Hey Emily,

I am new to this forum, but I’ve spent 25 years running companies both large and small. I feel for you. H/R issues can be the worst part of the “job” of owning your own business. Here are a few tips from this ‘ol dunder-head; 1) Hire right – make sure you have realistically explained the position, responsibilities and your expectations. Regardless of how small, always write out a job description. This can even be helpful for you, the owner, to identify the key traits you are looking for. Finding the right candidate for your particular position is half of the battle. 2) Explain the metrics you will use to measure performance – you can & should be descriptive like “cheerfully greeting customers when they enter our store”, etc. All too often, owners/managers focus on the rote functions like “open the store at 9 am”, “complete daily bank deposit by 3 pm”. By not describing duties more fully, you leave the door open for an employee to cling to the bare minimum standards like “hey, i opened the store at 9. What do you want from me?” 3) – When an employee isn’t cutting it, owners and managers owe them honest, early feedback with an opportunity to correct their actions. You can be honest without being brutal. 4) – Avoid inadvertently attacking their character/personality. So, if the issue was an unfriendly associate you would approach that by saying something like ” I’ve noticed you don’t smile or talk much to customers. Do you think that displaying a friendlier approach could be more beneficial for you and our company?” In short, help them with bite-size tasks they understand and be accountable for. Show them examples of what that would look like. finally, If you have to part company, I think you can be honest without being a bully or abrasive. An employee should never be absolutely shocked they got fired. If they are, that’s your fault. They should have gotten some opportunities to fix issues while they were small. When I have had to terminate people, I usually explain what isn’t working for me. I don’t fire them for being “bad”, I tell them I’m moving in a different direction so I can achieve (fill in the blank here – higher customer review scores, better level of attention-to-detail, etc).

Best of luck to you..!