7 ways jerks mishandle terminations
January 19, 2009 by Jim GiulianoPosted in: Behavior, Communication, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Management, Terminations
There’s no easy way to fire someone, but there’s a right way and a wrong way.
The seven trademarks of a Termination Jerk. The TJ –
1. Talks to other employees about it. Hey, you have a job, so what’s the harm in blabbing about someone who suddenly doesn’t?
2. Doesn’t help the person move on to another job. Don’t worry, he’ll find a job. If you did, anyone can.
3. Goes theatrical. He calls in security or makes a big production out of showing someone the exit. The better to show who’s in charge.
4. When a group is targeted, tells them in a group meeting. Why bother with showing some respect to an individual who, though once a loyal and productive employee, doesn’t have any leverage to get your respect?
5. Beats down the doomed ex-employee. Dwell on failures — his, of course, not yours.
6. Piles on. Now’s a good time to mention every problem about the employee that you never mentioned before.
7. Rushes through it. Don’t give the employee time to grieve or respond. Looking at your watch while the other person is talking is always a good move.
Tags: termination
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
In our last termination case, it was the terminated employee that was the “jerk”. We are a public institution of higher learning, so we couldn’t ban this person from campus. For days after his termination, this guy went around to students, staff and faculty, complaining loud and long about how he was terminated for “no reason”. Talk about “going theatrical”! The sad thing is, most of those he complained to didn’t have the sense to consider that there are two sides to every story and that HR never terminates for “no reason”. We just can’t talk about confidential issues.
September 4th, 2009 at 5:51 am
Our company is small and we don’t have a official human resource person, but I often help the owner with personnel and human resource issues. I recently had an employee quit who was about to be terminated. When asked by clients why he left, the company response was “he quit for personal reasons,” which we meant that we can’t really discuss it. One client misinterpreted this as he was having family problems. He got very upset at us for spreading rumors about his family life. I did apologize and told him exactly what was said and meant by it. In the future though, we’ll just say we can’t discuss someone’s private business or issues since they are confidential. Hopefully that won’t leave any room for misinterpretation.
October 1st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
“Hopefully that won’t leave any room for misinterpretation.”
jmw – There is ALWAYS room for misinterpretation! Misinterpretation is a close relative of jello there is always room for more. The major difference is that jello can serve a useful purpose while recovering from surgery. Misinterpretation never has a useful purpose, it is however, omnipresent.