· 《闽西籍开国将军》白求恩的挚友——叶青山

Question

Bob was hired as a senior, but his performance and attendance were subpar at best. This gave Alice (the manager) and me (the team lead) grounds not to extend his contract, which, given the cultural context, is almost synonymous with firing. We informed him of our decision a few months before his contract was due to end.

A while later, he told me that he understood our decision but would like to give his best effort in his last few weeks. His goal was to at least earn a nice reference from us. Most importantly, he mentioned that the reason for his subpar performance was a personal situation that the company's doctor was aware of.

After that conversation, his performance completely turned around. He went from being someone others felt uncomfortable sitting with to a delight to work with. The quiet person suddenly became a major contributor to many discussions, and his energy increased significantly. The team and I are now saddened by his imminent departure. During this time, I also replaced Alice as the manager, which gave me the chance to mentor him more directly. I am now almost confident that he would be an excellent addition to the team.

HR tells me that it is possible to extend his contract for a few months instead of a full year. I'm considering offering him a new contract if he's interested. However, since the law forbids me from probing into his personal situation, I would like to ask him how he sees himself performing if he were to get a new contract. In other words, is he performing this way now because he has a reason (getting a reference for a new job), or because his personal situation is resolved?

How can I have this conversation without getting into his personal situation or questioning his integrity?

Answer 1

Let's start with an important point. If Bob was capable of working at an acceptable level, but wasn't doing so, then you and Alice messed up by terminating his contract without giving him a chance to fix things, or at least raising the subject with Bob. Neither you nor I know why Bob was doing unsatisfactory work - he may not have known his work was subpar, or he may have thought that the level he was working at was good enough to keep the company happy. In any case, if you had gone to Bob and said "your work isn't as good as we were expecting and if it continues like this we will have to think about terminating your contract" that would very likely have resulted in the improvement you see now, and you wouldn't be in this situation. (I myself have been in a situation where I was perceived as delivering substandard work entirely due to a misunderstanding. Fortunately my boss talked to me before things got serious, and it was trivially fixable.)

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from issuing a new contract, and you are no worse off than you were before if you have to terminate it. You should of course talk to Bob about the change in performance - don't forget to tell him how pleased you are with his work now - and get his explanation of why there was a change and why he wasn't performing before. This may not be due to anything in his personal life. It's up to him to tell you or not if it is personal. Its fine to ask "is there anything in your out-of-work life that is relevant and you want to tell us about", as long as you accept that the answer "no" is final and the end of the discussion.

Answer 2

It seems Bob is going above and beyond, and that he doesn't hold any bad blood.

How about something like:

For the last few weeks, your work ethic has been on point, and you've become a valued member of the team. You seem to understand that our previous decision to not renew your contract was due to your performance, a problem you've since fixed, to the point it'd be careless of us to let you go without offering you a x month renewal of your contract.

With a few key points:

• Will he care about a less than 6 months contract? If he is such a good employee, what's stopping you (the company, not you personally) from offering him a full time position? Personally, I would find "you're such a good employee, please stay for another month" to be a bit insulting.
• What happens in x months? His new contract expires, and then what?
• He still might refuse, and there is nothing you can do about it.
• It seems Bob has become irreplaceable and he might recognize that. What happens if he agrees to stay, but only with a raise? I would find this improper, but considering his previous option was getting let go, he might still try the gamble.

Answer 3

Can the company willfully terminate a contract due to performance? If so, it seems like your questions are irrelevant - let Bob know how well he's doing, that his recent performance is the reason that you are renewing his contract, and that if he keeps it up he won't have to worry. If he slides again, no big deal - terminate the contract early.

Even if that is not an option, I'm still not sure there's a point in asking these questions. Bob would never have a reason to tell you he thinks he might not perform well if you give him a new contract. My advice is to trust that he will keep performing well and make sure you keep giving him the support needed to make it so.

Also, if his contract is renewed for only a few months than he still needs to perform well for a future recommendation/review, right?