If you find out an employee went to another company for a job interview, is that enough reason to fire him?

Question

Let me clarify. Said employee skipped work in order to go to a job interview.

Answer 1

If you are in an at-will state, you can fire him for any or no reason at all.

Answer 2

No, of course not.
I would first be disappointed that the employee didn't come to me to let me know he was going to be looking around, but it's perfectly understandable -- and his right to do so without telling me.
If it's a valuable employee, I'd ask him why he is thinking of leaving, see if there were some way I could get him to stay (short of giving him a huge raise), and talk about any issues. He might have just found a good opportunity for advancement in another company that I can't offer him -- fair enough, I'd wish him well. He might be offered a big raise at the other place that I can't match -- again, fair enough. But if he's looking around because there's something wrong at my company, I want to know what's wrong so I can fix it and not lose other employees. Being open and honest about job change issues is the best way to handle this. That you're considering firing somebody just for interviewing elsewhere tells me that the employee probably knows how you feel, which is why he didn't tell you in the first place :(

Answer 3

Going to a job interview is not against the law.

Terminating an employee on these grounds will not hold up in a court of law.....using it as a means of supporting terminating an employee is also no adviseable.

Confronting the employee is not a good idea either.

You are empowered right now, do you want to keep this employee? If so you can start looking into avenues to ensure that he/she wants to remain on the job. (salary enhancement, perks and other such non-monetary incentives can be used)

Look at your employee turnover rate, are you loosing employees quite frequently? If you are you need to internalise and determine why staff are not willing to stay and committee to the company...

You may need to look at change management and leadership strategies if this is the case to turnaround your company

Answer 4

Do you do job interviews on the weekend? Because, I bet nobody else does either. Of course he'd need to take a day off to interview.

You can't fault someone for trying to find a better job. I'm sure you've done it too! Perhaps you should look at your company and see why your employees want to leave. It costs you less money to give someone a raise then it does to train someone else to do their job.

Answer 5

No, and maybe you should be thinking about WHY he went to another company for an interview in the first place, or you could lose more than just one employee.

Answer 6

No you may't carry at the same time unemployment because you supply up. Quitting, resigning, or voluntarily forsaking your pastime all contain a personal selection to end operating and receiving a paycheck. you may't carry at the same time unemployment because you've been not laid off out of your pastime with the help of no fault of your man or woman. maximum human beings choose a paycheck to help themselves. once you supply up a pastime you're determining on to change into unemployed. in case you positioned up a declare to unemployment your former company will be contacted to make certain why you at the on the spot are not operating. once the state learns that you supply up, it turns into sparkling that you're unemployed with the help of selection and your declare for reward will be denied. Quitting any pastime given the present state of the pastime market isn't some thing maximum human beings would do. Quitting replaced right into a mistake in case you may't have the funds for to help your self until eventually you come across a clean pastime. with somewhat of luck you've sufficient savings to proceed to exist for the subsequent 3 hundred and sixty 5 days or 2. If not the alternative you made will make your existence even extra annoying than it replaced into you've been employed.

Answer 7

It's reason enough to question the employee and find out what's going on. If that employee is looking for a new job he's going to leave eventually, if you want to keep the employee then talk to him/her. Otherwise...it's time to find a replacement.

Answer 8

Heck no. Instead, just going out on a limb here, find out why he/she would want to leave the company. There is obviously something wrong. And if he/she is having some issues, chances are, others are too. Look at it at a way to strengthen your staff, not a way to scare them. And if you fire someone for that, well, i wont even go into it, but it would be dumb and unfair.

Answer 9

I dont think so. Sometimes people just need to keep their options open. I have gone to an interview and been offered the job but stayed at my current job after thinking about it. Sometimes people get laid off and they just need to know there are other options out there.

Answer 10

I don't think so. If you were already planning on terminating the employee, you could be encouraged because they are already looking for employment. If you wanted to keep them, you could have a meeting and see why they feel the need to look elsewhere.

Merry Christmas

Answer 11

Wow! Where I come from it is necessary to include in your CV (Resume) at least two references...obviously the names of your superiors at your current job...when you go for an interview, the interested parties will then phone your 'references', which is invariably your boss, to enquire about you...called a Democracy, I think.