Tue, 07-Oct-2008
A day I rather forget: Gina Kuek
Published: Sep 01, 2007
Name: Gina Kuek
Position: Human resource manager Asia Pacific
Company: Frost & Sullivan
This incident happened a few years ago but I can still remember it vividly.
I was hired as an HR executive for the Singapore office. It was my second day of work but the tasks had already been piling up since my first day.
One of the difficult tasks for the day was to terminate an employee due to performance issues. However, there were no past records of the employee’s performance or details relating to disciplinary actions. Without much information, I had to find out more from the employee’s superior and manager.
Based on what I gathered, I did not support the idea of terminating the employee. As I strongly believe in progressive disciplinary actions, I made an appeal to their head of department. However, it was to no avail.
The manager and head of department were firm in their final decision and wanted me to carry out the task. It was an unpleasant thing to do, especially on my first week of work. It was also something that I believe we could better handle.
I knew I was unable to convince them in changing their decision. I respected their final decision and carried out the task professionally.
Shortly after that incident, we managed to establish clear policies and guidelines on such issues, and I am glad that similar incidents did not occur again.
Position: Human resource manager Asia Pacific
Company: Frost & Sullivan
This incident happened a few years ago but I can still remember it vividly.
I was hired as an HR executive for the Singapore office. It was my second day of work but the tasks had already been piling up since my first day.
One of the difficult tasks for the day was to terminate an employee due to performance issues. However, there were no past records of the employee’s performance or details relating to disciplinary actions. Without much information, I had to find out more from the employee’s superior and manager.
Based on what I gathered, I did not support the idea of terminating the employee. As I strongly believe in progressive disciplinary actions, I made an appeal to their head of department. However, it was to no avail.
The manager and head of department were firm in their final decision and wanted me to carry out the task. It was an unpleasant thing to do, especially on my first week of work. It was also something that I believe we could better handle.
I knew I was unable to convince them in changing their decision. I respected their final decision and carried out the task professionally.
Shortly after that incident, we managed to establish clear policies and guidelines on such issues, and I am glad that similar incidents did not occur again.