Not every working situation is perfect. There will be times in your career as a manager where you have to make the difficult decision to terminate an ineffective employee. However, before you burn down those bridges you may want to make sure you have the positioned covered. How can you search for a new employee without alerting the outgoing employee to the situation? Here are a few tips for discreetly replacing an employee.
- Don’t feed the rumor mill. Don’t share this information with any other employees. While you think you might be able to trust them to keep it confidential the information could fall into the wrong hands and make its way around the office. If this does happen it could take on a life of its own like the telephone game children play where the initial messages is completely misunderstood by the time it makes its way back to your ears.
- Establish the cause. Before you take action against any employee you may want to be sure you have all your information assembled. If they are underperforming, collect the data that supports your decision. This way you can eliminate any push back from your meeting which may lead to anger and adverse reactions.
- Interview off site. While you are looking for the replacement you need to protect the privacy of your candidates and your search. You can ask a candidate to not indicate they are there on a job interview when they arrive but this can backfire. You can also interview off site to avoid a problem. Keep in mind that whatever you do, it will give the candidates an impression of you as well so keep things professional.
- Work with a staffing service. One of the best ways to replace an existing employee is to work with a local staffing company to help find a replacement. They will pre-screen candidates and present you with only the best for your review. You can schedule interviews in the staffing service’s office if that works best for you.
Do you need to replace a problem employee? Contact HTSS Inc., experienced employment firm in Emmaus PA, to learn more!