Termination Mindset

I have often said that hiring and firing has been the bread and butter of my career. I did not plan it that way. I just fell into situations that caused me to leverage the skills needed to excel in each. As an HR Generalist, I have worked in governmental, publicly traded and private enterprises that were both unionized and non-unionized. I have even volunteered in an HR capacity in a not-for-profit. I have worked in HR in tech, big box retail, agriculture and health and science, along with the many years I have worked for as an HR entrepreneur. That covers that gambit I believe. So, what does this have to do with terminations.

Well terminations happened in all of them. And no company is safe from making the occasional termination gaff. I have made my share. But what really separates the unfortunate gaffs from the terrible ones is the mind-set, with which a company prepares for terminations. If you go into terminations with either a financial or punitive mindset, you have lost the human side of human resources. That doesn’t mean that you roll over and play dead or give the farm away. What it does mean is that a termination is a significant life event in both the life of an employee and of a company.

Just think of the number of times you have heard on the news of a big company (that maybe you are invested in through a mutual fund) give a 7 or 8 figure severance payout to a CEO. That is mind blowing and impactful to you and you don’t even know the people involved. Now consider, as an HR professional, you may have to lay-off a friend that you have worked with for years or terminate someone for theft that you thought you knew.

This was a long way of saying that terminations need to be done with compassion. This may sound like common sense or maybe a cop-out. Regardless of whether it is a: 1) retirement, 2) with cause dismissal, 3) without cause dismissal or 4) lay-off, the upside of compassion out weights every other mindset. Retirement is often hard for people as they lose part of their identify, so any thing you can do it to make it easier for the employee is a gift. If you terminate for cause and read the riot act to the employee and then give them all your reasons - when it goes to court you may regret it. Keeping it simple and quiet never hurts. Terminations without cause (for performance or other reasons) are often a mixture of employee and employer failing, so it is the right thing to do, to be compassionate and fair about separation parameters. Finally, went someone is laid-off for something outside of their control – the way the employer conducts themselves is on full display to all current and future potential employees.

The final question is, what is a compassionate termination. It is all about framing the terminate presentation and in some situations providing the employee with the resources to lighten the blow. This can often be done with the appropriate outplacement consulting.