How Long Does It Take to Get Fired in Germany?

Rüter, Alina (2025) How Long Does It Take to Get Fired in Germany? Master thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Effectively managing underperformance in employees is essential to maintain team productivity and organizational success. Managerial experience enhances problem-solving and decision-making in complex situations, such as dealing with employee underperformance. However, the timing of corrective actions, such as reassigning underperforming employees to different tasks or roles, or dismissing them, varies widely across organizations and individual managers. Little is known about the factors influencing this timing. In this study, we examine how managerial experience affects the time taken to reassign or dismiss underperforming employees in Germany, and whether this relationship is moderated by the source of managers’ performance bonuses. Based on Experience-Based Decision-Making Theory and Agency Theory, we hypothesized that more experienced managers act with greater speed and that financial bonuses tied to team performance reinforce this tendency. We conducted a cross-sectional field study using archival data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey, focusing on German companies (N = 297). Linear regression was used to analyze how managerial experience and bonus structures affect the reported time until underperforming employees were reassigned or dismissed. Contrary to expectations, managerial experience was not significantly associated with the time taken to reassign or dismiss underperforming employees. Additionally, bonus structure did not significantly moderate this relationship. However, company size showed a significant effect, with larger firms more likely to take timely action. These findings suggest that structural factors such as company size may play a more influential role in managing underperformance than individual experience or incentive schemes, highlighting key considerations for organizational design and HR policy. Keywords: managerial experience, underperformance, dismissal timing, performance bonuses, company size

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Kitz, C.C.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOP) [Master Psychology]
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2025 16:02
Last Modified:	10 Jul 2025 16:02
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5462

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