It looks like I might have to pretty soon and it's because their position is being eliminated. He's a great employee that "gets it" so that makes it tough. I'm wondering what others' experiences are with terminating employees.
Yes, lots of times....and I did the up in the air thing and flew around the country firing folks too. Just do it with respect and honesty. DD
Wow good luck. DD, did you get some hot pre-middle aged tail too? I'd rather work as a telemarketer or at the customer service dep and listen to complaints than have to fire people.
Break the news the minute he closes the door to your office. Even if you had a hand in the downsizing, you're not the CEO so you can just pass the buck upstairs. Explain that his position was eliminated and then offer one or two sincere and proportionate compliments about his work; and have your personal timeline and checklist ready: along with all of HR's severance and benefits info, for the end of the meeting or in case you just have to cut it short. You could also just walk up to his desk and say "we tire of you."
Yeah but ... OP can tell the person-let-go that he will happily give them a good reference or maybe that he will make some calls on their behave.
From an unemployment benefits standpoint it might not be. Also, I got a relocation bonus for my current job, and I have to pay it back if I quit within a year or am fired for cause.
Yes, the result is the same, but the feel is quite different. If anything, a layoff feels worse. You have to tell someone who had done nothing wrong (quite the opposite: usually, they're quite good at their jobs, which is why their salary is big enough to be considered for cuts) that it's in the best interest of the company to turn their life inside out to save a few bucks. I've done it. It sucks, big time. Just be honest and open with them (as much as possible). Nothing will make it easy for either of you, but that might help.
That's pretty much my feeling about it. I was actually thinking about playing "Closing Time" in the background while I was telling him the news.
I would think this would be easier than firing someone over performance issues. It's tough to fire a competent employee, but your hands are pretty much tied. In my first management position, I almost had to fire a guy who had previously been my boss. That would have been difficult, but luckily my boss let him go a week prior to me starting the job.
Or in my case, "Celebrate" by cool & the gang would suffice. Im only missing like $100 a month then I was when I was working 200 hours a month with the benefits. And Im home all the time with my 1 year old. Can't beat that! For now anyway lol
I was on the receiving end almost three years ago. I was with company seven years. I had modest salary, vehicle allowance and a gas card I used freely. Hind sight is 20/20. The manger that informed me called me to his office. H/R lady was there. Meeting was short and straight to the point. I was informed my position was eliminated and H/R lady gave me severance check on the spot. My life was turned inside out so company could save a buck. I still haven't completely recovered. Unemployment pays about $415 per week.
it's awful. my non profit doesn't even have a hr manager and so I have had to let go of at-will employees for not bringing enough participation in their teaching workshops to fulfill grant requirements. other times, they are habitually late or lazy but it still doesn't make it easy, as I started off as their counterparts and ended up their supervisor.
we may have to do that soon here...our cio is leaving for a better opportunity and pretty much 90% of his responsibility is going to fall on our it dept here. there are 4 of us, but one of us was recently hired (beg of dec) and even myself (end of sept) is new but the new guy is way behind the learning curve here. and with the 3 of us having to shoulder more responsibility we cant have a 4 person in our dept dragging us down. its not a matter of 'oh he is new' anymore just his personality and the way he does thing does not gel with the rest of us. The bad part of it was when we were hiring my other co-worker and I interviewed him along with the cio and we both said we do not think he would fit in with us (though he had adequate qualifications) and the cio hired him despite our reservations so now we're sort of stuck with him. but if it hurts the team as a whole we wouldnt have a real choice, him being kind of douchey about stuff doesnt help his cause at all though, but we're in a fast paced and growing company and he has to work at the pace of the company and not the other way around as he is doing now. we'll probably have the hr director here break the news if it comes down to it but we all feel kind of bad about it, he moved out to this area when he got the job but i dont see him really lasting too long. we all had a good 2-3 hour talk about it and said that if by the end of jan if things havent progressed we need to make a change for the betterment of the team and company.
The guy I fired was violating intellectual property policy. It was easy. I had goons with me. Never had to lay someone off "not for cause"
I worked at UPS when they opened the Sweetwater hub off 45 N. I was supposed to fire anyone who threw a missort during their 90 day probation or didn't load 6 packages a minute (which doesn't sound fast but that is booking). No one could do that but you kept the people that came as close as possible. I fired 10 for every 1 I kept. I had people cry, people beg, people curse me out - still surprised because I told them every day what was expected and what was coming if they failed so they wouldn't be blindsided. Well I finally build up the dream team to run pd3 (the busiest line). It took 2 years but once I had the team assembled, I'd spend most of my time in the breakroom because the line ran itself. That lasted 2 weeks and then they broke my line up because all the other lines sucked and they needed good help so they gave me other lines trash for my treasure. After that I didn't care anymore. I was the one that worked hard getting that line while other lazy managers kept on people that they shouldn't have - and now those employees were mine. wth.
