How to fire a nice guy

Mile Bozicevic

Mile Bozicevic

Well-known member
I mostly lurk here, and love reading buisness/film experiences from other members...

So blabla, this is probably situation some of u had.


There's this TV show I'm responsible for. And I have couple of people that I'm in charge with; journalists, producers, video-editors...that would be cool if I was a people-managing guy or someone striving for high position and money. I'm not. But that's what I do atm.

So there's this guy, a journalist, who's great as a person. Good, hard worker. Doesn't complain. He is trying really hard. On the other side, he sucks at journalism, and that diploma he's got doesn't help him at all.

To short this up, I'm dragging him for the last 3 weeks and keep having the same issues about him - considering the job itself. He's good, kind, and all that human stuff. But job itself, journalism, to be precise, doesn't fit him.

I got 2 options. Let him be, try to work with him and upgrade him and keep losing time and nerves until he gets ok. IF he gets ok.

Second option is simple - fire him and get someone else. There's plenty of people who can take his job, do it better, and make my life easier. That being said, options are more or less obvious...


I will fire him. I don't know if that's right thing to do, because even though bussines is bussines, I wonder where is the limit between becoming corporation robot bastard and doing the right stuff at the right time.

It's hard because I never fired anyone, and now time has come to bring decisions where neither one feels right.

Grown-ups world. Such a grim place sometimes. :[


Your experiences?
 
Hard working, gets along with others, trust worthy are all good things and hard to find in an interview. If you feel like he could get to where you need him to be with some additional training/mentoring I would keep him. If your gut says NO then let him go.

Good luck
 
i've had to fire several people. All really nice people, but inadequate to the job. Of course, if there is potential, and you have the time, by all means, mentoring is something that is rewarding and should be part of the job. But, you know this person and you know if they do or don't have what it takes.

If you need to fire them, then they need to know why. It has to be presented in a way that they not only hear the words, but believe it themselves and accept it; that they also feel you are correct in firing them. In all cases but one, I spent quite a bit of time talking to the people about the job; what they were and were not doing. By the end of the talk or talks, they fully understood and accepted that they were not performing and would not be able to perform adequately. This way, they walk away without anger, without wonder. They know where they stand and accept it.

The one case where I was not successful in getting a meeting of the minds (and didn't spend adequate time trying), the person sent a letter to a very famous person in the film industry telling them that I was ruining his company. Needless to say, that was a bit of a mess for me to straighten out and get my name cleared.

So take the time to have them understand and accept that your actions are correct and make sense. It's good for them and it's good for you.
 
You sound like a reasonable and far from bastard type of guy. Fire him.

From my experience you can pretty much tell what someone is going to be like after about two or three weeks. They can be improved but I've never had someone go from not good to good. It only ever prolonged the agony for them and me.

And who knows? You might be doing him a favour. He might question his choice of career. He could decide there's something else he's be better at or he might decide he loves journalism and he's gonna get better at it whatever it takes.
 
If he is not doing the job he was hired for........ that reflects on you as well. It is not being heartless if you let him go. It's doing your job.
 
You fire a nice guy the same way you fire a prick.
You explain the issues, giving reasons, thank them for their contributions and wish them well.
There is no "good" way.
 
davidschmaus said:
Hard working, gets along with others, trust worthy are all good things and hard to find in an interview. If you feel like he could get to where you need him to be with some additional training/mentoring I would keep him. If your gut says NO then let him go.

Good luck
Click to expand...
While this is true, you don't hire a guy to be your friend either.

You can't keep someone just because they're nice to be around any more than you can fire someone just because you don't like them. You need concrete examples of things this person either has done to make you fire him or hasn't done to keep his job.
Make a list in your head. If you decide to fire him, he will ask you why, and you will need those very concrete answers.

I've fired lots of people. One example I can give is on my last production I had a person high in chain of command being a total prick to me. I can take that, because I needed someone in that position and there really wasn't any replacement. So we had the talks and I explained the issues and was told there would be improvements, but there wasn't. But I don't fire someone over petty arguments, disagreements or even lazyness.
Finally I get people coming up to me saying they're having the same problems that I do with this person. People in my cast, crew and business partners. I can't have that, so I fire the person. There were other reasons too, but that's where I personally draw the line. Rudeness to me = fine. Complaints about rudeness to cast/crew/partners = not fine.

Of course, you should also check what laws and union rules apply.
 
You all sound so reasonable and logic driven. Guess I'm jut not matured enough for these kind of situations and decisions, that's where all the doubts are coming from.

I'm keeping him for the end of next week. He'll have couple of new tasks in meantime. He's well aware that I'm NOT satisfied, he's taking a lot of critics and directions from me and I'm completely clear about my expectations (and his).

Yea, there is no 'good way'. Either I do it or not. And if I don't do it and keep question myself and find him inadequate, then I'm the one who's not doing my part well.

One week. He deserves it, I'm not 100% sure he can make it but he's aware of his situation. If he surprises me, good. If not - he goes away. Maybe I shouldn't drag for another week, but it will not go beyond that + he is researching some cool stories so I really need to see final results of that.

Thanks for your comments, really helped to clear my mind in some way.

:beer:
 
Texas and California are no-fault states. We can fire without any reason. However Georgia was a different matter. We had to give a verbal warning, written warning then fire the person.

My advice to you is to sit him down. Tell him the issues. Then ASK him what he wants to do with his career. Tell him concisely and "factually" without opinion how the job as a journalist isn't working.

We had one front desk clerk who was not doing his job well. Sat him down. Told him his strengths and weaknesses. He made a 180 turn and became the 3rd best employee we have ever had. He had to "know" what he was doing wrong to make it right.
 
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