Handling Lay Off's Professionally
Unfortunately, across the nation, organizations have cut back on employees which is one of their most expensive commodity in an organization, but also, the most valuable. One of the most difficult tasks of an HR manager is handling terminations. However, an involuntary termination is different from a lay off. With an involuntary termination, the employee has usually been warned more than once, so the termination should not be a surprise. The HR manager is usually very ready for the employee to have an opportunity somewhere else. A layoff usually is a surprise to those affected, and is usually not due to work performance. The HR manager is the bearer of bad news, and advising employees they have been selected for the layoff is very hard emotionally for the HR manager as well as the employee. The HR manager must keep their composure during the layoff notifications. How do HR managers handle this?
First, be prepared. Be prepared mentally. Be prepared with a script and try not to waiver from it. Be sure to not say “sorry,” as that could indicate the organization is doing something wrong. I like to use the phrase “it is unfortunate...” Next, be prepared emotionally. Do not get emotional even when the employee does. Have tissues ready. You can show sympathy by tone of voice, speech, and body language. If you must, act like a robot to get through it, do it. If you have several terminations to perform in one day, being regimen and having an agenda may be the only way to get through them. Then, after the terminations have been done, be sure to get away from the office for at least an hour to recoup. Go ahead and be emotional when you are by yourself. Then, come back to the office composed and ready to have a meeting with the remaining staff. Provide encouragement that this was a business decision for the survival of the company, and we must carry on, and we are still a great team. Again, the emotional state of mind will help the HR manager get through the face to face communication with staff. If executive management can conduct the meeting, it will mean more to the staff. The morale will be low but with positive attitude towards the future and sympathy towards those lost will help the environment of the organization to come around eventually.
I had a terminated employee give me a hug and tell me my job sucks...they were right. The task of laying off employees has been the hardest task of my career.
Pam Binns
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This is a relevant post for these days we live in. A couple points I might add:
ReplyDelete* You are correct in that after the layoff, it is important for management to return to the "survivors" and explain, in clear terms, why this happened and where the company is going. People don't like layoffs but they understand the difficult times companies face, and they are looking for leadership and direction going forward.
* Although you are right most people may not know it's coming, the process of annual employee reviews and feedback is important. If you have two employees doing the same work and only one is terminated, he/she might invariably ask: "why me?" If her supervisor has done her job, the answer should be in the details of the annual performance reviews. The worst a supervisor can do is to rate everyone the same, thus avoiding the hard decisions that come with honest feedback.
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