Offrendo una cattiva notizia con tatto ed efficace

Scenario: “You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

Solution: As a department manager of any company it is the managers responsibility to keep the peace among colleagues and customers. Obviously, customer satisfaction is a priority as the business would go under without customers. If I had an employee that was unsatisfactory with not only their work with colleagues and the company but also with customers, a red flag would arise and I would make a point to speak to that employee and see if there is something going on in their outside life interfering with their job. I would ask them to be honest with me and explain to me the drop in their work and how we can fix it as a team. If the employee seems truly unhappy with their current position and their colleagues I would ask them to assess the situation, why they are still working for me and the company, and I would give them a written notice of a week to fix the negative behavior before taking the next step to termination. Depending on the situation I may have asked perhaps my manager/supervisor to sit in on the meeting as a mediator and another set of ears to witness the meeting with the employee. If the employee shows serious signs of distress I could recommend taking a leave of absence or counseling if the employee wishes to improve and stay with the company. If that doesn’t help then it would be time to make the decision to terminate the employee. If termination is the final step then I would definitely have another supervisor present, if not our human resources department head.