Handling Terminations Due to Job Elimination

At some point in your career as a manager, you may be required to terminate the employment of staff member for no reason other than budget issues or uncontrollable circumstances.  This is probably one of the more difficult actions you will ever have to implement as a manager.  So, as a manager, what can you do make sure the termination is handled appropriately?

There are a number of actions you can take as a manager to implement the termination that will benefit you and the affected employee, including:

1.     Prepare in advance what you are going to tell the employee being terminated.  You need to stress that the termination is due to budget reasons or outside circumstances and not the result of problems with the employee’s performance.  Explain the basis for the decision and how or why his/her position was chosen to be eliminated.  For example, the job elimination could be the result of lost business in the region or a shift in organizational priorities.

2.     During the termination meeting, be prepared to review with the employee what their last date of employment will be, their benefits, severance package (if applicable), etc.  It is likely the employee may be too shocked to remember everything, so it is also a good idea to provide the employee with this information in writing.  Once the employee is advised of their termination, you may want to consider letting the employee go home for the day (with pay) as they will likely be too upset to continue working.

3.     Talk to the affected employee about how the news of their job elimination will be communicated to other employees, vendors and clients.  Consider sending an email to coworkers announcing the elimination while simultaneously thanking the employee for their contributions.

4.     If the affected employee’s termination date is a few days or weeks away following the giving of notice, take the employee out to lunch with coworkers as a show of appreciation.  Offer to give the employee a strong letter of recommendation or act as a reference.

5.     Speak to the affected employee about the process of transitioning their work to others in the company.  You will want to know what the employee is working on, who their contacts are, where their files are and how they are organized, and so on.

6.     Follow up with the employee until the last date of their employment to let them know that they are still valued.  Too often, once the employee is given notice of their termination, they are isolated from further involvement in organizational decision making, meetings, and other communications. 

Terminating an employee is never easy, but it is even harder when that termination happens to a hard-working, valued employee simply because of outside circumstances.  As a manager, the best approach you can take in addressing these types of terminations is to be honest, respectful, and supportive.

This article should not be construed as legal advice.

Please contact PayCheck Connection with questions or concerns... Or if there are topics you would like to see covered, email Dani Erickson at danielle@paycheckconnection.com