How to Safely Terminate a Junior Executive for Poor Performance Without Legal Risks?

If an employee at the Head Office of a company is performing data entry and other clerical tasks as a Junior Executive much below the desired level of expectations and is not willing to improve (as per verbal counseling), how can we terminate him while ensuring the company is protected from future litigations (if any)? During counseling, it was communicated that if he does not improve his performance, he may be let go. However, he expressed willingness for the company to terminate his employment.

Dear K K, there are a few elements, and they do not listen to counseling. You should assign work to them, and if they do not perform, ask for an explanation in writing. Give them warnings and ensure you complete your documentation. After that, you can issue a charge sheet if there is no improvement.

Then, conduct a domestic enquiry and terminate their services.

Like Malik said, you first need to build up the documentary evidence before you resort to such a step. Based on my experience, I think it would be better to build up the case through the activities he is involved in rather than giving him a letter that he did or didn't do this or that.

For example, since he is into data entry, the moment he makes a mistake, let his boss send him an email (which is really pretty convenient, unlike in the past where a memo is very easily noticed to be the ground for action) pointing out the mistakes and ask him to correct them. It could be a very innocuous email just focusing on the issue. Quite a few times, the employee wouldn't see the link between such an email and the final objective.

Going by what you mentioned, this process shouldn't take a lot of time—at the most a couple of weeks at worst, and 1 week at best. When the chargesheet stage comes, all you need to do is link such email communications with it and go ahead.

Regards,
TS

Dear KK,

Steps to Address Employee Performance Issues

1. Kindly provide him with his KRA again, and if there was no previous acceptance, please ensure that he agrees to his KRA and gives you a signed copy of the same.
2. Monitor his performance with respect to the KRA and the tasks completed on a daily basis.
3. When he does not perform well, schedule a counseling session to understand the reasons for his low performance.
4. During each counseling session, provide him with an action plan.
5. If, after a few counseling sessions, he still does not perform well, issue a warning that his services will be terminated if he does not improve within the next 15 days.
6. Please ensure that all the aforementioned is well-documented with his signatures on all the written documents.
7. Also, understand that performance is a broad term, so you need to quantify his work and map his performance with regard to the work he is expected to do or the work he actually does.

Regards,
Rahul Chhabra

Steps to Terminate an Underperforming Employee

Get a suitable HR Head, build up a case, and then take action. How can we terminate him and make sure the company is protected from future litigations (if any)? Nothing can prevent him from moving to a labor court.

During counseling, it was mentioned that if he does not perform, he may be checked out. However, he stated, "Let the company terminate me." This indicates that the individual will likely move to court.

Regards

Dear KK,

Please address every issue that arises between you and the individual in question by initiating a conversation with management via email. If the individual has made any mistakes, request them to provide an explanation to both you and management. Additionally, ensure that any conversations between you and the individual are documented through email.

Thanks and regards,

Steps to Address Poor Performance Before Termination

Terminating an employee for poor performance should not be the first step to take. First and foremost, we need to identify the performance obstacles and put in place remedial measures to correct poor performance. Probably you can follow these steps:

If he says:
- "I don't know what to do" - Educate him
- "I know how to do" - Train him
- "I believe that I can do it" - Coach him
- "I know why I do this" - Identify his needs in life
- "I want to do it" - Has an attitude problem

People become poor performers at times because some jobs do not fulfill their personal needs. Identify his needs and link them to the job purpose, and if he is not changing, then he has an attitude problem. If losing that job does not give him pain, he will not perform well. Put on a nicely polished safety shoe and give him a nice kick.

Termination Process and Employee Rights

Termination is the final step. Disciplinary action is taken in the following manner:

- Advisor note, stating the lapses/slowness, verbal counseling, etc.
- Warning Letter
- Second warning letter
- Final warning letter
- Termination letter.

Unless proper steps are taken and the file is built up, employees do have the right to approach the labor court and claim compensation if they have been wrongly terminated without any previous documentary evidence.

You have more options to address lower-level performance before terminating the employee. One preferred option is to create something called a "Performance Action Plan" that is signed by both you and the employee. At the footer of this document, include a very clear statement which reads, "I am committed to working my best to achieve the above action plan, and I understand that continued lower-level performance may result in termination from employment."