Dismiss, Yes. Demoralize, No.
By MATT VILLANO
Published: August 7, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/business...i=5070&emc=eta1

Q. For the first time in your career, you have to fire an employee, and you dread the encounter. How should you proceed?

A. Despite the apparent ease with which people are regularly fired on television shows like "The Apprentice," dismissing an employee is always unpleasant at the very least, said Paul Falcone, director of human resources at Platinum Equity, an investment firm in Beverly Hills, Calif., and author of "The Hiring and Firing Question and Answer Book" (Amacom, 2002). "The rules of thumb: Be kind, put the other person's needs above your own, and treat that person with dignity and respect at the finish line."

Q. Is there a standard formula for these uncomfortable encounters?

A. Brevity is best, most managers say. Karen S. Muchnick, senior vice president for career transition services at BeamPines, an outplacement consulting firm in New York, says that the entire session should take no longer than 15 minutes, and that the actual dismissal should take place within the first 75 to 120 seconds. Ms. Muchnick said managers should use straightforward phrases like "the end of our relationship" and "your career here is over." She also recommended outlining the terms of the employee's severance package at that meeting.

Ms. Muchnick said it was important to give a fired employee an opportunity to react and to ask questions. "Say your piece, then sit back and listen," she said.

Q. Must you outline the reasons for the dismissal?

A. Because most companies have a regular review process, the dismissal session is generally not the time for a comprehensive performance appraisal. Ms. Muchnick said managers should avoid dwelling on an employee's work history and focus instead on the decision to part ways. Jonathan A. Segal, a partner at the Philadelphia law firm Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, says that when managers try to explain their decisions for dismissing an employee, they often misstate facts and can get themselves into legal trouble. While courts have said that making false statements doesn't prove an employer is discriminating against you, he said, such statements can be cited as evidence of an effort to conceal something. In this session, he said, the less you reveal about what led to the dismissal, the better.

Q. How should you conduct yourself during the conversation?

A. Speak respectfully and calmly, Mr. Falcone said. While compassion is always appropriate, Ms. Muchnick said that you should recognize that there are limits to what you should say. "The last thing they want to hear is that you're sorry," she said.

Some managers say that whoever does the firing should take direct responsibility for it. Scott Rosenberg, chief executive of Miro Consulting in Fords, N.J., learned this lesson the hard way. In the 1980's, when he was a project manager at a manufacturing company in Secaucus, N.J., he said, he was told he was being fired by a vice president who claimed that the move "wasn't his decision." Mr. Rosenberg says he still remembers feeling betrayed. "If it wasn't this manager's decision to fire me, why wasn't the plant boss the one doing the deed?" he asked recently. "I just saw it as cowardly." Mr. Rosenberg now handles all firings himself.

Q. What should you do if your employee reacts emotionally?

A. Be prepared for the possibility that your employee will shout at you in anger or refuse to leave the office. It is common for managers to have security guards on call to handle these situations.

Dismissal, of course, can be emotionally shattering. Some managers have a box of tissues on hand.

Winston Trotter, employee relations manager at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, recalls an employee who sat in a meeting room sobbing for almost 45 minutes after her dismissal by another manager.

With security guards en route to escort her out of the building, Mr. Trotter intervened and asked the woman why she had not budged. She said that she wanted to tell someone how badly it would hurt her family if she were unemployed.

"She wasn't looking to cause any trouble, and she certainly didn't expect to get her job back," Mr. Trotter said. "She was devastated, she needed someone to talk to, and I was happy to be that man."

Later, the employee assistance program at the hospital offered additional help. Such programs can provide psychological counseling as well as assistance in rewriting résumés and sharpening interview skills. In this woman's case, he said, the program helped her find another job, which she still holds.

Q. Should anyone else be present when you dismiss an employee?

A. If you're uncomfortable, ask your supervisor to sit in on the exchange. Your company's human resources department can be a valuable resource, too - before, after and even during a termination. "You can never ask too many questions for something like this," said Gail Aldrich, chief membership officer at the Society for Human Resource Management in Alexandria, Va.

Q. How should you prepare?

A. It pays to rehearse. You might even use a mirror or a video recorder to check your facial expressions and tone of voice. Ms. Muchnick suggested making a checklist of points to cover and using it during the meeting. This document should help make the dismissal easier for you, and it may show that you respect the employee enough to get things right.

"Adroth, we just don't know how we're going to get by without you. But starting tomorrow, WE'RE GOING TO TRY!"

I've recently had a hand in firing someone. It was the first time I had to "cast a vote" in order for that person to be fired. To think that I was only in my second week in the job and that the person we were firing has been there for the past three years. Given the nature of my job and what he does (I'd rather not disclose anything because it would give away too much). Being a talent (the person we're firing is a talent) requires evolution, but he has been stagnating.

There's what you call the "graduation factor". Given today's consumers' short attention span and passive authoritativeness on what's "hot" and what's "not", kung ipagpipilitan mo talagang isabak ang talent mo kahit he's past the "graduation factor", lugi ka. It all boils down to economics.