Not up to scratch

To be able to sell insurance, an employer has to be certain that the individual is competent - to the standards required by the Financial Services Authority - to sell the product. If they are not, the consequences of allowing them to sell insurance could be extremely serious for your company.

The first thing to determine is whether you are certain that you have come to the end of the potential training stages; is there anything that can be done to improve their performance or can they be equipped with some aids that would enable them to achieve the correct standard?

Check your contractual terms to decide whether it comes under the area of capability, i.e., the ability to do the job or conduct in the sense that they are simply not trying.

Assuming the issue is one of ability, rather than of conduct, having spent a lot of money already on them, it would be prudent to consider carefully whether you have come to the end of the training road.

For employees with under one year of service, follow your contractual terms for short service. If they have been doing other work for you before being trained in sales and have been in your service for longer than one year, then you could face an unfair dismissal claim.

Write to the employee in a letter expressing your concern about their lack of performance and set out in detail areas of concern. Invite them to a meeting, giving them sufficient time to be able to prepare properly.

They have the right to have someone with them at that meeting during which you should go through all the issues. Following that, you would then take a decision regarding their continued employment.

If there are no other alternatives/vacancies, you would be faced with terminating the employment. However, before reaching that point, you really need to determine whether there is somewhere else within the company you might be able to place them.

If they refuse an alternative or if they have tried the alternative but did not succeed, you would again be reaching the stage of parting company.

At any time you dismiss someone you must give them the right to appeal and, should they appeal, you would have to conduct it properly and fairly.

Peter Done, Managing director, Peninsula Business Services.