You’re fired!

Sir Alan Sugar certainly didn’t suffer fools gladly in this year’s TV series ‘The Apprentice’. His bullish style of peremptory dismissals made compelling viewing, and I for one was glued to my TV.

However, such a management style in today’s workplace would have Sir Alan Sugar before an employment tribunal before you could say, ‘You’re a lightweight. You’re fired!’ Nowadays employees are protected from arbitrary dismissal by the statutory disciplinary procedure.

Where an employee is not performing properly or is failing to comply with necessary standards, and informal counselling cannot solve the problem then the statutory disciplinary procedure should kick in. This procedure should be used to show an employee that he needs to improve his work as well as being used in cases of misconduct.
Take the example of Syed in ‘The Apprentice’. He’s a successful entrepreneur, but, in the programme his performance appeared to be below par. In the task when his team let flats, he lost the keys. When they sold cars he failed to close deals, and he even seemed to mislead a customer by saying that cars increase in value. And need I mention the spectacular argument in the final episode between him and Michelle, the ultimate winner and Sir Alan’s new apprentice. The air turned blue as Syed nearly cost her the competition through his failure to sell enough tickets for a party at Tower Bridge.

How should an employer react to this kind of thing? If an employee’s performance causes concern, then the employer can go down the capability route and implement a personal improvement plan if the employee is simply not up to the job. The disciplinary route can also be used with a view to dismissal, or action short of dismissal such as demotion or a warning, if the employee is deliberately underperforming or misbehaving.

For conduct like Syed’s, first a manager should write to the employee inviting him to a meeting. The invitation should give the reasons for using the statutory disciplinary procedure and include any evidence to be used in the meeting.

The meeting should take place once the employee has been given time to consider his response. He can, if he wishes, bring a work colleague or trade union representative to the meeting. If I were Syed in this scenario I would take Ruth, the fiery straight-talker who was only just beaten by Michelle.

He should then be informed of the outcome of the meeting in writing and given the opportunity to appeal to a more senior manager.

If the employee brings a claim in the employment tribunal the basic test is always whether the employer acted reasonably. Following the statutory disciplinary procedure will help an employer’s case in an unfair dismissal claim. Syed should get a good lawyer, for the days of ‘You’re a lightweight. You’re fired!’ are long gone.

Published 27/09/2006.