How NOT to Terminate an Employee

There's no shortage of resources for how to terminate an employee with compassion, yet for what I can only assume is indifference, employers still butcher this is in truly spectacular ways.

Our employees are our greatest asset. We take care in on boarding them, we have a good training program, we brag about culture and company events, and then wham! Smack in the middle of Wednesday we blindside an employee by terminating them. This leaves the (now former) employee shell shocked and demoralized, leaves other team members reeling and creates a culture of 'surprises aren't always fun and I could be next' which is rooted in fear.

If you've ever taken Psych101 you're at least loosely familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which means you can understand how terminating an employee in a manner that should be reserved for promotion surprises or engagements, rocks the second foundational need, 'Safety'. Not only did you upend the life of the former employee, but you've left everyone else wondering if they are next.

So unless you really are indifferent, cruel or inconsiderate, here are a few guidelines for how NOT to fire an employee.

• Do NOT pick a lousy time of day Terminating an employee at the beginning or middle of the day is not okay. Why? Because the employee is forced to leave the office often embarrassed and/or in tears. They don't have an opportunity to collect their things which means they have to make a special trip back to the last place they want to be or burden another employee to bring them their things. Be kind and considerate and do it at the end of the day.
• Do NOT do it before a holiday or scheduled break The only reason to do this is to hide from the backlash of feelings from co-workers, to hope that it will all settle down while everyone is out of the office. To be frank, its cowardly. To terminate someone before a holiday or scheduled break means you completely ruin it for that person. You hijack what should be relaxing time off.
• Do NOT do it right before someone new starts Nothing says, 'welcome to the team' like the awkward feeling that will be hovering in the air that the new person replaced someone that the rest of the team liked. This is simply employer hazing and it's not fair to the new employee.
• Do NOT blindside someone Baring egregious acts there is no reason to blindside an employee. Employees deserve feedback and an opportunity to improve. A good rule of thumb is 90 days. If, given proper feedback and coaching, the employee still hasn't met the threshold for acceptable performance, then it's reasonable to terminate them. They will in fact, NOT be surprised. Employee acquisition is too expensive for you to be terminating employees like you binge watch shows.
• Do NOT lie or sugar coat the reason for the termination to the rest of the team No, you don't have to divulge anything that would be HR inappropriate. But you also shouldn't insult the intelligence of the rest of your team by telling them something that simply isn't true. They will see right through it and not trust anything else that comes out of your mouth (please refer back to the second foundational need in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs).

If you simply put yourself in the employee's shoes for a moment (empathy) then you'll quickly understand what's appropriate and what's not when it comes to terminating someone. Just consider, 'how would I want to be fired'? Again, it can be done with empathy and kindness (yes, kindness) or it can be done selfishly and without regard for the employee as a person. How you terminate someone says more about you than it does about them so take care to it well.