Dismissals with dignity.

The Five O’Clock Club, recently conducted a survey among Human Resource professionals to discover how they felt about the way terminations were handled at their organizations. The results were striking.

In the exit interview, job performance was covered 94% of the time. Surprisingly, 82% of the time employees were not given any positive feedback about their performance.

In fact, only 11% of long-term employees — people who had worked at the company for over five to 20 years — received a positive word.

69% of workers said they would not or definitely would not recommend the organization to fellow job seekers.

42% rated the impact on their job search as negative or very negative.

According to Richard Bayer, Chief Operating Officer of the Five O’Clock Club, “This is likely to be very bruising to the employee. It can destroy self-esteem and make it difficult to pick up the pieces and move forward. Human Resource professionals can offer the human touch that managers often forget. HR people should remind managers to have a script, to give feedback about performance – both positive and negative, and to have documentation when available to support criticism.”

Why Say a Kind Word?

Termination with dignity protects corporate profitability. If a manager says a kind word to employees during dismissal, employees are much more likely to be positive about the organization, recommend the organization to a friend who is looking for a job and recommend the company’s products and services.

In addition, unpleasant firing practices can negatively impact the employee’s future job search, destroy morale for your remaining employees, and increase the chance of lawsuits. Allowing people to keep their dignity serves all parties involved in the process well.

Can a Kind Word Get You in Trouble?

Alan Sklover, the well-known employee’s attorney, says the risks of saying a kind word are overblown. The things HR and managers can say to “get into trouble” are quite limited to:

promises or assurances to provide additional assistance, benefits or compensation;
words or phrases that would suggest a discriminatory mindset;
words or gestures that are negative, attacking or humiliating, whether about the employee, the company, or the decision to terminate the person.

Mr. Sklover suggests managers consider kind words such as these:

“Your being let go does not mean anything negative about you, personally. To the contrary, you are universally considered a kind, considerate and compassionate person.” [Ego Support]
“You have made considerable and long-lasting contributions, and they are acknowledged and appreciated.” [Reputation Confirmation]
“You have many good friends here. We hope those friendships will continue.” [Relation Continuation]
“I understand the many emotions you might be feeling right now. You have every right to feel that way.” [Emotional Support]
“Loss of employment is undoubtedly a difficult experience. We’re confident you have the ability to overcome this setback.” [Confidence Support]

Here are a few tips from the experts at the Five O’Clock Club (www.fiveoclockclub.com) for termination with dignity.

Be Honest: Tell the employee what went wrong. People are more likely to go forward if they are given an explanation.

Be Positive: Yes, a kind word helps. For example, “George, you’ve been a trooper. I’m sorry that the organization has moved in a different direction.”

Be Compassionate: Allow separated employees a “decompression period” in familiar surroundings. Let them have some control over how they leave. If possible, let them finish tasks they want to finish and make arrangements for keeping in touch with co-workers.

Be pragmatic: Have available full written summaries of severance benefits prepared with as much care as the benefit booklets handed to new hires.

Seek Closure: Discuss other issues such as professional references, so the employee can formulate a strategy to move forward.

Help Them to Move On: Provide your employees with the kind of outplacement that gives them dignity while positioning them for the future.

Even in a termination-for-performance where skills or personality were not adequate for a particular situation, a manager can still acknowledge the person’s assets and abilities. A generous dollar settlement usually cannot erase bitter memories of uncaring or even unkind words. Indeed, in those few cases in which former employees have taken legal action, it usually has revolved around treatment during the separation process.

Bayer concludes by saying: “Termination with dignity does in fact protect corporate profitability. The reputation of the organization and employee morale will be protected. Both the organization and employee are empowered to go forward. Shareholder value will increase and business will profit in the long run by moving vigorously in this direction.

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