Warnings, improvement notices, endless meetings

Is there a quicker way of ending the employment relationship?

There comes a time when parties to an employment relationship decide to part company. Most people are looking to improve their lifestyles and one way of doing that is to find an alternative job with more/better benefits than the current one. Once that job has been found it’s just a matter of giving notice, having a leaving do (if you’re well liked) and saying your goodbyes. It’s a simple process and generally goes without a hitch.

But it’s not that easy for employers. They must justify why they are dismissing you and act fairly and reasonably when doing so and that means following a recognised process. Whether it’s a redundancy or a dismissal for some other reason, such as misconduct or poor performance, it’s not simply a matter of serving notice and saying, ‘Thanks but no thanks.’

For conduct dismissals it is vital to follow a fair process. ACAS have a model procedure which tribunals expect employers to follow as a bare minimum. Redundancy dismissals must comply with the duty to consult, sometimes for minimum periods depending on the number of staff being made redundant. Pools of potentially redundant employees must be selected fairly and sometimes employees must elect representatives.

So, whatever the type of dismissal, invariably it will take some time to get from point A - informing staff that they are to be dismissed to point B - actually terminating the employment. Somewhere between A and B there can be meetings, consultations, more meetings and appeals.

How can employers speed up he process?