Wednesday, May 20th, 2009: Firing Someone

“CloserQ, I have to fire someone tomorrow for the first time. What is your advice?” Chuck

Chuck, good and tough question in this economy, there are many other managers going through similar situations. My qualifying question, is this a layoff or a firing? Based on your question, I am going to assume a firing. If this is a layoff, you need to handle a lay off differently.

Prior to the meeting:
· I recommend you put the person on a performance improvement plan before firing

o Give the person a real chance to turn around their performance
· Meet with HR prior to the meeting to understand what they get
o Vacation Time
o When are they paid through
o When will they get their last check
o Information on their insurance, including COBRA
· Take care of the logistics
o Turning in equipment, keys
o Shut down their access to systems
o Cleaning out their desk
o Leaving the premises
· Before the meeting, do not discuss the firing with the employee
· Don’t have conversations with your counterparts or other members of your team on the firing
· Only have conversations with your boss and HR on the firing

In the Meeting
· Be quick, get to the firing very early in the meeting
· Be respectful and be fair
· Don’t get emotional
o Stick to the facts on why (The Performance Plan)
o Don’t try to comfort
· Be prepared for emotion
o They will most likely be surprised
o They may cry
o They may get angry
· If available, I ask HR to be in the meeting with me (not always logistically possible)

Personally, I have trouble sleeping the night before being worried about the person and the meeting.

It doesn’t sound right but I am still going with my tag line, ‘Good Firing’. Reader Feedback, please click the comments below to give ‘Chuck' additional recommendations and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest at closerq@gmail.com.