Dilemma: Should You Fire Poor Performers in Today’s Talent Crisis?

Not long ago, during what we called The Great Resignation, one-third of U.S. workers walked away from their jobs. Many expected the trend to fade. It didn’t. Instead, it simply evolved.

Today’s workforce challenge isn’t mass quitting. It’s something more complicated, and, in many ways, more dangerous. It’s a blend of stubborn labor shortages, historically low birth rates, lower immigration, declining engagement, and what I call The Great Detachment: employees who may not quit, but who are mentally checked out.

And one of the quietest but most meaningful indicators of this shift is how few people are being fired.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that U.S. discharges remain at historic lows, consistently under 1%. In some recent months, the rate dipped near the record set during The Great Resignation. That means 99% of workers were deemed “good enough” to keep…even though our experience as consumers clearly suggests otherwise.

Restaurants, retail stores, service centers, you’ve seen it. Skills aren’t always there. Interest isn’t always there. Dedication is hit-or-miss. Yet employees aren’t being removed. Why? Because managers are scared. Scared that if they fire a poor performer, the job will sit open for months. Scared the next hire may be worse. Scared they won’t get any candidates at all.

So they muscle through it. They tolerate mediocrity. They quietly lower the bar.

But here’s the real danger, one that gets far less attention than it should.

The Hidden Cost of Keeping Poor Performers

Keeping poor performers doesn’t just hurt customers.
It drives away your best employees.

In Targeting Turnover, I present decades of research showing that top performers out-produce average performers by four to one. One long-running academic analysis found that the top 5% generated 26% of total company output across industries. Your top people are literally doing the work of five employees. They’re your informal leaders. They set the pace. They keep you competitive.

And nothing demoralizes them faster than working alongside someone who doesn’t carry their weight.

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Further Reading: Pay or Disrespect – What Drives High Performer Turnover?

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What Your Employees Really Talk About Over Dinner

If you want to know what your employees really feel, ask yourself one simple question: What are they talking about over dinner?

Because it’s not survey questions.
It’s not mission statements.
It’s not the new PTO policy.

They talk about their bosses.
They talk about their colleagues.
And they talk about the daily frustrations that accumulate, quietly and relentlessly.

Every team has that one person. And every time your top performers go home and complain about that person, you’ve lost a little more of their commitment.

When you keep a low performer, you tell your top performers something they hear loud and clear:

“We won’t protect you.”

And when your best employees stop feeling supported, they stop staying loyal.

What Happens When You Keep the Wrong People

Yes, retaining poor performers puts you at risk of retaining only poor performers.

Far too many organizations today treat accountability as optional in a tight labor market. But accountability isn’t optional. It’s foundational. And companies that hold onto substandard workers eventually stall, through slower service, weaker culture, and the loss of their strongest contributors.

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Further Reading: From Resignation to Detachment: The Workforce Crisis Has Evolved

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The Real Fix: Reduce Turnover First

The solution is not firing more employees.
The solution is reducing turnover so managers can hold employees accountable again.

This is the core argument in Targeting Turnover: you restore accountability by first restoring stability.

When employees trust their supervisors, the #1 reason people stay or leave, turnover falls. When turnover falls, your open-jobs list shrinks. And when that list shrinks, managers finally gain the confidence to act on poor performance instead of avoiding it.

This is what gives organizations the leverage they’ve lost.

Additional Steps That Strengthen Accountability

1. Keep hiring standards high, even when someone says “I just need a body.”
2. Give new hires the skill training they need to succeed.
3. Hold managers accountable for retaining poor performers, and coach or remove the managers who refuse to manage.

Because the risk of letting poor performers slide is always the same:

You end up with a workforce full of people who can’t or won’t do the job.

Ready to Rebuild Accountability on Your Teams?

If you want the research, strategies, and practical steps to rebuild accountability, and dramatically reduce employee turnover, explore my new book, Targeting Turnover: Making Managers Accountable to Win the Workforce Crisis. Available in e-book, audio, and paperback wherever books are sold – including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and BookPal for group sales.

It shows how leaders across industries are cutting turnover by 30% or more, even in a labor market defined by scarcity. And more importantly, it shows how you can apply the same principles to restore performance, retention, and results in your organization.