Firing Staff Properly: Top Tips From Smart Solutions

Most businesses face the issue of staff layoffs sooner or later. This may be caused by various reasons: business reorganization, crisis, martial law, optimization of company budget, and others.

Currently, the global market and its major players have to deal with this process – one of the most unpleasant things in business operations.

German company SAP, a manufacturer of software for organizations already has plans to downsize about 3,000 people this year. Its annual profits already fell by 68% compared to last year.

Microsoft, a leading tech company is reorganizing and laying off part of its staff. It has stopped hiring new employees for Windows, Teams, and Office units.

American social media conglomerate Meta has announced that it stopped hiring new workers and warned its current staff about restructuring due to the economic situation.

Google, Intel, Oracle, Spotify and Uber were also among the companies that launched the process of downsizing and putting new hires on hold in 2022/2023.

Synevo is a Ukrainian company that lost 98% of its revenue and 30% of its staff last year. The company Director shared this in an exclusive video on ForHR channel.

Each CEO has their own approach to sacking employees. For example, some of the comments from ex-Googlers mentioned: “I find it hard to believe that after 20 years at Google I suddenly learned about my last day at the company via email,” (taken from Twitter); “What a slap in the face. I wish I could say goodbye to everyone personally”; “I had been working at Google for more than 8 years. When I found out that I was no longer a Googler after a message that my corporate access wasn’t working and an email that was sent while I was sleeping, I felt miserable.”

Not a very fitting and noble way to say farewell to those who worked with you and for the benefit of the company.

We advise you to avoid repeating Google’s mistakes. So in case your company is facing rough times or the management is no longer satisfied with the employee’s performance, we’d like to share how to inform your employees about their contract termination more ethically.

Every employee at any company deserves regular feedback on their performance. At least in order the news about dismissal not to come out of the blue. Of course, if the reason doesn’t involve “hard times”.

Top tip #1

Don’t shift the responsibility

Delegating employee firing process to other employees is a bad idea. A leader and a good manager must know how to deliver unpleasant news, as doing this ‘with someone else’s hands’ is a rather harsh practice that should be avoided, as it lacks care. You are responsible for your decision.

Top tip #2

Give an early warning

Whether it’s only one worker or a group of employees dismissed from their positions, you must notify them of your decision in advance. Key suggestion: don’t do it in one day.

If you understand that due to the lack of budget/harsh economic situation you will be conducting downsizing, tell your personnel about the forthcoming analysis of business activity that may lead to staff layoffs.

Top tip #3

Announce the news clearly

Announce the bad news clearly and at once. Don’t stall for time or wait till the last moment to update your people on the situation.

Further on, frankly and clearly explain the reasons for contract termination. Back up your decision without putting the entire blame on the employee.

Keep in mind that a person losing a job has a mix of negative emotions and thoughts. Thus, be empathetic and compassionate during the conversation. Excessive pity can cause an opposite effect: negotiating about a different outcome, denial, etc.

Top tip #4

Establish a fair dismissal procedure

Offer the best conditions for the employees leaving the company:

1.  Financial assistance (obviously, payout of wages for the last month; a one-time additional payment will become a useful and pleasant bonus);
2.  Good recommendations for future employment. Maybe even assistance with finding a new place of work if it is possible and within your capabilities;
3.  Consider organizing a “farewell party” (depends on the relationships of this person with the team);
4.  It is important to ensure a fair and legal resignation procedure that complies with the legislation and social security policies, if applicable.

The manager has to understand that he/she may also face unpleasant consequences in case of unfair firing of an employee. Parting on bad terms may have a negative effect if your ex-employee works for your competitors or your customer in the future. In addition, if a person has friendly relations with the team and gets fired unfairly, it may impact the group’s performance.

This is a painful and unpleasant process, but it must remain honorable and humane under any circumstances.

Today, the outplacement service is valued on the market because firing employees is a time-consuming procedure in general. According to the Head of Recruitment Department at Smart Solutions Olena Kutsokon, it’s better to delegate such processes to the professionals.

As an international HR provider, we have been offering the outplacement services since 2009. This allows your business to:

•  Terminate employment relations in a peaceful way
•  Keep a positive employer’s image
•  avoid spreading the negative mood of the people who are getting fired onto those who are staying at the company
•  Avoid lawsuits
•  Keep good contacts with a former employee and an option to resume the working relations in the future

We would be happy to provide our advice on the issue of dismissals and help you do it easily, without negative consequences, and still remain a good manager for employees even after the layoffs.