Firing - How to let go....

The art of the most sacred of management decisions:

Nishan WIMALACHANDRA -Corporate Trainer and Lecturer

Today lot of CEO's and HR people have something in common, that is how to get rid of the people they think are a liability to their company.

Believe it or not most organizations who brag about 'Employee empowerments' and 'Our employees are our assets' usually consider the salaries and benefits paid to their employees as a big liability.

In the present context, people lose their jobs for various justifiable reasons starting from poor performance, unprofitable business, mergers and my all time favourite- management changes or acquisitions.

Today there are no permanent jobs and employers shouldn't expect "Employee Citizenship Behaviours" from their employees anymore. Gone are the days where people work for one organization for the rest of their lives. The more permanent the job is, the more cumbersome it becomes, and when it comes to firing employees, there are always more procedures to follow, more legal aspects to watch for and lot of compensation to give away. Of course these could add up to lots of unnecessary expenses and struggles.

So how should a CEO/HR junkie carry out a proper Guilt Free Firing Session? It may sound difficult than it is, but with little practice you will get where you want by following simple steps.

It is assumed that before a person is fired from employment, they are monitored by a senior official for real reasons such as frequent absenteeism, poor performance, lack of interest and all other valid reasons which could be included in a performance appraisal sheet which is pre-organized before the real firing scene commences.

But unfortunately, firing always leaves behind bad memories and guilt feelings and also scared employees whose performance will be definitely affected by witnessing their colleagues being fired. Even though a wound is healed sometimes the memory of the incident may haunt people for ever.

How should a proper firing be done? You don't need expert advice nor do you need lot of firing experience. Your worst enemy is guilt of firing a person if you are aware of their personal lives, their family, children's education, the loans they got to pay off, and what happens if they lose their job, etc.

It must be noted that a proper CEO should reconsider these things before a person is fired, whatever said and done, because of firing, people have lost their homes too and sometimes their marriages end. After all it is business, nothing personal, but results could be very different.

Word of Caution: Firing is an Art, not a Skill - Just because you are good at hiring, you may never be a good fireman. But following the below steps will ensure a guilt free, hatred free experience to the parties involved.

Step 1 - Find enough evidence to justify the firing

It is usually presumed that the employee knows that he/she will be fired soon, but just because they are aware of the situation you shouldn't limit the evidence against the person.

Step 2 - Keep them informed

Keep the subject informed in writing as many instances as possible that their job is in danger regardless of your liking to keep him/her employed by the organization in the future.

Step 3 - Provide lot of training and development opportunities

This is a giant step CEO's/HR people should take into consideration. You must send the subject to many trainings possible to enhance their skills, this is not done to keep them in your organization. Trainings must be in areas the subject will be likely to be successful in the future if worked hard.

The most important thing is that the subject realizes that they are given lot of training before the organization actually fired them. It must be seriously noted that training is provided only once the subject is identified to be fired later. Please note that if you provide training to your good employee, they will always repay you by joining your competitor and matters will be worse. But instead provide training to the ones you want to let go.

Step 4 -how and make happy

Provide them a sponsored trip to a country which they have never been for at least for few days and make them feel that they are very important regardless of the in-writing communications made on their poor performance or the company policy in finalizing Voluntary retirement schemes. If you are the one who will be firing the person make sure that they are aware that the overseas trip is based on your recommendation. At least when they are actually fired they will appreciate the fact that they got an opportunity to travel abroad. Organize a cheap training program as part of the trip so that they can include it in their future CV's to show that they were even sent on foreign trips for training.

Step 5 - Inform them that priorities have changed

The subject must be verbally informed that he/she may lose his/her job regardless of the attempts the company had made to keep him/her with all the training and the overseas exposure. Inform them that the organization will do its best to make him/her not lose the job.

Step 6 - Organize interviews through head hunting firms

This is a very important step that the person who is involved in firing be actively involved in providing leave necessary for the interviews organized for the subject so that the transition is managed effectively.

Please note that the interviews organized are real jobs and real organizations; always avoid mocking the subject by sending them to job interviews which you know will surely not work.

It is recommended that the Organization pays a considerable amount to the head hunting firm more than what is paid by the new firm who is willing to hire the employee. By doing this their interest in placing a job for your subject is done with much enthusiasm.

Step 7 - Secure the new job and now make your arrangements

Once the job is secured, make sure that you address them on personal grounds and explain that you could have fired them immediately, but it could not be done because they were dear to you even though the decision to fire them had always crossed your mind.

Step 8 - Now talk about compensation

Now the time has come to talk business, you must place the offer in front of them before the final document is signed. Don't make it look like a firing, paint the picture of a Voluntary Retirement Scheme which comes with benefits. Do not cancel their life insurance; make it active until the policy is matured.

Step 9 - Organize a grand farewell

Organize a grand farewell and ask them to visit the office whenever they could.

Make sure that the farewell is well accepted for the service rendered by them regardless of how poor their performance has been.

Handover a certificate of appreciation framed by a well known picture framing firm so that they could hang them at home and show off to their family and friends.

Step 10 - Have a gala meal with them on their last day of work.

Don't forget to give them a personal gift supposedly by your own money to make the event more memorable. Later on send the bill to the accounts division, its nothing personal, fully business.

You have successfully gotten rid of the people you hate to work with. These steps are valuable whatever the reason of your choice to lay off employees. After all most such reasons are man made.

Organizations shouldn't be successful in hiring alone. Firing is also one of the most sacred of management decisions which cannot be given little room to discuss.

It is with sincere regret that this final part must be reminded, any organization which does not go forward, remains stagnated, sometimes the only option is getting rid of the bad blood concerned.

Blood letting has always been a cure for a number of illnesses and sure it could be applied to organizational management.