Should I fire my employee?
Short answer
If you have already had the direct conversation and nothing changed, yes. If you have not, have it this week and decide after.
Run the three questions
Have I told them clearly what is wrong, in plain words, and what good looks like? Did I give them a real chance to fix it, with a deadline? Would I hire them today knowing what I know now?
If the answer to the third is no, you are not firing them. You already did. You just haven't told them yet.
What to do this week
Have a short, calm conversation. Name the behavior, name the impact on the team, and name the timeline to change. Document it the same day in a one-page note.
If nothing changes in two to four weeks, let them go cleanly. Drawn-out firings cost you more in team morale than the employee ever cost you in payroll.
Ask your version of this question
This is one business owner-tested take. Your shop size, trade, and team change the answer. Ask the exact version inside Ask a Shop Owner and get a response grounded in how owners like you actually handled it.
Now run it against your numbers.
This answer is written for shops in general. Inside Ask a Shop Owner it becomes your answer: your revenue, your crew, your market, your history. Ask "Should I fire my employee" and get the version that accounts for what you already told us.
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