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Why it needs another 6-12 months to get them to be productive? Is it some system programming position? I can't imagine anything else that would require a year to get people into shape.
Kernel development, simulations, numerical methods, ML, graphics, database internals, compilers, infosec engineering, etc.
This is cool and all, but company culture is a two way street. Presumably you have this focus because you expect that employees appreciate it and in return are happier, more resilient and ultimately more productive because of it. But you can’t have this with someone who misrepresented themselves from the moment they walked in.
Consider also how this looks for other employees. They were hired for a job, do it well and in return got a great employer who cares about their wellbeing. But if you keep this person on, then you devalue the effort everyone else puts in, because apparently you can just lie on your resume and get the same great treatment as everyone else without any consequences.
As you consider the decision to let them go, consider the impact on other people in your work place too. Other developers notice someone like that underperforming and getting overpaid, and it can hurt the good climate you aim for. It may feel bad to fire them, but it may be worse to keep them.
I kept someone for too long once and people on an adjacent team didn’t want to get stuck with that person during a re-org and were vocal about it. And that person bungled some important projects that set us back years on our ambitions.
Fire them and use this as an opportunity to address your interview process. The longer you keep them the worse it will be.
As you consider the decision to let them go, consider the impact on other people in your work place too. Other developers notice someone like that underperforming and getting overpaid, and it can hurt the good climate you aim for. It may feel bad to fire them, but it may be worse to keep them.
> “The fastest way to demotivate a good employee is to show them the lengths you are willing to tolerate a bad employee” - a sheet of paper i found in a desk 20 years ago
It's probably fine to fire them, but also everyone involved should be open about the fact that the hiring and so also the firing is the direct result of their own failure. The morale implications of this could be lot more nuanced than you're implying.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kernel development, simulations, numerical methods, ML, graphics, database internals, compilers, infosec engineering, etc.
10 years ago yes, but nowadays that domain-specific knowledge can be solved with a $20 ChatGPT subscription (as it simulates very well pair-programming and spitting out explanations for you). It sounds more like legacy / messy systems with no dev/staging platform, or very bad documentation, or even a terrible onboarding process if you really need 9 months for someone to deploy code.