Replacing staff is an expensive business. Not only are there the advertising costs to consider and the time required of hiring managers and HR functions to put together job descriptions and required qualifications, carry out endless sifts of potential candidates and conduct interviews, but sometimes expenses related to training a new hire are exorbitant.
Of course, sometimes the need to fire an employee will be an immediate one, such as if a worker is caught stealing from his or her employer or takes an action that jeopardizes the safety of other employees. Where this is the case employers typically have little choice but to suffer the loss and carry out the dismissal anyway. In many more cases, however, firing comes as a result of an employee’s under-performance, and here it is important that employers ensure that they have done everything possible to help bring the individual up to speed before showing them the door.
Ideally, of course, every worker’s performance should be monitored and evaluated on an ongoing basis, but especially where it is identified that the individual is not performing to the required standards, it is essential that he or she is made aware of the situation and provided with regular and relevant feedback to help get back on track. If the worker cannot or will not make any improvement, then dismissal may, once again, be the only option, but it is certainly in everyone’s best interests to aim for improvement first and fire later.