Under performing employee will be fired if I ask for him off my team

Question

I've got a teammate that fails to follow through with his responsibilities on a regular basis. He is extremely knowledgeable from a tech standpoint and understands the code very well. When he is motivated to do his job, the results are at a minimum admirable.

Problem is, he often will tell me something will be done, and then it doesn't get done and the next day there is a reason. And then the next day there is a reason. Sometimes there is no reason provided at all.

Obviously this is affecting team performance, and I am having to answer to my bosses about it. I do my best to shield the individuals on my team from direct criticism, instead deflecting it towards myself. At this point, I know that I can't keep covering for him and I'm already being stretched a little to thin to follow up on his items (he is one of the more senior members, I spend a fair amount of time helping our junior devs through their tasks).

Now, here's the conflict for me. Our company recently went through some light lay-offs, and I am 95% sure that if he is removed from my team he will be let go as well. This bothers me for three reasons:

1. I don't feel that he should be fired. The project we are on is not fun, the client we work for is frustrating in their methodology. I wouldn't blame a single person on my team for quitting, and in fact I tell my boss every day that I will likely be looking for a new job if they seek to extend my contract past the end of this year. We signed up for new dev with this company and got dumped on a support and maintenance engagement that, in my opinion, nobody deserves to be doing as staff augmentation. This is not standard for our company.
2. I've had to fire people in the past in other roles. I strongly believe that since I'm the one who is going to push that cart down the rail here, I should be the one to take responsibility on it as well. It is hard for me to say "he's no good" and then let someone else deal with it.
3. I think a different project for him, where he could get back into writing code instead of bug/data fixes, would be very beneficial for his morale. He's been stuck on 2 projects across the last 2 years that have largely been seen as "trouble children" within our company.

At this point, I am likely going to have another discussion with him about the importance of getting work done and not misleading the client about when things will be completed. We all slack off some here, as the environment we work in is very laid back (no one will ever question why you are looking at Youtube or how you spent each minute of your day). I tend to lead my team in a results over method mindset -- that is, I don't care how you get your work done and how you spend your day as long as you're giving fair estimates on work effort and completing the work, blockers aside.

What are the next steps I need to take here?

Answer 1

Be Blunt

Tell him the situation - he needs to get his output up to specs or he'll have to leave the team, and then tell him you are worried that if that happens, the company may let him go.

Tell him you don't want that to happen, but he needs to help you by doing the work in a timely fashion.

Answer 2

This strongly sounds to my like "inner resignment" has already happened. This is a tragedy personally as well as from a management perspective as this is also lost "human capital" which is undervalued in most company's. It is very hard to recover someone from this state. Luckily, you seem to be a very considerate and open leader.

From his perspective the company probably does him harm by putting his precious talent to work in such a "stupid" way and it is only fair that he takes his time. So if you punish or scold him you only add to the perceived stupidity. Also, threatening that he will be fired probably does not shock him very much, because some part of him actually hopes he will get fired anyway.

If I´d really want to keep this guy, first thing I would do, is showing him real appreciation on the cases where he does good work and also try to highlight the value he creates for the company even with this tedious assignment.

Secondly I would try to get him the most difficult task I can and maybe get him in some sort of concurrency-situation where he can really show his skill.

Maybe you can introduce some new toy or Methodology to tackle the same old tasks with?

Try to get the team to come up with improvement on how the could handle the same old work?

Let them peer-program even if only for a day per week?

Give him an junior staff member he should look after?

Also, chances are that he still can not recover and needs a fresh start somewhere else.

Answer 3

Don't Be Blunt

I'd like to counter the "be blunt" answer.

If it is a small company on cut-throat financials, then the "be blunt" approach might be acceptable. But if it is a larger company...

By stating "you will be fired if you do not start delivering" as advocated in the top answer, you are pitting yourself against the employee.

A commenter above said "it's not a threat, its a reality!". False dichotomy. It would be BOTH a threat and a reality. Communicated like this the threat is that YOU are not going to shield the employee from realizing the risk.

Good luck with that frame!

This is, of course, the approach often taken. It's easy and it makes the employee quit, thereby "solving" the issue (until the next person...)!

I think there is a better way.

This is likely a motivational issue with multiple causal (work and non-related) factors. Some or all of the causes might be outside of the control of the employee.

As a manager looking out for the company it is your role to choose a frame of engagement that has the best chance of a win-win.

Why force out someone who you know can be valuable?

By choosing NOT to "be blunt", but rather to instead focus on how to get the employee "back to productive" you might create a win-win. This might involve pair programming. It will certainly involve speaking to him and discussing the situation carefully and sympathetically.

Of course, everything comes to an end. If, having worked together on reaching productivity you cannot achieve it, then you can part on good terms and maybe he will return when he is productive again.

Again, if this is a small company with very tight financials, then people will expect and be more accepting of a more cut-throat outcome.

Answer 4

I had a manager that loved to quote Art of War. Usually wrong. He especially loved the story about killing the emperor's wives due disobedience. He usually "forgot" the part about general taking responsibility and explaining the task properly. It's your responsibility to utilize this guy to his full potential, and until you exhausted all avenues of motivating him, you can not discard him. Did you talk with him? Did you try to figure out some interesting tasks for him? Did you try to give him a leading role to mentor juniors? Did you talk with other managers/leads to see if they have more use for him?

From another point of view: if you go to your manager and say you don't need him, it would look bad on you also, at least try to refer him for another position.

Finally, if you exhausted all these avenues, you can not afford to be sentimental, it will backfire. If he needs to go, then you need to take the action, the longer you wait, the harder it will be for everyone!

Answer 5

There is someone you need to go to and say "please take this guy off my team", right? And presumably "please give me a replacement" as well? I suggest you say something completely different to them. Something like this:

I'm a bit worried about X. None of us like this maintenance contract, but it seems to be hitting him harder than others. He really needs some long days writing code and less of this bugfix quick response work. I'm starting to see a decline in performance and I don't think it's something that can improve by me just telling him to do better. Can we find a role for him that is more fun? I think he's done his duty on this unpleasant contract and deserves some fun work for a while. He's a senior dev, he writes great code, and I would hate to lose him. Whether he quits because he hates this contract or we fire him because he's underperforming on this contract, either way the company will lose a good developer. Is there someone we could swap into the team who likes a more unpredictable and reactive workflow, someone who is getting bored on a long development project, so we can make two workers happy and keep our best people?

There are people who don't like to write code on the same long project day after day. I am one. Find one in your business and you may be able to find a very happy solution.

Answer 6

As a manager, it is not your job to protect this developer from the inevitable outcome of his sub-par performance. It is your job to get him to perform better. Everybody is on a path, for some the path is up and for others it is out. You need to make sure that your developer knows that his own actions will determine which path he is on.

I tend to lead my team in a results over method mindset

It doesn't appear this way to me. This employee is clearly not delivering results, or we wouldn't be answering your question. While you may have great respect for his ability, potential only will get you so far. These are the hard parts of being a manager, but you need to hold all of your team to the standard of delivering results. By not holding this developer to that standard, you are sending a message to the other developers that they don't need to deliver results.

Answer 7

There are many different kinds of programmers,

• you have the creative types,
• you have the meticulous/check-everything-three-times types,
• you have the hacker types,
• you have the design freak types,

and a good company needs all of them, in a balance that depends on the kind of work your company does.

Putting the wrong kind of developer on the wrong kind of project will delay the project and disrupt relations with the developer.

The advice "to be blunt" - and to attempt to shoehorn a wrong person in the wrong place - is only correct if there's no possibility of a swap with another team so that both teams are better off, and if you believe the person is capable to make this transition.

To be poetic, you might have a bird on your team, and you're frustrated because it runs badly.

On the other hand, if your company has no use for birds and will not have use in the near future, your duty is clear.

Answer 8

As someone who was once in your developer's position, I can say that it is very important that you talk to him about it, as there may be some underlying medical condition that is going untreated.

In my case, I had a fairly serious case of Adult ADD, combined with a serotonin deficiency that had gone undiagnosed since childhood. I manifested as motivation and memory problems when I had to work on long, uninteresting tasks. I was completely unaware of it but was able to subconsciously compensate to some degree for a long time.

Eventually the demands of the job overcame my ability to compensate, and my performance began to suffer, until I was eventually placed on a performance improvement plan. Suddenly having to face and examine the reasons for my behavior, and the consequences, I decided that there might be something wrong, and I went to see my doctor about the focus and memory issues.

After a few months of fiddling with medications, the turn-around has been pretty drastic. My supervisors were extremely pleased with the change in behavior, I came out of the PIP successfully, and haven't been having any more issues. My quality of life, both at home, and at work, is significantly better, all thanks to my supervisor bringing the problem to my attention, and forcing me to deal with things that I hadn't consciously realized were problems.

Answer 9

If he doesn't like the job/client and neither does anyone else, does he really think anyone wants to do their work and his? If he doesn't like the work, suggest he quit instead of being a burden to you and the team.

You'd be doing him a favor if the end result is giving him an opportunity to get a better job. You are accountable to the entire team as well as your employer.

Personally, I believe people who don't do their job are firing themselves. If your job requires you to make sure you have people who get their work done, I don't think you're doing your job. Do your job and make him accountable as well as making him face the consequences.

Answer 10

You have said this is not standard for the company. I'd take a closer look at how the unpleasant contract happened in the first place. Sales folks are glad to make a sale (contract). They need feedback about this one being a lemon. Owners/shareholders like to see revenue and aren't likely to change much if no one is screaming (I'm not suggesting screaming).

If the people who will be bringing in the next contract work understand what makes a difference to you and your team, they stand a better chance of not repeating the current mistake. If they can offer you hope in this area, you can offer hope to your team, the problem dev in particular.

If you tell him his results just aren't enough, but he has time to solve that problem, offering him good work down the line could help him get through this.

Answer 11

Move the problem to a social level by explaining your personal dilemma to him.

First, tell him that you are very satisfied with his work. If you are not, at least tell him that you think he is a bright mind. Be positive. That is important. He may not know it, but even if he does, this tells him that you want him to stay part of your team.

Next, tell him, that, despite his excellent work, the fact that he is not reliable creates a personal problem for you. Explain why. Finally, ask for his help.

This will (hopefully) put him in a situation where he

• realizes what he does to you
• wants to actively act in order to support you

For many people, "the company" is something too abstract to feel personally obligated to - especially in bigger companies. Make him understand that his behavior is problematic for you as a person.

You may also speak in the team's name, but it is more authentic and more effective to speak for yourself.

Answer 12

I do not know how much the above answers about persuading/convincing/relocating the employee may apply, but if they fail I would not definitelly tell him that he was to be fired.

Cons:

• The employee may take that on you personally (but that comes with the management position, so you should get used to).

• HR may not like you spilling the beans about it.

• HR may change their mind about it once he leaves your team.

• The employee may react in an unexpected way (for example, filling a discrimination/harassment lawsuit in the hope that he later may claim that he was fired due to the lawsuit).

• Etc.

Let HR do the HR work. I bet you would not like it if you saw commits from HR staff in your repository, isn't it? The same principle works in the other direction.

Your level of decision is that of keeping the employee in your team or not, so only mention that ("If you do not change your attitude I will be forced to ask for you to be replaced"). If you want to ring an alarm bell, do it without being too assertive so you do not overstep your authority ("I am not sure if there is a good place for you in other teams/if other team leaders will be interested in you").

Answer 13

You should first talk to him about the issue then start an evaluation program where you set performance or behavior goals that he must achieve if he wants to stay on your team. Also let him know that you want to help him achieve this goal and keep working with him but if he doesn't he might be laid off. If he is not cooperative then you will be better with him off the team

Answer 14

I'm answering based on my impression on your problem: you don't want the employee fired (because they're smart, and presumably valuable if they were in a different role) but they're not productive on your team, and you can't afford that.

Instead of going to management and saying "I need to replace this team member" (which makes him sound useless), go to him first and talk to him about him moving to another team where he could be more useful. An employee and team lead/manager going to the higher ups together, and saying "hey, my skill set doesn't really fit the current role, and I'd be more valuable to the company on team X instead" (with the lead/manager supporting the move) is substantially more positive. If your company has official rotation program, than that'd also be a good way to sell the move. It also gives the employee something to look forward too, which might improve their work in the meantime.

Of course, if there's nowhere else in the company for the employee to go, this doesn't work.

Answer 15

Create metrics for his performance. If he gives an estimate, record the time he provided as the estimate and the time it actually took to get it to the point when he thought he finished and the time it took until the project was deliverable. Figure out what the average ratio and 2 standard deviations of those times are. Still ask him for estimates, but expect his work to be done based on your estimates rather than based on his.

Answer 16

Tell him that he should quit if he does not like his job so much that he can not/will not improve, since he is putting you personally in a difficult situation. And it is not fair for you to take flak for his performance. Note that this more risky for you since you are engaging in a "personal" stuff at work and you are being honest and that is usually considered a big no no...

Lame boilerplate answer is the opposite: we have this PIP for you, we want you to stay in the team, team depends on you, I am here for you during PIP, bla bla...