'We Don't Want Him Working Here Again' - Third Party Pressure to Dismiss
Your clients are naturally central to your business - without them, your organisation would not exist. So of course you want to provide the best possible service for your clients, keeping them satisfied and wanting to use your service or product again and again. And you trust your employees to keep your clients supplied and happy - that's why you gave them the job, after all. So what do you do if a client says they no longer want to work with one of your employees? Ignore them and risk losing their valuable business, or dismiss the employee in question and risk a possible employment tribunal? Here is HR Advantage's guide to keeping your client happy and your risks as an employer down.
The first thing to do, if a client expresses dissatisfaction with one of your employees, is to find out exactly what the client is unhappy about. You may well be able to resolve the issue before it escalates. Perhaps there is a clash of working styles or practices, in which case you could discuss this with your employee and ask them to modify or change their behaviour to suit the client. Is it possible to reassign your employee to another client, who would be happier with his or her style of working, or to a different job within your organisation, which would not involve contact with the client in question?
What if it is an issue of misconduct? If the client's concerns have arisen because of misconduct on the part of your employee at the client's workplace, then do what you would if the incident had occurred in your workplace. Follow your disciplinary procedure. You may find that this leads to the employee's dismissal as an issue of gross misconduct, or you may need to issue your employee with a verbal or written warning. Of course in the latter case, you may still find that your client does not want to work with your employee any more, and in order to maintain your relationship with the client you may decide to reassign your employee elsewhere.
Keep written records. If the situation does escalate, a tribunal will want to see that you have taken all possible steps to resolve the issue without your employee's dismissal. Keep records of discussions with your client and with your employee about the issue, and about how you have tried to resolve it. It could also be helpful to have in writing from the client its objections to working with the employee, so get this if possible.
Keep your client informed. They have expressed dissatisfaction with one of your employees - and therefore with an element of the service you are providing them with. Showing you are dealing with their concerns appropriately will help to maintain your organisation's relationship with them. Without sharing confidential information about your employee, tell your client what you are doing to resolve the situation. Make them aware of the outcome. If the employee is going to continue working with them, at their agreement and perhaps with the expectation of some change on the part of the employee, keep a dialogue open with the client about it.
It's no good: unless I dismiss this employee we will lose our main client. Hopefully if you follow the steps above you won't find yourself in this situation. Unless it's a question of gross misconduct then ensure you explore every other avenue prior to dismissal - if there is no way that client will work with the employee, can you reassign or relocate the employee? However, in a situation where the employee's conduct and capability are not so serious as to warrant dismissal, but the client exerting the pressure to dismiss is so important to your business that dismissal seems to be the only sensible commercial decision, this may be acceptable as 'some other substantial reason' justifying dismissal.
So I can dismiss them? Be careful. The onus of proving that there was 'some other substantial reason' to dismiss lies with you, the employer. (Hence why it is so important to keep good written records.) And whatever the reason for dismissal, the employer must show that they have acted reasonably and that they have taken into account any injustice suffered by the employee in the situation. This could include considering the quality of the employee's service to date, length of service and the employee's prospects on the job market, although this list is far from conclusive. And of course you need to be able to show that you've considered all the alternatives first.
Anything else I need to know? It has been shown that the employer's case for fair dismissal due to client pressure can be strengthened if the employee has been warned that a client may have the right to request his or her removal. Therefore including a clause about this in the employee's contract, as well as making him or her aware of it during induction, can assist the employer in proving reasonableness if dismissing due to client pressure.
As the above shows, dismissing an employee due to client pressure is not an easy area, although you will definitely make things easier for yourself, your clients and your employees if you consider the advice above. If you are facing a difficult employment situation then we have the experience and knowledge to guide you through, please call Lynne on 01494 451681 to discuss or e-mail l ynne@hradvantage.co.uk.
