Does anyone have advice on how to properly terminate someone?

Question

I am an administrator and I find myself having to let people go from time to time. It is my least favorite part of my job. I would really like so pointers on how to make it less ackward.

Answer 1

involuntary employee terminations usually come from: performance issue, violation of policy, financial reasons.

performance issue: document each instances of poor performance. give the employee a verbal warning, then a written warning, then terminate if needed. keep it professional and say the reason for termination is that expectations are not being met.

violation of policy: this is a no brainer. just terminate the employee and tell them why. the employee should know he/she violated a policy that warranted termination. don't feel bad about this. do you really want these types working for you?

financial reasons: the toughest one of all. just explain the market/business conditions and offer to help in any way possible. offer letters of recommendation, etc.

the key to all of this is to keep it professional. if you keep it professional, it will take away the weirdness

Answer 2

I work for someone who does this pretty often and I often prepare termination letters.

Firstly, don't wait until the end of the day in order to do it. It increases the person's resentment and just makes it generally unpleasant. Get it out of the way and be "matter-of-fact" about it. Put forward the reasons for termination up front. Do not express false sympathy or blame the decision on someone else, it just makes you look like a hypocrite. This does not mean that you should be inconsiderate. You do not have to be a jerk in order to get your point across (I'm sure you aren't).

You should have all of the information the person will need with you including info about benefits, pay, leave accrued etc. Focus on any resources available to that person during their separation. The meeting should take place in a quiet area and should include just the two of you, unless you have fears for your safety. In that case, you should alert another co-worker about where you are going to be and with whom, just in case. It is also not a bad idea to rehearse the general direction of the meeting to anticipate any questions or concerns that might be raised. Also, you didn't mention this, but do you issue a termination letter? Most organizations do and it gives the person something to refer back to in case they forget any information you impart. It should include reasons for termination with specific rules broken and dates of occurence, any avenues of grievance available if appropriate etc.

I sympathize with you- this is not an easy thing to do. The best thing you can do is to be up-front with the person and have as much information as possible available so that you won't have to say, "I don't know" or "let me get back to you". It is best to try for a clean break. Be considerate of the person's feelings and as much as possible, try to eliminate possible causes of embarassment, frustration etc. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Just explain to them how hard is it for you. But really they should know, since you should be warning them or putting them on probation.