5 Tips on How to Fire an Employee the Right Way
No one likes to fire an employee, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. On occasion, firing an employee may cause them to become violent, cry, or argue with you. Some invent their own memories of what happened during the firing process.
To legally protect yourself, always have someone in the room with you when you fire an employee, so you have a witness as to what was said. Write a short memo after the meeting describing the situation and have the witness sign it. Document, document, document!
Here are five more tips to help you fire an employee gracefully:
Keep a cool head. Don’t argue or increase the emotional level in any way. Say, “It’s just not working out.” Or “We are going a different direction.”
Avoid surprises. If you have given regular feedback and suggested ways for employees to improve that haven’t been acted upon, termination should not be a complete surprise. If you are having a big layoff, keeping them appraised of how the company is doing will also help. At a minimum, annual performance reviews should reduce the termination surprise, and offer you documented protection should you end up in court.
Plan what you are going to say. On the day you fire someone they are going to remember what you say in the worst way. You should not explain why you are terminating the employee. If you start down that road, they will often defend themselves. This is not the time to have this conversation.
Don’t be too nice. You might feel compassion for the person you’re firing but do not offer compliments if their performance is poor. Doing so might make you feel better in the moment, but you are opening yourself up to a wrongful termination lawsuit. Do not tell them you will give them a reference for the same reason.
Keep your reasons confidential. Simply tell employees, “Jane will no longer be working with us.” Your terminated employee may still have friends within the company. If you say anything negative about the former employee, you may be opening your company up to a defamation of character suit.