The most provocative letters from employer to employee

Despite the Social Media revolution instigated by the modern technological transformation of workplaces, and its accompanying short messaging habits of the new generation of the workforce; letter writing still remains the most effective means of communication in the professional/corporate world.

In the last article, discussed the most motivating letters from an employer to an employee.

Today, we are going to be talking about the most annoying or demotivating letters from an employer to an employee.

But before we delve into the matter, I want to state here categorically that, though the letters we are going to be discussing below are annoying, and could demoralize an employee, they teach timeless lessons that if applied, could bring about life and career changing improvements the bearer would appreciate in years to come in his/her career journey.

However, the circumstances that often lead to an employee receiving any of these letters from the employer are founded on grounds of ignorance. But what business has ignorance got to do with the law? Hence the aphorism “ignorance of the law is not an excuse”.

No discipline, even as the Apostle Paul states in the Holy Bible seems good at the time, but in years to come, the affected individual will realize that the discipline has the capability of turning an initially daunting career into a lofty one.

I was very knowledgeable, book-savvy, and informed when I started out in my career, but I was as ordinary as any layman when it came to professionalism, even though I used the word every now and then.

Practice indeed makes perfect, and there is no perfect teacher compared to experience.

A few incidents opened my senses to the actual meaning and practice of professionalism. I'm not going to be ashamed to share those experiences here.

Well, that's a story for another day.

Below are the letters that could get any employee mad, except the experienced ones who have learned the robes over the years:

These will come in descending order i.e. from the most upsetting to the least.

1.????? Termination Letter: This is the worst letter an employee can ever receive from an employer. It is the direct opposite of an Offer Letter. One funny thing about this very letter is that nobody is happy issuing it out to anybody. It could feel sympathetic to give out a termination letter, even to your worst enemy.

But do we have the option in HR? Once every other means is exhausted, we’re left with no option but to do the necessary thing required of us no matter how it feels.

However, no one receiving this letter ever remains the same, except the employee has already made up his/her mind to exit the organization. Even at that, almost all of us will appreciate the option of a voluntary as well as forced: resignation to being served a termination letter.

Sack letters come in many forms. Sometimes to make the action sound less demeaning. Depending on the severity of the offense, we often title it Disengagement Letter, Dismissal, Summary Dismissal, Relief Letter, Service no Longer Needed, Indefinite Suspension, and in worst case scenarios termination Letter. But they all serve the same purpose which is to get rid of a troublesome, fraudulent, unproductive, misbehaving, or a crossed unfit employee in an organization.

The after-effect of the sack letter is two-way traffic. To the employee, it means a new beginning in the job search process. A long battle with depression, depending on his/her connections and the assurance of getting another job as soon as possible.

For the employer serving an employee a sack letter means another headache of finding his/her replacement, which as a matter of fact must be a better one. That is when a typical employer faces the reality of the fact.

No matter how you paint the picture, the truth remains nobody wishes to neither issue nor receive a termination letter, especially when they come too often. While it makes the issuer appear wicked and insensitive, a sack letter makes the receiver seem dejected or abandoned good-for-nothing person who is left with a bleak future and prospects.

That’s why neither of the parties, issuer or receiver likes it.

May it never be your potion!

2.????? Suspension Letter: A suspension letter is often a prelude to something worse approaching. Majorly dismissal. A letter of suspension is given to employees to stay off duty for two purposes.

Why we Place Erring Employees on Suspension

a.????? Punishment for a misdemeanor. The suspension given as punishment, though it might not be a statement obviously in the letter is often without pay for a specific period of time, often between one to two weeks, but can extend to months, especially when it involves criminal or fraudulent cases.

b.????? To Serve as Moments of Reflection and Improvement: I could remember my superior explaining to an employee who was served this letter in our organization the reason behind the suspension. “The suspension is not to punish you. If we were to punish you, we would have laid you off, but we want you to learn through this. The purpose of the suspension is for you to use the period and reflect on your life and actions in order to make proper adjustments for improvement. So, go and do that and do it well because your continuous stay in the organization will depend on such improvement of your character. Sam, over to you”. You know what I did, issued the letter.

?Letter of suspension is a very delicate letter as some employees never resumed their suspension due to following discoveries of the offense. Those who resume sit on a time bomb as it is the denying minute where the victim can be sacked at the slightest offense.

?3.????? Warning Letter: A warning letter is a letter that states the management position in response the reply to your query. The severity of the warning letter depends on how you responded to the query.

Your choice of words, logical flow, and tone determine the tone and connotation of the warning, inasmuch as the person handling your case is unbiased, your warning only serves to checkmate your actions and behavior against the occurrence of such actions or something similar.

However, once you are given a Letter of Warning, you have to be extra careful in your dealings as the next step, supported by law is to serve you a sack letter in the event of a repeat of that action or something similar.

4.????? Query: Query is the first written letter of discipline you receive after a verbal warning. Depending on the leniency of your superior, a query letter may come after several warning, but on normal ground, one or two verbal warning is enough to warrant a query.

?Meanwhile, this depends on the magnitude of the offense committed. Some offenses such as theft, forgery, and assault may not give a chance for query. They statutorily result in summary dismissal. Even where there are exceptions due to one reason or the other.

?The Essence of Query

Although employees, especially the relatively inexperienced ones see the query as a kind of manhunting, hatred, or punishment, the reason for the query is not really to punish but to formally draw the attention of the victim to the effects of his/her actions and the impact it has on the workplace or operations of the business.

Query also serves as a medium through which the employee expressly explains in writing what actually happened i.e. the event that led to the query.

It is expected that at the end of the query, the employee must have seen his/her own fumbling, tender apology, and remorse.

Above all, it is supposed to cause the employee to make conscious efforts toward making proper adjustments for improvements.

Final Words

The letters discussed above are inevitable in every organized workplace. Since we are dealing with human beings who are not machines but have feelings, senses, and sentiments, there are bound to be conflicts hence the letters put in as part of measures for conflict resolution.

You can imagine a workplace without such mechanisms as queries, warning letters, suspensions, and of course sack letters. Such a workplace wouldn't be far from Thomas Hobbes's “State of Nature” where “life would be poor, nasty, brutish and short”.

In such a workplace there would be no personal safety, and no job security as everyone would be punished and sacked ad random. But every organized work environment is blessed with the letters discussed above to augment its disciplinary procedures in a way that all parties have justice.

As stated at the beginning, though these letters are annoying and provocative in the time of receipt, when given due thought they are actually meant to correct, not to punish as the case may be.

However, while we learn through them, striving to avoid these letters is an organic way to learn, grow, and improve which is the best strategy in the workplace.

While they serve to teach, learning through these letters is learning the hard way.

My prayer therefore, as you may be praying already that you be empowered to position yourself for the receipt of letters of joy, not of tears, letters of motivation, not demotivation, letters of elevation, not demotion, letters of excitement, not of upset.

If there is anyone you know that I excluded, kindly share your thoughts in the comments section.