I kind of doubt it'll even occur to the rest of the team, but even if it did I can't imagine that they wouldn't feel it's justifiable given this employee has been such a consistent issue.
IMO the time to fire someone is as soon as you've decided you're going to fire them.
That said, offering nice severance perks is a nice thing to do.
It means taking ownership of the mistake, even if it does mean that you're effectively apologizing for devaluing the company to the other stockholders and other stakeholders.
Still, there's a little bit of "oh, so when I leave I can expect management to talk shit about my performance", which wouldn't do wonders for my impostor syndrome.
And anyone remotely suspicious of your good will should be mighty suspicious that anything you’ve said was just justification to deny compensation — when is my vesting date again..?
You can and should address this. It would be insane to fire someone and not explain why.
I have to say though, this whole discussion is a fascinating insight into what appears to be the thought process of many managers and/or founders.
* Your perception of your employees' performance is consistent and predictable over time. Not all bosses evaluate based on consistent and predictable criteria.
* Your perception isn't significantly distorted by false beliefs about who has done (or not done) what.
(Needless to say, that's generic 'you', not you specifically.)
If you want, you can say "I hereby define 'good performance' to be any performance that I, the boss, think is good" – but that's just a semantic game.
"I hereby define 'good performance' to be any performance that I, the boss, think is good"
At its most basic level, that's _exactly_ what we as leadership do. All you're now saying is "some bosses suck." Well... yes, news at 11.
If someone was a bad performer, they team knows it's because of bad performance, but reasons given will be "cost cutting", "personal matters", or "they've moved to a better project."
If someone was fired right before vesting, and the reason given was "bad performance", everyone "knows" that management is just being cheap.
If someone was a bad performer, they team knows it's because of
bad performance, but reasons given will be "cost cutting",
"personal matters", or "they've moved to a better project."
When someone has poor but not terrible performance, it's usually accompanied by a second factor (high salary, absence). In that case, the nicer reason is usually given even though we know they were not faring that.
There also tends to be a bit of theatre before someone is fired for bad performance. "Are you sure you fixed the bug?! Give me a video. Which PR? Which line?"
> You can and should address this.
Except that you can't address this. You can say whatever you want, but it won't result in onlookers knowing why you did what you did. You were probably lying.
Ever had a bad boss?
If that's your definition of a "bad colleague" I would be a little concerned. There are situations where it may be necessary to do that struggle, but in my experience there are far fewer than you think, and people often fall into a trap of competing to be the last one standing rather than actually doing good work. If you're struggling in a data center at 2300 you may well be doing more harm than good and going home to sleep (or dance, or whatever you need to refresh yourself and come back focused...) is often a better choice.
The best thing you could have done is fire them 6 months ago. The second best is firing them today. Don't hesitate.
If I had a nickle for every time management used the 'saving team morale' excuse to get rid of someone out of fear of them being promoted faster than thenselves ...
Life tip: This also goes for relationships. Don't wait until after xmas, their birthday, whatever…
Employee coasted, did bad work and still gets a generous payout at the end? The team could very well be bitter about it, especially considering that it's such a small company and they certainly "know" about this employee's issues.
They might figure it out by reading this AskHN too.
Rather pick what you think is fair based on circumstance and let the team know your reasoning. It's your company after all, show leadership and set the standard that you want based on your values.
Edit. The "you" here is directed at the ask hn poster, not the person I'm replying to.
On the other hand, a boss screwing an employee over stock, for any reason, would set a terrible precedent of greed and untrustworthiness.