What To Do When Letting an Employee Go

When an employee’s period for the company comes to an end, it is important to efficiently handle it in a respectful manner without having unnecessary delays. Prevent causing disruptions and other potential risks including the protection of the company’s documents during the process of departure.

The role of a manager is to be accountable for letting an employee go with clarity and certainty, while considering it as an irreversible decision. This type of news might often come unexpected especially when the specific employee is unaware of their misbehaviours or unacceptable actions. To avoid any misunderstanding, make sure to have a concise delivery of the termination and another person as a witness to be fair and to show transparency. Upon almost reaching the end of the meeting, verification of procedures from the witness can then be acknowledged.

After terminating the employee officially, they must return every belongings of the company that were in use during their employment period. Establish a well-defined strategy professionally for returning inaccessible items immediately, while few people may joke around taking pens or staplers for ‘souvenirs’, make sure that important assets will be returned and not get lost. Only then you can assure to receive your final paycheck.

When terminating someone from the organisation, it is crucial for the manager to treat their case with confidentiality and respect. To prevent negative emotions or awkwardness, managers can suggest mailing back the belongings of a terminated employee, instead of returning back to the workplace as if their employment hasn’t ended yet. In addition, this would be the chance for supervisors on making copies of any projects or documents that the former personnel created while they were still employed by the company.

It’s the employees decision to whether they still want to get their personal belongings back or not. But in cases when they are still willing to retrieve it, they may choose times that are mostly convenient for them.

When it comes to the security of the workplace, managers demand that only those people who have authorization are the ones who can have access to the employee’s workplace. Their only purpose on returning to the workspace is for retrieving personal belongings and nothing more. Any other services should be cut off, including digital access such as logging into a computer. So it is suggested for managers to inform IT representatives to revoke any access to the former employee after terminating them officially and prevent any unauthorized entry. Therefore, attempting to visit the workplace again for the purpose of altering data will not be permitted.