sacking employee?

[rugeleyboy]

i will be sacking a girl who works for me on monday, lovely girl and all that but she just doesnt quite get it and after 6 months still doesnt know the basics that go with the job?

i understand she cant sue me for unfair dismissal as she has not been employed by me for 12 months, i am ahead with any holiday pay she is allowed as she has had 3 weeks off fully paid, i will be paying her for 2 more weeks while she is NOT required to work., but basicly i will be paying her to find a new job.

i cant be fairer than that can I?

have i missed anything?

[Eve]

I have worked in some very large law firms and am now in a very small place.

The nature of a small firm is so very different as everyone's input counts and if someone is not up to scratch it can make a huge difference, especially if there are people out there who can do the job.

It can be a huge strain in resources and have an impact on other staff is someone can't do their job and can be a big drain on whoever is training or supervising them.

I had a similar situation with an assistant who was brought in to be another fee earner (recruited by someone else just before I joined). Lovely girl but no-where near up to what she should have been, not even up to the job of a decent secretary let alone earning a fee.

It simply wasn't cost effective for us and a strain on the rest of the team so we had to unfortunately let her go.

[pink-kittens]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't let her go if her work isn't adequate, but even a basic till can do multiples and add up
I agree, after 6 months she should know the price of items bought regularly, or a large portion of them anyway - I think Aldi give you something like 4 weeks to learn them all and you are touch typing the prices in as you go which makes it easier to learn them
Best of luck with the hankies - how much are they? :P

[rugeleyboy]

crikey, i didnt expect so many answers.

i have though more and more about this over the day and perhaps i havnt given you the information you require.

this person not only doesnt get the pricing structure but also doesnt get the "job"?

she does not grasp what we actually do and after many hours going through items and havng small meetings with the other people who work for me she will then completely forget what we were talking about?

one of the final nails in the coffin was on friday after her tears and tantrums i left her to do a new product price list, i wrote things down and asked her if she was ok...she answered yes and promptly asked me how i got one of the figures.. so i told her and she wrote it down on her note pad.

later that afternoon i re read what she had typed and she had got the most basic thing wrong??... not by a few pounds but by nearly �300 out on a �275 product?

then on saturday at 12.30 the phone rang and an irate customer was giving me a hard time about a delivery that should of been there by 8.30 (we dont do deliveries on saturdays) so i apologised and looked for the paid for order, it wasnt there, it hadnt been put on the system and had not been put into sage. the only way i knew it had been paid for is because i found it on the daily cash sheets from thursday?

its simple things like this that getting to me, and if i just had a quiet word with her on monday she will blame me and come up with some excuse?

[buildersmate]

At the end of the day, Rugeley, it has to be your decision. You are within your legal rights and you posted the question in legal so I assume that it what you wanted to know.
Sometimes when has put what seems a fair bit of investment into developing / training someone and it doesn't work out, it is best to let them go. You are offering her more the basic get-out - commendable in a small business at times of tightening of belts.

[rugeleyboy]

cheers buildersmate.

i must admit i have enjoyed other user's views on this and it has made me look at other sides of the case.

but yes your right, my mind has been made up.

thanks buildersmate and everyone else.

[oldmaggie]

Have you thought about your training methods?

[rugeleyboy]

yes i have!

[pinktwink]

the one thng missing is the whole disciplinary procedure for sacking someone. ///have you given her verbal and or written warnings. This needs to pre empt a dismissal or she may have grounds. Have you offered further training following any appraisal/ disciplinary??

[thugulike]

She can't take you to ET for unfair dismissal but she could claim sex discrimination. Make sure you do everything properly and be kind.

[rugeleyboy]

it's done and over, told her i would give her a glowing reference if she ever needs one, but i had to be honest with her on the issues i had and although she was very upset she took it gracefully and went on her way clutching the extra 2 weeks wages in her hand as fast as she could run!!

[pink-kittens]

I think that was very generous of you and at least you can both walk away relatively happy