Sometimes partners are dealing with problems outside work. Their spouses or children may be sick, so they are unable to contribute as much as they used to. They want to—maybe even badly so! But they don’t have the time and energy.
What’s worse is they also need the income associated with the job. How do you fire one of your partners because he or she has a sick family member? There are no good answers in such tragic cases. Separation may be necessary but the business necessities and the relationship priorities will collide in the worst possible way. Tactful negotiations may perhaps create a reasonable way for the partner to leave but the emotional toll on everyone involved is always very high.
Cause
Sometimes a person’s behavior goes beyond the pale and violates the values of the firm, its policies or even the law, and that partner must be terminated. Because partners have leadership and management responsibilities, in visible positions of authority, their conduct must meet high standards. Not every partner is a manager in an advisory firm, but all partners should be setting an example of the firm’s values in the way they treat people and behave.
Firms never give that lecture to their partners, but perhaps they should. There should be some kind of “welcome to being a partner” document that says:
1. Please don’t get drunk at the holiday party. That goes for all other company events too.
2. Please don’t make inappropriate jokes—at least not in the office. Posting them in the office or forwarding them to others is pretty bad, too.
3. Please don’t berate our employees. Yes, even if you don’t call them names, it is still not OK.
4. Please, please, please don’t have an affair in the office.
5. Please don’t post embarrassing things on social media. Clients can see them and our employees see them.