Terminating employees

[Woody76559]

Just wondering if anyone has ever had to fire their former boss/mentor/friend. Happened to me this past week. I'm hoping he doesn't read this board, but if he does, he'll understand how hard it was.

He began the service where I'm at. He was the Chief for about 4 years until he volunteered to go overseas as a civilian contractor. When he left, he offered me the job and I took it. When he left, I realized how little he had actually done. We were still only being paid 16 hours of a 24 hour shift and we still had a Lifepak 10. Within three months I had us paid for the whole shift and received a brand new Zoll M-Series monitor/defibrillator.

He came back and I let him back on. After that, I regretted it. He told newer employees not to worry about new rules. That I would understand. Also, he refused to fill out narc logs. Couple that with the attitude he gave everyone and it just got uglier. Then he picked up a schedule and never showed up for work. never even called. Last week, the medical director asked me who had been filling out sloppy run sheets. He told me to take care of it or he would have to. So, I had no choice but to fire him.

Has this happened to anyone else and if so how did you handle it? It's ripped my heart out.

[akeith106]

I'm sorry that you feel this way.

You should try to make him understand that you did not fire him because of anything personal. Make him/her understand that the reasons for termination are strictly business... Especially if you want to keep the friendship.

As for the decision you made... If you feel that it was the right one... It probably was. Don't underestimate your abilities to lead and direct the employees under you.

I have the same types of problems at my service. I got a promotion last year to be a Supervisor.

Now all of my friends at work think that they can get away with murder while at work. NO! I have a job to do and so do they. If they don't like it...too bad, so sad. I still go out and have a good time with them, and I think that they understand that just because I moved up doesn't mean that I can't still be their friend.

Just remember to keep work and personal lives separate and you should be fine. Leave work at work. Call and talk to him if you still want the friendship. He'll understand, and who knows... Maybe he'd be willing to go through some remediation training and you would be able to hire him back.

[chipmunkemt_98]

I think you did what needed to be done, in the long run. First question, though...Did you call him in and talk with him about what he was doing wrong, giving him write ups over his performance? ALWAYS write up when possible, but the NO CALL, NO SHOW in itself calls for termination.

Remember that it is not a you against him, but you making the service a better place to work, and serving the community better than it was being served. Folks seem to forget that EMS IS CUSTOMER SERVICE and you can't provide good service when no one wants to do their job or causes friction with the employees.

[VillageEMT]

We are a volunteer squad but we still have assigned shifts for the primary crews. If you don't show, it gets logged as a No Show. If that becomes a habit, you are warned to change your ways. If that doesn't sink in, you're history. It may sound weird, to "fire" a volunteer but the other crew members and the public count on us and we have to be there. I hope you have your documentation in order, this could get ugly if he wants the make a case out of it.

Keep up the good work on improving your agency, it's the thing I like best about our Captain. We don't get paid, but we do get the best training and equipment we can afford.

[tunnelrat83]

we opperate very similar to how VillageEMT's squad runs.... i am glad i have never been in that possition.. but that is why I don't want to become a chief some day... besides.. i don't want to deal w/ the BS that goes along w/ being anything higher than a sgt. or an lt.. hope your friend understands and that everything works out....

[Ridryder 911]

I am sure you had to go through the usual disciplinary rituals ( writing, counseling) & documentation. As a former chief, he KNEW better, if he didn't .. then be glad he is out of there. It is always hard to be the big-dog then come back as a pup. Sounds like he thought he was above approach, & tried to use his seniority.

Your job is to maintain the "best" for the company. You are responsible for what is in best interest, just as the medics do for the patient. Don't be too hard on yourself, he knew what he was doing.

Looks like you have encountered one of the hardest parts of management, but; as you have described look at what you have achieved for the services (add'tl pay, equip.) be proud & stay strong.

Be safe,

Ridryder 911

[shorthairedpunk]

Ive had to fire friends outside of EMS, and it didnt bother me, they werent doing their jobs, I am lucky enough to be able to seperate work from personal life, but that is not the case for most. I think, as long as you had discussed that there were problems with this individual prior to termination and he continued to not follow the rules, then dont sweat it, you did what you had to do, you might have lost a friend, but in emergency services, its better to lose a friend than risk poor care from a poor employee.

If your higher up ordered it, then even better, kind of takes the responsibility out of it, you were just following orders. But that statement also often times makes people think of the nazis, who were doing the same thing.

Im a fan of getting the bad things out of the way, I think every new manager should have to fire their favorite person, that way it wont be as hard to discipline others.

In the long run, step back and ask youself, is the company better, worse or the same now, after the termination, if its better, sweet, if its worse, quit, if its the same, maybe you made a mistake. Mistakes happen, learn from it.

[KsMedic]

Sounds like to me you did the right thing, I had a situiton, only somewhat like yours where I fired a friend and its not easy doing that.

But remember we are Customer Service...

[GAmedic1506]

Managers dont terminate employees, employees terminate themselves -- managers just do the paperwork. It is never fun having to do it, but if you have done your job correctly, and given the employee a chance to improve, you should feel no guilt for the outcome. Employees make the choices or lack of choices that put themselves in that situation.