How would you handle a situation where you needed to terminate a likable employee who was not meeting their goals?

How to Answer
Answer Example
Community Answers

Performing terminations is often the responsibility of a District Manager, and the interviewers want to hear that you can handle this task with professionalism and poise. Articulate your experience in this area and your approach toward the duty of terminations. Show the interviewer that you can be objective about this task while still delivering the message with empathy. You will also want to mention that you know any legal or human resource-related stipulations around terminations in your region.

If you have experienced this situation in the past, offer a story-based example using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result). If you have not experienced this situation, you can provide a hypothetical reply.

"I understand that it may be necessary to terminate an individual based on performance, with likability and other factors set aside. As an experienced District Manager, I know it is my responsibility to ensure that terminations happen professionally, respectfully, and within HR policy and standards. If I needed to terminate someone not meeting their goals, I would put personality factors aside and focus solely on the performance data available to me. I would approach the individual with this data and explain how their performance was falling short of expectations. I would lead the termination conversation the same way as any other; by ensuring all parties have the information they need to understand the reasons behind the termination."

Anonymous Answer

"I once had to terminate a store manager for theft. I noticed his lottery sales declined 30 percent over LY, and the store bottom line for the month declined as well. I contacted loss prevention and teamed up with HR to conduct an investigation that resulted in his termination. I held a meeting with the team and told them their store manager was terminated for theft and ensured we would replace him with a good leader."

Stephanie's Feedback

Terminating a staff member is always a tricky situation, and it sounds like you handled this with grace! To strengthen your response, I suggest adding a sentence that shows your impact (were you able to replace him, and did lottery sales increase again?)