Outsourcing your difficult Exits

Clients often contact us at Nucleus HR wanting us to design, implement and support the exit strategy for a problem employee. This was no different with a recent case that we delivered on behalf of a client. The brief was clear; to remove the employee, who was a part of the Senior Management Team, as quickly as possible, with the least damage, disruption and cost to the client. This of course didn’t faze us here at Nucleus, it is a brief we are often presented with. Typically when attempting to manage an under performing employee, with no real gross misconduct to link to; timescales can often be on average 12 months or more. This simply would not work in this case. Having taken the time to understand the issues with the client, we presented a range of options for them to determine the way in which they would prefer to proceed. We always look to provide a range of options available to the client, explaining the varying levels of risk. The client chose to outsource the process to Nucleus HR and on receiving our instruction, we arranged to meet with the troublesome employee. On this occasion, we took the decision to enter into a “protected conversation” with the employee who had been with the Company for four years and earnt £42,000 a year. A “protected conversation” is not something that should be entered into lightly, however the alternative on this occasion, was to performance manage an employee which may take 12 months, given the salary and impact this Manager was having on the business, commercially, it made sense to enter into such a dialog with the Manager. The Manager agreed to enter into the conversation, and gave permission that all references to the conversation would be stricken from any employment related records. We at Nucleus HR and our clients often find that these types of conversations are easier to be outsourced, the objectivity and removal of emotional attachment to the individual or organisation are of benefit when managing the discussion. The conversation took less than 40 minutes and an “exit package” was agreed. The Employee never returned to the business, walked away with a modest amount of money, their views expressed and the client was able to progress their business, for the total cost of £8,000, including our fees, the employee’s legal fees and the settlement agreement. The client spent 7 months preoccupying his mind on how to address the issue of this problematic employee. From the point of contacting Nucleus HR to the date of signing the settlement agreement, the matter was concluded within 8 days. If you would like to discuss with us about how we can support and assist your HR requirements please do contact us by email at info@nucleushr.com or by calling Toni on 07960 418494.