> How do I fire an employee? That's right, I don't.
It's easy to fire employees in Germany (especially in small shops), e.g. when they steal, are always late, are badmouthing colleagues, are talking about company internals, are insolent to customers, deliver bad work, and on and on.
You simply have to follow a defined process (basically at least one written warning for the same thing before firing).
What you can't do is having a Musk style temper tantrum and fire someone at will because you feel like that.
> What you can't do is having a Musk style temper tantrum and fire someone at will because you feel like that.
This is kind of double-sided coin. Like, people are feeling protected and have a sense of security and that's what defines Europe. On the other hand, businesses hands are tied and they cannot scale dynamically as in the US.
> follow a defined process
And that's the main problem in the EU. There's a process for everything and sometimes it's a burden and limits the abilities to change things.
The problem with “even if you can’t show why” is that it often means wrong gender, race, religion, political affiliation, drinking club, etc. A better question would be whether you could articulate what change you’re looking for and show that this standard was clearly communicated and applied to the entire team.
Oh, you can. You just need to provide a valid reason, that's all.
Firing someone because they are stealing from the company, harassing a coworker, consistently underperforming, or because you're shutting down a business unit? Easy!
Firing someone because it's a Tuesday, or because they got pregnant? Sorry, can't do that.
Collecting data in order to come up with a valid reason is prohibited. Like, impossible to fire a programmer if he only does a bare minimum and simply is not productive.
It’s not so easy in Germany when the company has 10+ employees. You need a process consisting of warnings, giving time to correct the behaviour and what not. There are cases where people who have been terminated for sexual misconduct or stealing have been ordered by the court to return to work.
