Leadership & Enforcement
Firing an Employee Who No Longer Fits
Chris Out
You have someone on your team who, deep down, you know isn't right anymore. The work is just not good enough, the energy is off, and you notice you're starting to work around them. And yet you keep them on. Because letting someone go feels expensive, unpleasant and a bit cruel, and there's always a reason to put it off a little longer.
Let me flip it around. This isn't an HR problem. This is a standards problem. Keeping someone who doesn't fit lowers the bar for your whole team, and that costs you more than that one goodbye ever would.
Why that one person affects the whole team
Your team doesn't look at what you say about quality. It looks at what you let slide. As long as someone stays who performs below the bar without consequence, the rest know exactly where the real floor is. And that floor sinks, slowly, for everyone.
The good people feel it first. They carry the work the other one leaves behind, and they see that it has no consequence. That's the moment you start losing your best, not to a competitor, but to the signal that mediocrity is allowed to stay here.
The test that makes it simple
There's one question that makes it clear. Would you, with what you now know, hire this person again today? A wholehearted yes, or something else. Anything that isn't a clear yes is a no you haven't said out loud yet.
Look, every pot has a lid, but not every pot fits you. That someone doesn't fit your agency doesn't mean they're worth nothing. It means they're a better fit somewhere else, and that you shouldn't stand in their way of that any longer. Growth sometimes means pruning.
How to do it cleanly
Pruning doesn't mean blunt. Have the conversation honestly and directly, without the sandwich of compliments around it. Say what doesn't fit, give the other their dignity, and make it concrete: this is why, and this is how we wrap it up.
Have that conversation yourself, not through someone else and not by email. It's uncomfortable, and that's how it should be, because you're making a decision that touches someone else's life. Prepare two or three sentences that say the core and stick to them, even when the silence falls. Don't get into a discussion about the decision itself, because that's settled. What is open for discussion is how you wrap it up nicely together: the notice period, the handover, a good reference. That way you stay human without letting go of your standard.
In the Netherlands this usually runs via a settlement agreement, an arrangement in which you jointly settle the end of the contract. Get properly informed about it, because the details determine whether it goes cleanly or still turns into a hassle. This isn't legal advice, but it is the route you see most often in practice.
The mirror: hired too fast, let go too late
Letting go hurts because hiring went too easily. Most wrong hires didn't go wrong at the firing, but at the contract. You had a gap, there was pressure, and you took on someone who was "okay" instead of a wholehearted yes. The same hell-yes test you now use to say goodbye is the one you should have used back then when hiring.
That's not a reproach, it's a pattern. As an owner you hire too fast under pressure, and out of loyalty you say goodbye too late. On both sides of the line sits the same fear: a gap in your team that you'll then have to fill yourself. And it's exactly that fear that makes you bring in the wrong person and keep them far too long.
So the lesson works both ways. Get stricter at the front, and you'll need the back door less often. A hire is only a yes when it's a hell-yes. Everything below that becomes, sooner or later, the conversation you're having now.
What to do this week
Go through your team and put a yes or a no next to each name on that one question: would I hire this person again today? Not in your head, on paper.
If there's a no anywhere, you know enough. That doesn't mean you put someone on the street on Friday, but it does mean you stop pretending it'll sort itself out. Schedule the first honest conversation, this week.
Want help building a team that holds the standard? Book a free Standards Assessment, or start on your own with the free course.
And then the question you've been dodging for months: who are you keeping on because the goodbye feels like too much, while your team has long been paying the bill?
FAQ
When should you fire an employee?
When you can't answer the question "would I hire this person again today?" with a wholehearted yes. Anything that isn't a clear yes is a no you haven't said out loud yet. Keeping someone who doesn't fit lowers the bar for your whole team.
Why is keeping the wrong employee so damaging?
Because your team doesn't look at your words but at what you let slide. If someone stays who performs below the bar without consequence, the floor sinks for everyone. Your good people feel it first and eventually leave.
How do you fire someone in a decent way?
Have the conversation honestly and directly, without the compliment sandwich. Say what doesn't fit, give the other their dignity and make concrete how you wrap it up. That someone doesn't fit you doesn't mean they're worth nothing, only that they belong somewhere else.
What is a settlement agreement?
A settlement agreement is an arrangement in which employer and employee jointly settle the end of the employment, outside of court. In the Netherlands it's the most used route when parting ways. Get properly informed about the details. This isn't legal advice.
Isn't firing an employee bad for team morale?
Usually the opposite is true. Keeping someone who doesn't fit weighs the mood down, because your best carry the extra work without it having any consequence. Parting ways cleanly actually shows that the standard matters, and that gives the rest air.
How do I know if it's the person or me as a leader?
Start with yourself: have you made the expectation clear and given the chance to fix it? If not, that's your work first. If that has happened and the yes still doesn't come, then it's about fit, and keeping them on isn't kindness but delay.
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