New employee not cutting it? Know when to say goodbye

iring is one of the trickiest parts of operating a business. Even with the best vetting practices in place, founders and managers are bound to have some new hires who simply aren’t meeting expectations.

When that happens, do you hunker down and try to train them up or let them go? And if you do opt to put them on a training program, how long should you give them to prove they’re a good fit?

There are a few factors to take into consideration before deciding to cut new employees loose or invest in their training. But first, it’s important to make sure you have the right hiring practices in place to help prevent this from happening in the first place.

Limit your exposure to potential wrong hires

There’s no one-size-fits-all set of hiring practices or interview questions that will work across all businesses, but a good place to start is with your organization’s values and culture.

You can use these to shape interview questions that will help suss out whether candidates align with your values and culture. Alignment on these is step one.

Next, collect feedback from those who will have to work with a new employee prior to the interview. This might include management, others on the team and even clients.

Ask what they would expect of someone in a specific position. What responsibilities would be included in the job? With that list nailed down, it’s much easier to be sure you find the right person.

Of course, this is not a perfect science. Your ratio of right hires will improve, but when wrong hires do occur, how do you pivot?

Set clear expectations

First, don’t make assumptions about a new hire within the first week or even the first month. Keep in mind this person is stepping into a new environment, and may need time to feel comfortable in his or her new setting and role, and have time to build relationships.

Make your expectations very clear. Hopefully, you did this in the interview process but be sure to reiterate them. Sometimes it’s worth assessing your organization’s onboarding and training processes to make sure that’s not part of the issue.

It’s easy to fall into the thinking that new hires should be able to pick up the ball and run with it. However, without transparent discussions and direction, even the most talented people can find themselves floundering in their new roles or failing to perform at the level your leadership is expecting of them.

Besides, when you outline clear expectations, properly train new people and give transparent and timely feedback, you know you’ve done everything you can to help course-correct. And that helps lead you to a more definitive answer on whether to keep someone or let him or her go.

Assess if it’s values vs. competency

If you’ve determined it’s not a values or culture issue, that he or she is the