heartharmony.com.au

I was reading the New York Times and came across a lead story discussing all the downsizing happening in the USA at present.

The section that really hit me was Radio Shack in 2006 that sent “an e-mail message to 400 employees in its Fort Worth headquarters that read: “The work-force reduction notification is currently in progress. Unfortunately your position is one that has been eliminated.”

If ever you are the person who has to deliver the bad news, there are ways to sack someone due to downsizing.

1. Do it in person – no emails, texts, faxes or notes in the mail
2. Have all your paperwork sorted - this includes eligible termination payments, forms for Centrelink and details of a person to contact if the person has questions
3. Do it in private – do not make the person walk through the office in front of everyone. Treat them with respect and dignity.
4. Do it early in the week, ideally a Monday as this gives the person maximum time to start looking for another job during the week and get support as needed. Never terminate on a Friday or last thing of a day as this will leave the person with limited emotional support or capacity to take action.
5. Treat the person with total respect – No marching the person out of the building. Allow the person time to gather their things, remove private material from their computer, and have some form of appropriate celebration of their time within the company. Remember there was nothing “wrong” with the person – it was the position who was downsized and not the person.
6. Give support – wherever possible assistance with outplacement services to brush up a resume and to help the person get back into the job market is a great idea.
7. Do it quickly – this is not the time for long winded fluffy speeches trying to put it nicely. Get to the point and be 100% crystal clear on what is happening now and what happens next.

If you keep the motto “treat them with respect” firmly in the front of your mind and put yourself mentally in their place, you will generally make the best of a bad situation.

Until next time

Ingrid Cliff

Heart Harmony

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