March 25, 2008
A disgruntled employee can negatively impact the small (At Will Employee)
A disgruntled employee can negatively impact the small business by projecting a misrepresentation of your small company onto potential clients. In the rare cases where you can't settle and the worker is going to court, you must get yourself a good employment attorney-at-law. But there is a difference between the occasional "bad day" and misbehavior. I want to make my directives of you "official." Never again should you play "the devil's advocate" role in team meetings. For example, the manager may think the employee has some insights into the department's declining group spirit and can assist you devise a question to get this information. Describe, in detail, all actions and behaviors that lead to the employee's discipline. The sad part is they could have avoided all this if they had followed the proper lay off process. And, within a couple of weeks of the termination, you must mention lay offs are a possibility, but you're looking at other ways to reduce costs. It's hard enough making workforce behave properly while at work. Dismissed employees will often tell you "secrets" about your work environment that a resigning worker never gives.
Graceful Dismissal of Employees. In many states more and more court rulings uphold the rights of employers to separate workforce for unacceptable behavior outside the workplace. To do this, you'll need to coin an at will job termination notice that details the reason for lay off and the effective date of dismissal. I hope you now see that separating a disgruntled employee while not "fun" is the only recourse you have when you want to improve results and morale. Having a bad disposition in itself is not always a problem. If this isn't the worker's first warning, then you must state on the warning form, what warning it is and what the proper action will be if they continue to cause difficulties at the company.