Three Strikes, Is the Employee Out?

The baseball season is over; San Francisco is overflowing with happy fans.  I don’t know whether the final game ended with a third strike but I do know that today many employers will switch into umpire mode to decide the fate of an employee. Is it time to fire the employee who struck out?

Is It Only Fair to Give Three Chances?

For the third time this quarter Suanne has just made a mistake on an essential monthly report. The first one cost the company money, she was told never to do it again. Last month the president was furious after the mistake so you sent Suanne a strongly worded note describing your disappointment. Here it is again, a whopper of an error; luckily you spotted it before someone else did.  Is it time to give Suanne the ax? Maybe.

Does the Employee Know They Might be Fired?

If it had been made clear to Suanne that her errors could lead to termination this third strike would lead to ejection. If Suanne is a brand new employee who has been told that she is subject to an introductory period her tenure could be ended. Unless she produces some really valid reason for the big mistakes, the information she was provided was full of holes, or someone hacked into her files and changed the numbers, at this point it does not look like Suanne’s performance will meet company standards. Then again if nothing was said to Suanne beyond the first time she was told, "never to do it again," and there was no discussion or documentation of other deficiencies there may not be grounds for dismissal. In this last circumstance would the termination cross legal lines? It depends. Would it be unfair? I don’t think so.

 What’s the Timeline of Events?

So Suanne messed up three times in one quarter. Other employees go months, or even years, without rule violations or performance issues. This is where strict adherence to a three strikes policy really becomes problematic. In 2008 Tony missed a deadline for submitting a proposal to a client. A competitor won the business.  The failure was noted on Tony’s performance evaluation.  Later in the same year tony placed an order incorrectly causing a two week delay in delivery. Two strikes, one year, Tony received a strongly worded final warning. For the next two years Tony’s performance met, and often exceeded expectations.  At the end of 2010 you receive a customer complaint that Tony was rude. Tony begs to differ. With strict application of a three strikes policy you neglect to recognize two years of solid performance.

 Keep Your Eye on the Goal

Even baseball sees its share of arguments over umpire decisions to call strikes. There is no mistaking when the batter swings, and misses. When no swing is attempted the strike zone can seem like it is in the eye of the beholder.  Employee discipline requires consistency that is combined with good judgment and business sense. Keep your eyes open and make decisions that are consistent with goals and expectations, not the rules of another game.