Mistakes are Common When dealing with Problem Employees

Most entrepreneurs make major errors when it comes to terminating employees. Such errors can quickly become quite costly to even a small employer.
Fortune Small Business offers seven basic steps to start to develop a human resource system in a small business:
1. Know the law — entrepreneurs often do not know even the basics of employment law. We made the decision a long time ago in our program that all of our entrepreneurship students will take a class in Human Resource Management. Employment law is complex and can get even a small employer in deep trouble.
2. Develop a simple employee handbook
3. Don’t use employment contracts — most often they will hurt you, not help you as the employer
4. Keep careful and complete written personnel records — having clear and complete records saved me more than once when employees tried to fight termination
5. Don’t think that moving an employee to a new position can fix their poor performance or problem behaviors
6. Hire people more carefully in the first place — hire not only for skills but for fit in your organizational culture.
7. Be proactive — don’t wait too long to act on a problem employee. Entrepreneurs seem to have big hearts (and sometimes weak backbones) when it comes to problem employees. We think that if we just keep them on a little longer we can help them turn around their poor performance. Most of this is more of an attempt to postpone the inevitable — that is, firing the employee — then it is any realistic attempt to “fix” the employee. For the kind-hearted entrepreneur, by the time he finally admits that he should start to move toward terminating a problem employee, he has probably already waited several weeks or even months too long. In reality, such delays help no one. You are not doing that employee any favor. And you are hurting the performance of your business and diminishing your leadership stature with your other employees.