Employee went on a job interview
hrjen
4 Posts
Recently we terminated an ee who went on a job interview. When questioned, the ee admitted it, so the decision was to terminate. The ee had made the statement "I didnt know you could fire someone for that." I do feel strongly that it was the right thing to do for varios reasons. However, I started to second guess myself and now I'm wondering if we can terminate for that reason without repercussions? What would you have done?
Comments
went on a job interview. How many of those others were fired ? How many employees who go on job interviews in the future do you intend to fire ? You have to be consistent one way or the other!
I, too, would have second thoughts about this "can of worms". Is there any documentation to support a MORE vaild reason to fire the employee?
Chari
Did the ee do this on company time? If they were on their own time, how can you terminate someone for trying to improve their life? Was there some other reason that you wanted this ee to be terminated?
However, we would have used our progressive discipline policy had the employee called in that day (unscheduled) and claimed another reason (i.e. sick) then we would have grounds for termination for lying. This is assuming we would have a witness or proof the interview took place that day.
NOW, if it was on your company time, or they lied about being sick..fire them and be done with it. They lied to the company and abused company time and that is a discipline problem.
I would like to know how you found out they were at the interview by the way...
get called as a reference?? ;;)
As an employer of choice I would want to know why he/she wanted to leave?(Seems obvious at this point in time) From a standpoint of the employee wanting to better his life, make more money, find something he truly enjoys, work different hours to be with his family more, I would say you took the "Human" side of HR and squashed that. No matter if you could fire him is not the direct point, why you would want to is the better one.
I think in this day and age we must impose empathy in our lives. You too might be called by a headhunter or a nice ad in the paper one day, go for the interview just to see, and be found out that you went and be fired. How would you feel about the situation? To also throw another wrench into the mix...What about the employees that need a second job to pay rent and go on an interview, it's not to replace this job, but it's still an interview!
We have different "disciplinary " procedures at our place with one being primary violations (immediate termination) and secondary violations (1st offense- verbal warning, 2nd- letter in file and maybe time off , 3rd possible termination) If it was on company time and he/she called in sick it would NOT be a primary. xB-)
I have never seen so many asumptions made. I do admit that I left out information but I feel it would have been best to look at the situation from every angle before you responded. Why most of the posts would assume that we were just plain heartless and terminated the employee just for being on a job interview I dont know. Were all HR Professionals here, do you really think that another HR professional would allow something like that to happen. As HR professionals we do have a Code of Ethics.
To begin, Yes it was on company time. EE called in to say she was not feeling well and would be stopping by her doctor's office before she came in. She came in around noon and told another manager she was on a job interview. When questioned, the ee stated she was looking elsewhere because she was not happy here and didnt get along with her current manager. I was witness to this statement. I have of course looked into that further and found the manager doing nothing wrong and that the employee has been difficult since the day the manager took over the department.
Now, you think that ER should continue to pay an employees salary while we know they are looking for another job. Second, as a company we must worry about allowing the employee to continue employment for many reasons:
1) Proprietary info could walk out our door.
2) The ee is unhappy and hates her manager, do you think the ee will put 100% effort into the job everyday and get the job done. Of course not, the ee is no longer focused on the job or committed to the company. They are on the internet looking for a new job and on the phone scheduling the next interview.
3) We also have the concern the ee could deliberately make mistakes on her files which would cause a financial loss for the company.
Im sure I could think of more reasons. By the way these are some of the same reasons why a company might let someone go on the spot who just resigned and gave a 2 week notice.
hrjen, from my perspective, it is just part of doing business. There will always be employees seeking other employment and some of them because they are not happy where they are. I am certain that anyone at our general office who found another job did their interviewing on company time since our normal business hours are M-F, 8AM-5PM. Frankly, it is not an issue for us. Now, I could be wrong - and it won't be the first time - but it sounded like you were making assumptions that this employee would not put 100% effort, be focused etc. and terminated that employee based upon assumptions. Since, I have seen many employees come and go in our company, I can assure you that is not always the case. But, if that employees performance slipped, it would be addressed as it would with anyone else whose performance slipped.
Elizabeth
>looking for advice and support but get shot down with nasty responses.
>
>I have never seen so many asumptions made. I do admit that I left out
>information but I feel it would have been best to look at the
>situation from every angle before you responded. Why most of the posts
>would assume that we were just plain heartless and terminated the
>employee just for being on a job interview I dont know.
I answered based on your original post which led us to believe this person was terminated solely because they interviewed elsewhere. Period... no other reason given. I wasn't being sarcastic and I didn't read the other posts as sarcastic, more like concerned that you may have made a costly error.
And Balloonman's example of one of his previous employers makes me realize I don't have it so bad after all. One day when I was leaving early, my VP joked about my going on a job interview. I wasn't and I'm still here.
When I did give notice the plant manager's first response was: "When did you have time..... and then he stopped. Confirmed what I knew, they were actively working to prevent the folks from being able to look for another opportunity.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman
We all need to have a light teflon coating on here :-D
Now based on the full story I am willing to bet my $0.02 worth that you would have gotten different responses.
I hope you have a great day Jen. I know it will be better than mine, I have two people I am letting go today, already did one, waiting for the other to come into the office.
My $0.02 worth
DJ The Balloonman.
In response to your second post, I want you to know I don't think anyone meant to offend you, as balloonman stated, there was an assumption based on a lack of information and now that we have the information we can better assist you should you still desire it. I must say from your post however, that it still appears as though you fired the employee on the ASSUMPTION that they would perform a certain way and not on concrete performance issues. As this is what you were wondering about in your original post, I don't feel remiss in pointing this out to you. From what I see, you had grounds to discipline for the lie concerning sick time, but I would be careful about assuming someone will act a certain way, when the offenses haven't occurred..this can get us HR people in trouble sometimes ;;) and is probably the only thing I can see being a problem raised by the former employee. It being said, they will most like file for unemployement, get it and you can be done with it. Have a great day!
As I stated above, in past years I didn't find anything to tempt me away, today, however, well - that's an entirely different thread...