Unless you are one of the lucky few, or your business doesn’t have employees, you will probably have to let a worker go at some point. Being able to say a “good goodbye” to that employee, or as good as possible under the circumstances, will allow them to depart with dignity.
Believe it or not, it is possible to have a good goodbye in many situations, but not many managers and business owners know how to make that happen. Of course, there aren’t too many ways to have a good goodbye when an employee has committed gross misconduct, but that’s usually not the norm.
Why It Matters
The ability to develop, nurture and maintain your relationships is a sizable indicator of business success. We know we need to take care of our customers, vendors and shareholders, but we often neglect the relationships we have with our employees.
In many ways, the relationship you have with employees is the most important. Your employees have a significant impact, good or bad, on all of your other business relationships. And this impact can continue on after an employee leaves you, regardless of whether the departure was voluntary or involuntary.
How you manage a departure sends a clear message to remaining employees who may wonder how they might be treated in the same situation, not to mention the disruption of work flow and productivity, which creates an added burden for them.
If a less-than-graceful departure occurs in your environment, and former or current employees remark on glassdoor.com or a similar online vehicle, it can jeopardize your name in the community, and the ability to effectively recruit new employees. Then there’s the impact it has on the company when the departing employee has strong relationships with clients and customers.
Where to Start
When you have decided that an employee isn’t meeting expectations, handle the situation with care and intention. You need to question yourself about whether you have clearly laid out the expectations of the position, provided regular communication and feedback if an employee has fallen short of expectations, and offered the type of feedback, support and resources that will allow the employee to recover from an otherwise failing situation.
If you haven’t done so, it’s probably time for a formal improvement plan meeting. For those unfamiliar with this process, it is a written communication that clearly expresses the areas that need immediate attention and also states that improvement must be immediate and sustained for their employment to continue.
If you have taken all the steps you can, and the situation has failed to turn around, then sometimes a departure is the only option you have left, not only for the sake of the business, but for the sake of the employee. Employees who have been given the opportunity to improve and create success in their position know when they have fallen short. Not many people enjoy walking into work each day knowing that they are failing, especially when they have earnestly tried to meet expectations and have been unable to.
A Graceful Separation
A word of advice: Take out all emotion. One of the biggest triggers we see during an emotional meeting is when you let the employee know that “you’re sorry.” If you have truly given the employee all the knowledge and information they need to achieve success, and they have been unable to, then both of you should be prepared for this conversation. There shouldn’t be anger, or frustration, or any level of denigration in this conversation—rather it should be a discussion about why it hasn’t worked here, and how it doesn’t mean it won’t work somewhere else.
Prepared or not, an employee is probably still going to go through an emotional roller coaster during this meeting, but at the end of it all, if you have been fair in addressing the issues throughout the situation, and act with care and kindness during the final discussion, then the employee will know that you have been fair with them, and fairness means a lot in these situations.
To the extent you can, offer them the courtesy of notice—meaning, give them a week, two weeks, even three if you think they can handle it, and continue to work with you, but look for alternative employment. Work with them, if you can, to allow them the opportunity to exit gracefully. If an exit has been constructed well and care-fully planned, then both you and the departing employee might actually feel good about the separation. You because you’ve done the right thing, the employee because they are often relieved.
The Last Day
It’s the last day, whether it’s the day of the discussion or two or three weeks out. Handling this can make or break a successful “good goodbye.” Remember one word: dignity. Even if employees have really tried to put themselves in the position of being discharged, your treatment of them on their last day should take the high road.
Most states call for having the final paycheck delivered to an employee on their last day of employment. You also want to be sure that the departing employee knows what to expect with regards to their insurance coverage. They might have all kinds of personal effects at their desk and property they need to return to you, so be sure you know what the employee has in their possession. If there is too much for an employee to carry, then we suggest packing and shipping all of their personal effects so they don’t have to go through the walk of shame through the office.
Even failing employees are human; they deserve respect up to the end, even if you don’t receive respect in return. Again, the treatment of a departing employee will speak volumes to the other employees. And even though you cannot give your remaining employees specifics about a departure, if they understand that no departure ever comes as a surprise, they’ll know that the
departing employee had plenty of opportunity to improve and become successful.
If you can develop a way to separate on good terms when an employee fails to meet expectations, it can avoid a number of issues later on. Most business communities are small, word travels, and it’s likely that you’ll run across your former employee in a social or business setting in the future.
Wouldn’t it be nice to feel as though you had helped them on to a brighter future?
