Hiring is challenging but firing can be even harder. Your employee’s job could be the only income for the employee’s family. Make sure to have a good reason for letting your employee go.

This article outlines signs to fire an employee and how to properly conduct the termination. If you find yourself in a position where you need to let an employee go, I can help find you high-quality and productive candidates after the termination occurs.

Reasons to Fire an Employee

Bad Behavior is Not Corrected

Every employee has occasional bad behavior. This could be checking Facebook or excessive bathroom or smoking breaks. As a business owner, small infractions can be overlooked. But what happens when small infractions become big problems or a consistent behavior?

Examples of Bad Behavior at Work

• Sleeping on the Job
• Consistently Late
• Gossiping
• Lied to the Boss
• Socialize Excessively
• Left Early without Permission

You should not be paying employees to gossip, socialize, or sleep. If they are a negative influence to other team members and have decreased productivity, it may be time to fire your employee before this behavior has an impact on other employees.

They Have a Bad Attitude

Everyone has bad days. In this situation, a bad attitude can be excused. However, if your employee’s negative attitude is frequent and impacting the team, it may be time to let the employee go.

Speak to the employee about their bad attitude first. Maybe they have too much responsibility, problems at home, or a co-worker is spreading rumors. Try to solve the issue before firing your employee.

They Violate Policies

Policy violations should not be tolerated. To ensure that your employees understand the policies, have them sign an official Policies document upon being hired.

Depending on the severity, policy violations are often a “three strikes and you are out” clause. Have the employee read and sign the policy document if they violate the conditions. This ensures that your company has thorough paperwork if you need to terminate your employee.

You Receive Customer or Client Complaints

Happy customers and clients keep your company afloat, even if your employee’s interactions are only with internal customers in other departments. If your employee is causing complaints then you evaluate their position.

The first step is to address the complaints. The solution could be as simple as further training in customer service or conflict resolution. However, if your employee does not enjoy their job or has a bad attitude, you may want to reassign them or let them go. A reputation in bad customer service can be extremely harmful to your reputation or cause problems when working with other departments.

Job Quality or Quantity is Lacking

If your employee is making a lot of mistakes or is consistently missing deadlines, it could be putting a strain on your other employees. If that is the case it may be time to let the offending employee go to allow you to upgrade to a more productive employee. This may sound a little heartless, but if others in the department are left to pick up the slack or continually correct their errors, you may end up losing your better performers out of frustration and only making matters worse.

If it is time to let your employee go, it is important to proceed legally and courteously. Job loss is usually life changing. CNN Business explains five steps to professionally fire your employee:

1. Don’t Surprise Them – Hold performance reviews so your employees know where they can improve.
2. Do It Face-To-Face -The phone, email, and twitter are not appropriate platforms to fire an employee.
3. Be Clear and Concise – Know exactly what you are going to say before you fire your employee and have the proper documentation.
4. Be Prepared for Emotions, but Keep Yours in Check – Show empathy and avoid using harsh words.
5. Give Them a Soft Landing – Have a prepared severance package, or offer consulting work, to allow them time to find a new job.

All employees are aware of the struggle to find quality jobs. However, many employers do not understand how difficult it can be to build a top-notch team. The job market is tight for both parties. If you are leading employees, it is important to keep them happy so they do not move on to another company.

Many leaders do not treat employee happiness as important as they should. According to an Aflac Employee Happiness report, 36% of business leaders treat employee happiness as somewhat important and 55% of business leaders treat employee happiness at very important. I bet the 55% of business leaders that prioritize employee happiness have a much higher retention rate! If you want to grow your company, it is important that you make employee happiness a priority.

The methods outlined in this article can help you build a company culture with highly satisfied employees.

Offer Benefits

It’s no secret that health insurance is expensive. Nevertheless, accidents happen and we all need coverage. A benefits package, including dental, health, and retirements, is incentive to attract and retain employees. Paying insurance out of pocket can cost hundreds of dollars every month – thousands with a family. By providing benefits you are investing in your employees. They will feel more secure and appreciated.

Benefits can be tax deducible for employers. Speak with an experienced CPA to write-off as much as possible.

Provide Opportunity for Promotions

Nobody wants to get stagnant in their career. When your employees see no opportunity for advancement, they are more likely to look for a new job. If you do not have a new position open, allow your employees to tackle creative, challenging projects. Their hard work could earn a bonus or promotion when a position opens.

Take an Interest in Your Employees

Most office workers spend 40+ hours together every week. For many of us, we spend more time with our coworkers than anyone else. Get to know your employees.

How is your family? What are you doing for the holidays? Did you catch that sports game?

If you care, your employees will care.

Provide Continued Education

Job industries are always changing. This is often due to technology or regulation changes. It’s important to stay informed to be a top performing employee.

Continued education can help employees stay aware of trends, news, technology, and discoveries that alters their performance. Provide your employees with training. They will be happier when they are doing a good job and not learning an important advancement a year after the change occurred.

Tools for Continued Education

• Webinars
• Conferences
• Online Classes

If you have a low retention rate, it is important to analyze whether you have made employee happiness a priority. If not, it is time to start. I am a Specialty Quality and Regulatory Recruiter that can help you build your team. Contact me, Jeff King, at jking@rqfocus.com or (541) 639-3501.

Hiring is not only a pain but can be expensive for your company. As a business leader, it’s important to find ways to prevent your employees from leaving. If you do not, you will spend hours training. Most new employees do not become profitable for a year in the job.

Maintaining your employees requires more than a raise. You must be aware of the lifestyle, culture, and management style that people desire to be happy in their jobs.

The Workplace Institute Claims that 42 million people quit their job per year and 77 percent can be prevented.
As a Life Sciences recruiter, I have seen people quit for a variety of reasons. This article explains common reasons employees leave their jobs.

Micromanagement

As a business leader, we usually have time and emotions invested in the company. Delegating tasks can be difficult when we know how we want a task completed. Unfortunately, this leads to micromanaging. Many leaders who micromanage focus so much on the tiny details that they cannot see the big picture. Give your employees that opportunity to create their own path to solving the problem. Different does not always mean bad.

Lack of Vision

To accomplish a goal, you must have a vision. Many business leaders lack strategic vision.

Forbes defines strategic vision as the ability to;

• • Envision the longer term
  • Adopt a broader view of the organization, seeing it in the context of its competition and the current economy
  • Define a distinctive, unique mission for the organization
  • Define the path by which the firm can grow in the long term
  • Repeatedly move the organization forward in creating greater value

Unfortunately, if you do not have strategic vision, your employees could feel like they are only checking tasks off the box. Make sure that they know the end goal of their work.

How is the work going to make a difference? How is the work going to change a person’s life?

To form a great company with happy employees, your employees must know that they are working for more than a paycheck.

No Feedback

Imagine this – You spend 3 hours writing an extensive report. It includes statistics and evaluations. You turn the report into your manager.

Silence. You never receive feedback. Two weeks later, your manager asks you to write another report. Wouldn’t this be frustrating?

Most people want to do well. Feedback allows for correction and communication. Your employees are able to develop their skills to succeed. Your feedback could be as brief as asking your employee to add an additional summary paragraph to a report or a “great job” email.

No Opportunity for Career Advancement

Nobody wants to be stuck in a “dead end job”. Career advancement is one of the most important factors of employee satisfaction and retention. Provide the opportunity for employees to take additional responsibilities that lead to changing of their roles and raises.

Continuing education courses can increase your opportunity for career development. If you give people the opportunity to learn and evolve within your company, they have less motivation to find a company with a more dynamic position.

You will also save valuable time by promoting within your company. Your current employees know company procedures and support the strategic vision. When internal staff is not available for promotion and you need to look externally, that is when I can help. I am a Regulatory and Quality Recruiter in the pharmaceutical, medical device, or biotech industries in the San Francisco Bay Area. Contact me, Jeff King, at jking@rqfocus.com or (541) 639-3501 to discuss your needs and determine some options to help you build the team you need to succeed.

When budgets are tight, continuing education is often the first item to be diminished from a company’s resources. After all, it does not bring in direct revenue.

Continuing education might not affect your revenue immediately. However, you are investing in employee development that can increase your employee’s happiness and build a more creative, sustainable company.

As of 2018, Millennials are the largest generation in the workforce at 1 out of 3. A recent study by Gallup shows that “Millennials are not pursuing job satisfaction — they are pursuing development… Giving out toys and entitlements is a leadership mistake, and worse, it’s condescending. Purpose and development drive this generation.”

If you want to retain Millennials then invest in their professional development. Trophies and bonuses don’t work for this generation.

5 Tools for Professional Development

Conferences

Book your employees to attend an industry-related conference. These conferences often are held by industry-leaders. They can be inspirational for your employees.

TedTalks

TedTalks are inspirational videos to “stir your curiosity”. The videos range in topic including science, creativity, business, and tech.

Creative Live

CreativeLive provides “1,500+ fundamentals to advanced techniques”. The classes range from Adobe software, money and finance, business modeling, cooking, writing, and more. The classes are all online and can be completed at a flexible pace.

Meetups

Meetups are designed for more than building friendships. Meetups have evolved into professional education seminars. If you have a small budget then Meetups could be a good option for you. The classes are typically free to attend.

Webinars

Webinars are a live, web-based conference that can be viewed around the world. Users are able to interact among online forums in real time. There are thousands of webinars available online for professional development.

Invest in your employees and they are more likely to build a loyal relationship with your company. You will also improve their skills to help meet your company’s goals. I am a Life Sciences Recruiter for the Bay Area. If you are looking to hire in these areas, please contact me to discuss your needs and possible solutions. Contact me, Jeff King, at jking@rqfocus.com or (541) 639-3501.

In today’s job market, Millennials are the largest generation in the workforce. By 2025, Millennials are predicted to be 75% of our work force. Employers need to prepare for what makes Millennials happy, therefore improving company culture and retainment.

Millennials are different than any previous generation. Their focus is more on values and lifestyle, rather than receiving a fat paycheck. No more 60-hour work weeks.

As a recruiter, I try to educate employers on how to keep their high-quality employees. This article outlines my experience with keeping Millennials on the team.

Millennials Want Strong Company Values

Millennials have a low tolerance for lack of authenticity. They want to work with a company with social causes and personal values. As an employer, you must demonstrate your values with concrete actions.

For example, project feedback, Employee of the Month, and company parties. Your company is more than just a place to work. It is a supportive community.

Millennials Want Social Impact

Along with company values is the desire to make a social impact. Colleagues with a shared goal can have a positive impact on the workplace.

Every job is going to have stresses. When a company is working toward a purpose, Millennials feel more positive about difficult work tasks. You do not have to be a non-profit to be philanthrope. You can donate 1% of your profit to charity or have volunteering opportunities.

Chris Martin, President and CEO of President Bank, encourages all his team members to give back. Each employee receives two paid day per year to volunteer.

Millennials Want Flexibility in Work Hours

The 9-5 work day is slowly disappearing. Millennials want more flexibility with their work hours. A study by Bentley University reports that 77% of Millennials claim that flexible work hours would make them more productive.

Millennials Want to Work Remotely

Working remotely is the dream for many Americans. It is becoming more realistic as more technology and software becomes available.

With the capability, Millennials desire to work outside of the office. According to the PwC’s NextGen study, 64% of Millennials would like to occasionally work from home. If your employees are able to work at home then allow them. See When Is Telecommuting Right for Your Business for my experience recruiting for companies with different types of flexibility. Remote work can lead to an increase in employee happiness and productivity.

Millennials Want Opportunity for Growth

Nobody wants to work in a dead-end job – especially Millennials. Provide opportunity for growth for your employees. Allow them to take on new responsibility which could lead to another position. Make these opportunities clear during the hiring process to create a more desirable work place.

Change is hard. There is no doubt about it. However, Millennials are the future of our workplace. If your company has not adjusted ideals for the new generation, you could hurt employee retention.

Embrace change and start utilizing these tips into your growing business.

Telecommuting is the dream. You get to work where you want and when you want. For many businesses, telecommuters can work great. They maintain happy and productive employees with a low turnover rate. Other businesses do not have the flexibility for telecommuters.

As a specialty recruiter for Regulatory and Quality professionals, I have seen when telecommuting works in extremely professional settings. Regulatory employees have more success telecommuting. The majority of their work is research and document generation and review which can be completed at home with the proper tools. On the other hand, Quality employees need to be onsite more to support manufacturing and product development. Each employee has their part to ensure that products meet FDA standards but the different tasks assigned to their profession prevents telecommuting for many of the employees.

When Is Telecommuting Appropriate for Companies?

Research Positions

If your employee’s research project requires only a computer and internet connection then they can probably work remotely. In the industries I represent, this applies to Regulatory employees but can, to a more limited extent, apply to some Quality professionals as well. You may choose to start your employees in the office to prove that they are responsible. With time, give them the telecommuting option to improve employee happiness.

Little Interaction with Coworkers

If your employee’s job requires a physical presence then a telecommuting job is not efficient for your company. For example, office manager, product testing, or supervisor. However, telecommuting works well for project-based, data analysis or computer programming work.

Already Working Considerable Amount from Home

Does your employee bring their work home? Employees that bring their work home are usually stressed and overwhelmed, which could lead to their resignation. This can also be true if their commute into your office is a difficult one. If your employee can work remotely half of the time or even full time, let them. The best remote workers depict responsible work ethic. You may want to call your employee into the office for an occasional meeting, but if the work is getting done when they are remote, allow the option.

When Is Telecommuting Not Feasible for Your Company

• Position requires high amount of supervision
• Position requires a lot of live interaction with co-workers
• Employee deals with sensitive or confidential information
• Employees must attend meetings

A large part of building a great company is making your employees happy. Now, more companies allow employees to work remotely. You can increase productivity and avoid high turnover. If your employee is asking to work remotely, evaluate their position and whether it would fit your company’s needs. A great employee can be hard to find. Do your best to make them happy and you will draw more forward-thinking workers.

YOU DON’T NEED US if the position(s) you have to fill are not considered critical, AND you can take whatever time is necessary for the right person to see your job posting, AND you have the time to review all submitted resumes to find the ones you want to interview. If this is the case traditional methods of recruiting may work for you.

BUT, YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER US if filling the position(s) quickly and with the right person is critical, and you need someone with the experience and understanding to do the first level screening to weed out all but the top 3-5 candidates for you, AND you are not getting much response to your current recruiting efforts. Top caliber candidates are NOT scouring job postings. They’re too busy getting their work done. They also take less time to get up to speed.

WHAT MAKES US ANY DIFFERENT OR BETTER THAN OTHER RECRUITERS?

• I worked for 4 years as an Engineer designing new medical devices, and 5 years as a Marketing Product Manager developing and launching new products to the market.
• I’ve spent the past 20+ years filling critical positions in the Bay area with experienced, top performing Regulatory, Clinical, and Quality professionals.
• I’m also a career counselor to several local Regulatory, Clinical, and Quality professionals and understand what they’re looking for in their careers, and know how to approach them to have them consider your opportunity.
• I am a certified Facilitator for Everyday Engagement methodology for building High Performance Teams.
• I take the time to get to know the “personality” of my client companies so I can better match the personalities of the candidates for a better and longer lasting fit.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US

• I will take the time to understand what problems you are trying to solve and what type of person would perform best in that role and send you the top 3-5 pre-screened candidates to consider.
• Weekly updates on the status of your search so you KNOW it’s being worked on.
• I have a 74% accuracy rate on submitting candidates you want to interview.
• I have a 93% success rate on getting your offers accepted and having the candidate ready to go on day one.
• Periodic follow ups with the candidate and the hiring manager during the first year to ensure a good fit.
• A 5 year replacement policy to ensure you’re happy with the outcome.

TESTIMONIALS

“…I know that Jeff is not in the business to make ‘a quick buck’. He is a reliable, trustworthy resource who has my best interest in mind. In my fifteen years of experience, the proof is always in the end result. Candidates represented by Jeff have gone on to become key contributors and successful team members. When staffing needs arise, Jeff King is the first person I contact.” – J. Cook QA/RA Director

“…Jeff is thorough in understanding the requirements of each open position. He is considerate of my time, as well as conscientious in his follow up. He is a pleasure to work with.” – M. Ashburn HR Manager

Meetings – we have to have them but they can be giant time consumers in our work day. For many companies, meetings are prolonged from chit chat and ramble. Others are poorly organized. This can be frustrating for employees that have piles of work.

As a Specialty Quality and Regulatory Recruiter, I have seen the processes of many different types of companies. Some works. Others ends in disaster. Meetings can be crucial to organize your team and make sure you are on the same page.

I have outlined tips that can create more efficient meetings. Start implementing these tips to save valuable time at work.

Review Attendee List

It’s frustrating for employees who are sitting at meetings that they know that they don’t have to attend. A meeting could add an extra hour onto their work day. Before you ask for a meeting, consider who really needs to attend.

The employees that should be at meetings will contribute to the project. Unnecessary attendees will only waste valuable time at the company’s expense.

Distribute Written Agenda in Advance

Be prepared before the meeting. Create a written agenda and email it to your attendees. That way, they will be prepared with the information that they need to bring. Your employees will not be pulling up information spontaneously on their lap top. You have already prepared them for what you need to discuss.

Manage the Meeting by the Clock

It’s easy to waste time chatting about weekend plans, family, or sporting event. However, meetings are not the time to have these discussions. Create a timeline to keep the meeting moving.

For example, 10 minutes for project status. 30 minutes for planning.

Determine the timeline that works best for the productivity of your team.

Take Notes

We can’t remember everything. As a business leader, it is essential to take notes. Record project status, updates, and plans. Type out your ideas and send the record to attendees after the meeting. This will prevent your team from forgetting details. You will not have to repeat information at the next meeting.

Start On-Time

Along with following a time schedule is starting on-time. Tell your employees in advance the meeting will begin promptly at the arranged time. Start the meeting even if some of your attendees are absent.

Punctuality is professional and necessary in the workplace.

Tardiness is embarrassing for most professionals. Starting your meetings on time can help influence your team to arrive promptly.

It’s important to make your employees feel valuable. A large part of doing so is giving raises. The trick is knowing when and how much to provide. You need your employees to prove their worth but not feel over expended without proper compensation.

As a Specialty Quality and Regulatory Recruiter, I have seen successful companies follow the properties that I will outline in this article. Employees leave jobs for many reasons. Pay and lack of recognition are big ones.

Acknowledge Value

To award raises, you must understand value within your company. This means, creating key performance indicators (KPI’s) for each employee. That way, your employees will know what they are working toward. Make sure that your goals challenge them but are achievable.

Keep Your Employees Informed

Communication is essential in any relationship – this includes business. Keep your employees informed throughout the year of whether they are meeting their KPI’s. You could do this by quarterly reports. Most people want to do well. Taking the time to review job performance, write a report, and meet is an investment for your company. Growing the skills of your employees is cheaper than hiring.

But, of course, if you need to add to your team or upgrade the team you have, I can help you find the right employee to help you meet company goals.

Don’t Guess! Crunch the Numbers

If your employees reach their goals, it’s essential that you provide them with the correct compensation. This is not only essential for them but the financial stability of your company. Employees receive more salary when they are providing more return to the company. Top performers should get a bigger raise, but be careful.

Giving too much of a raise can cause drama. Employees talk. If a colleague earns less of a raise than another a coworker could get upset. When you give your employee the raise, explain what goals they completed to justify the number.

It’s also important to make sure what you are paying your employees is competitive. There are salary surveys that can help. And for Regulatory and Quality positions in the San Francisco Bay Area I can be a resource to let you know what the market is paying for these positions. Paying a competitive salary will help you keep your employees. If you don’t want to pay the market rate for good talent, your competitors will.

Managers have more responsibility than overseeing project scope and client delivery. People Management can be the hardest tasks on a manager’s job description.

Every employee is different. Successful managers recognize employee strengths and different types of communication required. This is not an easy task. You must first understand the different personality types.

According to Gallup’s State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders report, there are 6 types of personalities.

Personality Types

Judging

Judgers want work to be neat, orderly, and established. They want the workplace to be predictable.

Perceiving

Perceivers are more openminded than judgers. They can change to your office’s situation and respond well to unpredictable events.

Extraversion

Extraverts are lively, energetic, and always looking for ways to interact with other coworkers. Extraverts are often involved in brainstorming sessions and work well with others.

Introversion

Introverts are the opposite of extroverts. They would rather perform tasks by themselves. They are independent, reserved, and focused.

Thinking

Thinkers are the analytical employees in the office. They will think of how to improve projects and are detail oriented. Thinkers are often experts in a single field.

Feeling

Feelers are the opposite of Thinkers. A Thinker is compassionate, warm, and supportive. They often go out of their way for other employees. Their motivation is often for people, rather than facts.

How-To Manage Different Personality Types

The first step is to assess, not assume. View every new hire as a blank slate. After you discover their personality type, you will be better able to manage for each employee’s strengths and talents.

Some simple way to gain some insights as to their personality type is to ask them to describe a job or project that they really enjoyed, and ask them what specifically made it such an enjoyable experience. You can also ask the opposite question of a job or project they enjoyed the least and what made it so terrible. Their answer will give you clues as to what is most important to them and how best to manage them.

The Meyer Brigg’s Personality test can provide a more accurate depiction. Speak with Human Resources to discover if testing is available for your employees.

Managers are the backbone of the company. Make it clear that your employees are all working toward a common goal. You may need to reassign your employee’s tasks for their strengths. Doing so, might be timely but will contribute to the success of the project.

By narrowing down your employee’s strengths, they will feel more successful and appreciated. Everyone wants to feel appreciated. Your team could work harder for you which increases productivity. Do not punish your employees in public if they are not achieving their goals.

Learning to manage different personality types can be rewarding and improve employee happiness and the productivity of your company. If you are hiring, know what skills you require. As a recruiter, I can help create appropriate personality questions to find the best employee for the job position.