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Firing Someone When They Are No Longer A Good Fit

Dan Drew

CTO, VP Engineering at Didja Inc

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Problem

"I had an employee who was working in QA. However, they were manual only and we were moving aggressively to automation. In our one-on-ones I had determined that he wasn't that interested in learning to code and regardless it was a would be too big of a stretch for him."

Actions taken

"In these types of cases, it's really important to work alongside HR. I talked to them about the situation and they agreed it was best for the company to let him go and hire someone with the necessary experience. Because our HR department was remote, I had my HR business partner on the phone when I brought in the QA employee. I had a severance package for him and explained the situation. I was very respectful - he hadn't done anything wrong, he just wasn't the right fit for us anymore. Because I had raised this issue with him in our career discussions, he wasn't taken by surprise and understood where we were coming from. He was very reasonable and the process went smoothly."

Lessons learned

"Sometimes you have to decide on what's best for your team and your company. If someone isn't a fit, they aren't a fit. It's really important to be respectful in these kinds of situations and to ensure you treat people in the right way. If you treat people fairly and with respect as well as done your due diligence on whether termination is the right action, then people will generally be reasonable in their responses and willing to work with you through the process."


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Dan Drew

CTO, VP Engineering at Didja Inc


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