As a business owner, dismissal is an unfortunate but necessary part of your remit.
Whether downsizing, responding to allegations of misconduct, or simply requiring a better performer, you will have to reckon with dismissal in order to grow your business.
Here is a short guide to the dismissal process, including things you should look out for along the way.
Why Might You Dismiss an Employee?
There are three simple reasons for which you can safely consider legally dismissing an employee. The first and most clear-cut is misconduct, wherein an employee has exhibited improper and unacceptable behaviour.
This might simply be one, or many, breaches of the code of conduct they signed in accepting a role with your business – including, but not limited to, failing to stick to dress code or persistent lateness.
At worst, this might be incidences of gross misconduct such as theft, assault, discrimination, intoxication, or even corporate espionage.
The second is performance, wherein an employee has consistently failed to fulfill their role to the standard expected by your business – whether unable or unwilling.
This might be tracked by the employee’s contract, which may include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to track performance and routes for improvement.
If all routes for improvement have been exhausted, and no measurable change has been observed, dismissal may be your only recourse.
Lastly, you might be making members of your workforce redundant.
A number of factors need to be considered when making employees redundant, and performance may need to come into it even if they were perfectly competent – though self-selection and length of service can also be used.
Gathering Evidence
The first step to any dismissal process is to gather evidence. Make sure to take notes during any prior disciplinary meetings, and collect everything pertaining to the reasons for your employee’s dismissal.
Your reasoning must be air-tight and provable, so as not to invite any potential unfair dismissal claims.
A Formal Meeting
Call the relevant employee in for a formal meeting. This might be described as a disciplinary meeting if the grounds for their dismissal are performance or conduct-based; they are allowed to bring a witness with them for this stage of the process, which could be a family member or union representative.
In this meeting, lay out all the evidence you have, and be sure to illustrate any previous attempts at remediation.
Be firm but be kind; it is beneficial to you to treat them with respect, regardless of the reasons for dismissal – not only to keep the meeting civil but to prevent future accusations of discrimination.
The employee may have gathered their own evidence or prepared a statement, and you must allow for this.
Final Decisions
Any decision to dismiss should also be provided in written form – and you as an employer should be prepared for an appeals process.
Difficult as the above process can be, for any business and any number of employees, you may find it useful to retain the services of specialist legal representatives when it comes to terminating employment.
This kind of support can streamline the process and protect you from any accusations of wrongful dismissal in the process.
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