letters and views Editor’s note: A recent discussion on the Cleaning & Maintenance Management Online Bulletin Board pertained the best way to terminate the employment of an under performing employee. Advice on how to deal with under performing employees and how to handle their possible dismissal follows below. Posted by: Melissa Jent 9/28/2011 I have an employee that has been with me for five months. She started out okay, but I had to remind her several times about cleaning the base area of the toilets and inside the bowl. I even made sure she had a big refill jug of Clorox Clean-Up and two spray bottles. I intentionally waited a month to do a thorough walkthrough, with the permission of my building contact and, low and behold, it was a mess. Dusting was bad, and the bathrooms were pathetic. I even questioned whether she was mop-ping the floor. Some things I had to cleanup and didn’t get pictures of, but I had another supervisor with me and also my contact in the building saw some of these things. It’s the end of the month and I want to terminate her. I have terminated employees before, but I think I might have an issue with this one. Just want some insight on how some of you let people go. Any help would be appreciated. supervision I think is it only fair to give her a chance to improve — perhaps do inspec-tions at the completion of each shift for several times. If I have to terminate someone, I do at the end of their shift so I can collect keys; I don’t want to chase after someone for keys. If you think she could cause physical trouble, have someone with you. End of the month, beginning of the month, middle of the month, makes no difference. There are a lot of people out there that want to get paid, but don’t want to do the work. Aaron Baunee 9/30/2011 Like Ed said, give her reasons for why she will no longer be employed by you. If she has been notified of your dis-pleasure and still failed to improve her techniques, you are more than justified in terminating her. Show her the imagery and your notes. This is irrefutable. However, remain kind and professional throughout. It is unfortunate that actions such as this must be taken, especially after you have invested time and money extensively train-ing her. But, at the end of the day, you work for your client, and if the client is not satisfied, that is taking food from your dinner table. Nobody enjoys being the barer of bad news, but turnover is a sad reality in our industry. Melissa Jent 9/29/2011 I did tell her several times about the bath-rooms and the issues with them. They seemed to be the same every month: Base of the toilets dirty, hair and debris in corners and behind toilets; the worst was the urine stains on the urinals and inside of the bowl, as if a brush was not used on a regular basis. I guess I should rephrase this: I did walk-throughs and documented what I saw, in writing and in pictures. I just wanted to see if she would rec-tify the issues herself, without my constant reminder. It didn’t happen. This was the last day and the company we clean for has asked that we remove her. So, thanks Ed. Just want to say, I don’t have a problem giving people the benefit of the doubt, but when you are closely trained in detail for a month in the building you are going to clean, I don’t feel I should have to “babysit.” We do weekly walkthroughs and may find small things here and there, but when it is repetitive on a monthly basis, it looks like a paycheck is wanted but not deserved. Responses: Ed Samson 9/29/2011 Document your repeated issues with the employee and make sure she understands she will be terminated for not completing the work properly. Make notes on your verbal criticisms and put as much as possible in writing to your employee. When you terminate her, give her a list of the problems and specify she is being termi-nated “for cause.” If you let her work for months without Ed Samson 10/4/2011 You did the right thing. Some people don’t care. Some people can’t handle the job either physically or mentally, and some people are just hoping to get fired so they can claim unemployment compensation. When firing someone for cause, don’t hesitate to protest their claim. My wife says some people are simply “dirt blind.” 6 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • November 2011
CMM – Archives Nov 2011: 6
