Career & Employment Answers
for the Building Industry

Firing an employee can be a difficult task for any construction manager. The loss of an employee, in terms of time, money, training and experience, is a costly, though sometimes necessary, proposition. Adopt anti-discrimination guidelines and appeal procedures. Whether the construction employer is union or non-union makes no difference. Employees need to be heard. construction managers must listen and respond to employee concerns. Introduce a performance evaluation system. Employees need to know where they stand. Specific, objective feedback is not only motivating to a good construction executive, but fair to an employee having performance problems. How can he take steps to improve if his construction employer doesn't tell him there's a problem? The courts feel the same way. The biggest problem companies face in legal action brought by a discharged employee is the lack of proper documentation. Introduce a progressive disciplinary system to support terminations and to allow for self-correction.

Self-discipline is the goal. Basically, progressive discipline involves communicating any performance problem immediately and then providing support to help the employee correct it. If the problem continues, a more formal discussion is held to develop specific action steps to correct the problem.