NO is a Complete Sentence!

?Telling a manager NO, when they have failed to do their own work is perfectly acceptable.? You are not responsible for their inaction.? You are not a roadblock because they have chosen not to perform one of their job responsibilities.

One morning, a supervisor came to my office to request a termination for one of his new hires.? I asked why and was told tardiness and absenteeism.? Naturally there were no disciplinary write-ups documented in the HRIS for this employee.? I looked at his timecard.? The employee had clocked in early every day for over 60 days and was late only 2 and there were no absences recorded.?

I showed the supervisor, and he expressed bewilderment.? He admitted he forgot to record an unpaid absence from 45 days ago on the timecard.? (Timecard management was literally a job duty on his job description).?

“NO.? I will not sign off on this termination.? You have not done the work”.?

The supervisor’s manager arrived to support his direct report and demanded the termination.? “I can’t believe we would tolerate this during an employee probationary period.”?

I said: “We are at will – we do not have a probationary period.? And if even if we did, we still need documentation BEFORE we approve terminations”.?

I was not going to be bullied or pushed to do this.?? What was at stake for the organization?

1.??????? It posed legal risks (an illegal termination).

2.??????? It posed financial risks (unemployment claim could raise our rate).

3.??????? It posed a risk to our brand (a perceived unfair termination most definite triggers bad reviews and bad word of mouth in the local employment market).

4.??????? It posed a risk to retention (colleagues of a terminated employee may choose to leave before they are next termination based on perceived whims of supervisors)

It is not your responsibility as HR to clean up after a manager.?

It is your responsibility to coach the manager, arrange for difficult conversation training for the manager, or let their manager know about the supervisor’s skill gap.?

After a few questions and attempting to coach both the manager and the supervisor.? They admitted the employee was having performance issues and was a bit of an “odd bird”.?? They did not want to have a difficult conversation with the employee.?

I will never advocate for retaining a poor performer, but as HR it is your responsibility to ensure the manager or supervisor:

1.??????? Provided the tools and training to the employee to be successful.

2.??????? Set proper and reasonable expectations for the employee.

3.??????? Notified the employee that their performance did not meet those expectations.

4.??????? Allowed for a reasonable amount of time for the employee to improve performance.?

In this situation, the employee was not performing.? However, the supervisor (and manager) had failed the employee by not having a difficult conversation and were trying to use a weak reason without any documentation to “get rid of a problem hire.”?? ?They wanted me to clean up after them.?

I was not going to pick up my mop this time, so I said NO.?

Because NO is a complete sentence.?

What will you do this month to keep the mop out of your hands?