Running a business may require you to take a lot of decisions which may hurt others especially clients, partners and of course your own employees. This article discusses about employee termination and all that you can do to make it a smooth process.

As a business man you definitely have to terminate non performing employees especially if they are a costly burden to your firm. But firing an employee requires you to follow certain rules and policies. It is a common practice for such disgruntled employees to file legal case on you or your business claiming wrongful discharge from service.

The most embarrassing reason cited most often is defamation by employer. To avoid such legal problems always follow employee termination rules and policies. When as an employer you have a legitimate reason for termination you can easily defend yourself in front of any court of law.

Therefore before firing an employee always let the employee know that he or she is going below your expectation in terms of performance or behavior at work. Constant feedback and performance meetings can make things easy for you especially if you keep proper record of such meetings and feedback.

In any other case requiring quick termination always make sure that you have asked the employee too about his justification for his action. A thorough official investigation done internally by the HR wing of your company can let other employees to work in peace too.

An HR investigation would help others to know that the punishment given fitted the action done by the employee. You can also during the feedback meeting give employee a formal warning or a last chance to perform as per company rules.

Most importantly look at the career chart of the employee before firing him. If the terminated employee has received any performance improvement award or recognition, a salary hike or a promotion any time in the near future he can make life difficult for you.

Terminating an employee can be done in a smooth way by following the given points – Making sure all post termination procedures have been followed, employee has been given the reason for termination in the most clear & unambiguous terms, employee has been given all respect and has not been humiliated in any way before leaving the office, you have not allowed anyone to discuss openly about the termination procedure, you have given proper post termination statements and finally by helping the employee get another suitable employment opportunity.