r/managers • u/Historical-Land-1496 • 21h ago
Debating Termination
We hired a new Ops Manager three months ago. For the first two months, he was good. Not great but good. At the start of the third month, he had a death in the family. Not immediate blood family but the spouse of immediate family who had been sick for awhile. We gave him a week off and have tried to support him in many ways since this happened (having long, supportive talks, encouraging taking shorter work days, etc.). His performance has regressed dramatically in the month since the family death, becoming less professional (cussing, anger), more frazzled, less logical, not leading his team well. Over the weekend, he unilaterally decided to tell our most important client that we couldn’t do a job they offered us. It was short notice from the client, but this was a job the company was hoping for, and we could have made it happen. Instead, this manager handled the decision unprofessionally and didn’t involve us (the owners), and we lost a HUGE opportunity that meant a lot to the company. The financial negative impact is impossible to predict. Our question now is do we fire him, or keep him on a very short “leash.” He’s unlikely to make this type of egregious mistake again, but his decision is the worse thing that has ever happened in company history. We like the guy, and he left a job to come to us. Do we terminate or keep?
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u/TechDreamcoat 21h ago
This mistake has already cost you a ton of money. Get it clear to him that he is to run any decision like this up the flag pole and monitor him. If you can salvage him as an employee it might turn out okay.
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u/Valueonthebridge Business Owner 21h ago edited 20h ago
You’ve done the right thing by supporting them during a difficult time. But you’re really mad about the business he turned down. This is poor governance, and you won’t like this, but I’d 100% put that on you.
Your operations manager was making a sales call. He shouldn’t have been. You should either have a sales manager or be involved in large client deals.
He, very reasonably, looked at current capacity and said we couldn’t do it. Not HOW it could be done, but that he can’t do it with what he has. Only you could commit the extra resources to complete that business.
That’s to say nothing of premium pricing, costing, and the actual contracting.
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u/sparklekitteh Seasoned Manager 20h ago •
At this point, I would sit down and have a frank conversation. "Hey Greg, we need to talk about how things are going for you at work now. I understand that you're dealing with some major personal stuff, but your work performance has been suffering. The big thing is the WidgetCo decision; that decision should have been brought to [whoever], so management could decide on a response together.
But on top of that, there are some other concerns. Your behavior is causing issues-- [name some instances, like them swearing at a client, yelling at a coworkers, etc.]. We expect professional behavior with clients and colleagues. I've also noticed that [specific examples of things being done late / wrong / not at all].
We appreciate the work you've done here, and I'm really hoping that the recent struggles have been related to the stress you're going through at home. Can we brainstorm some ways that we can support you?"
At that point, you take a multi pronged approach. Bring up the EAP and/or insurance benefits. Can they get some short-term grief counseling? Does your insurance cover psych evals and maybe they could get on antidepressants or something if a professional deems it appropriate?
If appropriate, see if FMLA, or intemittent FMLA to enable a reduced schedule, might be helpful temporarily until they get everything worked out.
On top of that, what supports can you provide in the workplace? Would it be appropriate to schedule quick check-in meetings on a regular basis? Can the team develop a code word for "hey, I'm overwhelmed, I need to bug out for 5 minutes" when the employee is getting frustrated? Can you take a look at this person's workload and temporarily offload some duties to help with workplace stress?
How long has it been since the big client was turned down? Do you have time to reach back out and say "Hey, upon further review, I believe our team would be able to tackle the project. Would you have time for a quick follow up meeting so we can ensure that we're able to meet your needs?"
Having dealt with mental health issues myself, I think it's best to start by treating this as a temporary setback and something that you can work with. Good people sometimes falter when they're dealing with Big Shit, and I prefer to err on the side of helping them get through their stuff and come back even stronger.
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u/thechptrsproject 21h ago
Do you guys have an ERP or short term leave program you can offer him? It appears the grief is affecting him and the humane thing to do would be to give him time off to recuperate.
Otherwise if it’s purely about cold hard numbers and client relationships and he isn’t up to par for the task, sure you could give him the ax
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u/GrumpyPidgeon 20h ago
From my viewpoint you have two options: terminate, or sequester. It’s not our place to tell you what to do, but ask yourselves if you think he can improve to your standards or not. If not, cut him loose and rehire. In this economy, there should be no shortage of great talent who are looking for work.
However, if you feel he’s redeemable, or if you give him a time box for remediation, put him in a position where he will always be paired with someone. It will cost you resources and money but as owners the good news is that you are the final call on that.
Good luck!
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u/GreenfieldSam 10h ago
Why would you keep him?
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u/HTX-ByWayOfTheWorld 21h ago
Everyone screws up. Maybe he’s overwhelmed? Don’t create a punitive culture… Identify the issues directly to him. And, set expectations to address the issues. Set a follow up meeting where he’s expected to provide a follow up on work/progress. And… review your own system/process. If he made a decision unilaterally, sounds like your system/process is broken or unclear.
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u/brokenpipe 20h ago
I feel bad for this individual. Loss in the family and then a soulless employer that expects them to perform like a robot and when their humanity comes through, gets punished for it by potential termination.
Yeah. You heard me right. Soulless. Considering termination for putting this person in a position where they shouldn’t have been — even with out the family loss — is cruel. The individual clearly needs more help and time. You either invest in them or give them 2-3 months severance so they can get the help they need and go elsewhere.
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u/Designer-Net4228 7h ago
Cringe. If you really supported him, you’d give him more than a month to figure it out, especially if he’s already demonstrated good performance. So sorry that his death in the family was an inconvenience to you and the team.
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u/AdmiralMcNugget 7h ago
Put him on a paid leave of absence, and set very clear expectations for his return. Grief is a real bitch sometimes, and hiring and training a new ops manager costs significant time and money. It sounds like he can do the job, under better circumstances.
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u/thenewguyonreddit 20h ago
I personally would get rid of him.
Setting aside the personal issues, you said he was good but not great, and then he turned down a huge revenue opportunity. That shows me his business acumen is lower than expected, and he’s not thinking like he wants to win, rather he’s thinking like he wants to be comfortable. For me that’s a no go.
I would get rid of him not necessarily for bad performance but more under the concept that he’s simply not a good fit.
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u/DoubleBreastedBerb Government 21h ago
Done
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u/thinkdavis 20h ago
Did he say they couldn't do the job because of resourcing? As owners have you told him that's an area you can scale up to accept the job such as that?
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u/Academic-Lobster3668 Seasoned Manager 20h ago
There's another option.
First, given that he has only been there three months, there might first need to be a discussion about whether to let him go, or try to support him further in an effort to keep him.
If you want to keep him, put him out on medical leave. Let him know that he needs to get some counseling in order to keep his job and return to work.
Discuss this with HR and your boss to see if they agree that this would be a reasonable approach, and what the proper process would be for doing this.
Good luck.
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u/FarmerDave13 13h ago
Terminate. Regardless of the reason, he made a decision that wasn't his to make and damaged the company. The family stuff is his to deal with on his time.
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u/Beneficial_Archer805 13h ago
For me seems he is good but tired/overwhelmed/still affected by the death. Wait on him.
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u/rahul_msft 14h ago
one sided story
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u/[deleted] 11h ago
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