'Tell me I'm fired after the beep'

No manager or HR pro likes to deliver bad news. But it’s still better than the fallout when no one owns up to the task.
London law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer — the fourth largest firm in the world — recently had to lay off 14 attorneys.
That’s nothing new — like any other business, many law offices have had to make cutbacks. What sets Freshfields apart is the way it did the deed.
Normally, you’d expect the firm’s partners to deliver the news to the unlucky 14. But Freshfields’ head honchos delegated the dirty work to the company’s HR department.
But apparently the HR staffers weren’t up to the task either. So instead of arranging meetings, they made phone calls. And in a few cases where the attorneys didn’t pick up, they left messages with details of the layoff.
News about job loss is obviously hard to take, but hearing it on your answering machine certainly doesn’t help. One of Freshfields’ ex-employees called the partners “gutless” and said HR’s strategy “obviously made people feel incredibly under-valued,” the UK’s Daily Mail reports.
The firm’s defense: It was just the quickest and most efficient way to spread the word. A company spokesperson said the method wasn’t ideal, but “we were trying to get the information out as soon as possible.”
Experts recommend always delivering bad news in person. Not only is it simply the right thing to do, but how the termination process is carried out can affect whether or not someone’s angry enough to take an ex-employer to court.