When to Fire an Employee
Today we’re talking about a topic that can be tricky to navigate: when to fire someone on your insurance team. We think this is a critical topic to cover because we’ve seen agencies hold onto team members for far too long. We’ve even seen agencies who have had an employee steal from them and still keep them on board, which is not acceptable. There needs to be a minimum standard of what you’re willing to put up with as an agency owner or leader.
“The reason I think that this is absolutely critical is because a lot of times I see agencies hold on to team members far too long. I’ve seen agencies who’ve had someone steal from them and still keep them on board. There has to be a minimum standard of what you’re willing to put up with.”
So when do you fire someone? The short answer is when they stop making life better. You are paying them, and if they’re dragging the ship down, it’s time to release the dead weight. Here are other things to keep in mind when you’re considering when to fire someone:
Do not lower your standards for someone that you pay
This is a lesson we’ve learned from our time running businesses, and the fact is, when you’re paying someone, you’re paying someone to make your life easier. When that changes, it’s something that needs to be addressed. You shouldn’t lower your standards for someone you are paying to do a certain job a certain way.
Notice when you’re avoiding it
When you’re deciding when to fire someone, you should look for warning signs that you’re avoiding the situation. If you’re walking around the office to not address an issue, and try to avoid seeing a problematic team member, then you have an issue on your hands. Firing people is hard, but from the agencies we’ve worked with, no one has ever regretted making that difficult decision to terminate someone’s employment.
The bitter beer face is enough of a reason
We all know those employees: they have what we call the insurance bitter beer face. Every meeting they go to is an issue, they really don’t understand what’s going on, they’re always busy, and there are always problems. With these employees, you likely need to take action, because these employees hold back your morale and the culture of your agency. They’re also going to hold you back from finding new people that want to come and work at your agency.
So are the encyclopedia terrorists
Another type of problematic employee are the ones we call the encyclopedia terrorists. They know everything about insurance, they’ve been there forever, they’re burned out on insurance, and they’re showing it every way they can. Sure, they know a lot, and sometimes as owners we feel like having that gap in knowledge will hurt business, but what ends up happening is you find new people, and they develop.
Knowing when to fire someone can be challenging, because while some employees commit egregious acts that are obvious for termination, other employees might be subtly dragging down the rest of the team. But you shouldn’t put up with bad attitudes and work ethics, and if you’re feeling like you don’t want to pay someone anymore, then it’s time to move on.
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