Hate having to terminate employees? When you work in HR, or leadership, it comes with the territory. That doesn’t make it easy. Still, it can be necessary.

Let’s start with what not to do.

Recently a friend found out that his hybrid job was eliminated when he could not login to his computer from home. When he called the IT department, he was redirected to HR.

Don’t be that employer.

What should you do? Being a good human is a nice start. From there, you should:

Include HR. If you are a leader doing this, engage your HR resource early. HR is your friend in this situation. They’ve done this before and know how to do it safely and legally.

Do terminations face to face. Remote employees are the only ones you should meet online. Terminations via text, email, or worse, social media, are never acceptable.

Do explain the reason. Employees deserve to know why they are being fired. It’s much easier for them to process if they understand why. Leaving them to fill in the gaps opens the door for them to speculate about reasons that are not only inaccurate, but potentially unlawful.

Treat them with respect. Losing your job is hard. Kicking the person when they are down is only going to exacerbate the situation and open the door to workplace violence. Be kind, be compassionate.

Provide Assistance. Especially if you recognize an employee is in a vulnerable place, make certain to connect them with a support option. Connect them to your EAP or an outplacement service. 

Have a plan. No one should be fired without a well-coordinated plan to collect their things, continue their benefits, and collect their last check.

Keep it calm.  Terminations in the heat of the moment are never a good idea. If things are hot, suspend the employee until cooler heads can prevail.

Have a difficult situation that you need to address? Give us a call, we’re happy to help.