in my opinion) about the possibility of people getting a day one right to not be unfairly dismissed. We’ve now heard more about the potential legislation, and it looks like (as predicted) there will still be a period of time where you can more easily terminate employment. We may end up with a formal
legal concept of a “probationary period”, but we’ll be waiting a while before we know for sure.
You can currently follow a simple process to make any dismissal in the first two-years fair and lawful. And that process will probably still be valid after whatever legal changes happen in this area.
So, what should you do?
Have a clear picture of what you want the person to do and what capabilities they need to have, before you hire them - choose wisely
Communicate your performance and behaviour expectations as part of induction - make sure they understand what good looks like for you
Meet with them regularly, at least once per week to start with, for a check-in on how things are going - encourage them to ask questions and raise concerns so that you can support them
Give them frequent constructive feedback - what they’re doing well, what they need to improve on, what could be even better if ...
Have more formal progress review meetings at least every 3 months during the first year and if there are any concerns, spell them out clearly and firmly - explain what improvements are required and what the consequences will be if those improvements aren’t made
Keep notes to record what was said in any meetings and follow up on all agreed actions
Managers often shy away from giving negative feedback and just hope things will improve. But my advice is to not wait - give the feedback early and constructively, make sure they know what you expect from them and be clear that if they don’t improve then you may not be able to keep them in the job.
New team members aren’t psychic - they can’t improve if you don’t tell them what you want and how important it is.
And if you do tell them, but they can’t or won’t do what you need, and you have records of the good conversations you’ve had about it, then any dismissal is likely to be fair and lawful. Communicate clearly and treat them with respect throughout the process and the risk of a legal claim goes down considerably.
コメント