Introduction
The dismissal of an employee might be challenging and has to be carried out carefully through the consideration and follow up of the guidelines. A manager can prove to be careless and non-caring about the layoff concerns. However, the way this task is performed remains significant to both the leaving employee as well as those who remain to work for any organization. A poorly managed dismissal interrupts the loyalty and trust of employees towards the organization. The manager should not merely discharge the outgoing employee but has to worry about that action. In fact, like any management task, it needs to be done well so that the reputation of the organization is damaged.
Based on Stuart (2012) assertions, even if it is an emotionally charged task, an experienced manager can carry out this onerous responsibility while conserving the integrity as well as being seen as unbiased. Therefore, this paper deliberates the ways in which a director can handle any adverse sensations that might go along with the workers dismissal. It also discusses the process of carrying out the discharge meeting besides determining a fictitious company and the result of firing an employee. The paper lays out a plan that displays the timeline for the compensation payment. In the last sections, the paper forecasts ways that a dismissal might distress the corporation.
Three ways of handling the employee dismissals
There are several ways in which the manager of a corporation can deal with the downsizing of employees. One way that a manager can assist in easing the pain of an employee that is laid off is to grant such an employee a substantial severance package. The package could provide economic benefits that reflect on the understanding of the impact of such a termination and compassion of the management. Although the tendency is for corporations to offer a less amount of compensation in terms of outlays, 93.0% of the companies call for the employees to sign the liability releases in order to obtain severance remuneration.
According to a survey conducted and reported by Olson (2012), the other way that can help soften the setback of a layoff is for the manager or a corporation to do their best to find those leaving the company a fresh contract. It may entail an engagement of the manager to ascertain if anyone is providing unmatched work approvals, recruiting and even driving the contenders to inquire if they have any opportunities. The company must cover much of the overheads for some career counseling. The company can offer on-site work plan based on how to deal with interview and write curriculum vitae for all workforces. Indeed, this can develop loyalty from all employees including the ones under layoff.
Lastly, the managers can proffer psychological counseling paid for by the employer as the other way of coping with the layoffs. Psychological counseling is important given that layoff is comparable to losing someone closer to you according to psychologists. Several consultants in the field of employment assert that those who have lost their jobs experience episodes of grief akin to the experiences people undergo after losing a loved one.
The psychologists argue that recently laid off people go through a wave of sentiments that run from astonishment and renunciation to antagonism, bargaining, hopelessness and finally acceptance. Most of the job analysts say that the key to enduring a job layoff is not realizing that the feelings may develop but also learning how to handle the situation (Stewart & Brown, 2012).
The process of conducting a dismissal meeting
From study literature, a dismissal meeting ought to be carried out in proper way to avoid causing damages to the involved parties and the company. As a result, a dismissal meeting should follow the subsequent steps for the process to be deemed unbiased and successful.
Step one
A head-on meeting must be set up in the process of conducting any dismissal. The meeting should never be conducted through a letter, email, or over the telephone. The immediate supervisor of the laid off worker should be accountable given that he/she is typically familiar with the details of the layoff. Occasionally, it becomes suitable to include a witness or third party so that the laid off employee does not feel that he/she is being treated unfairly.
Step two
The meeting should be done out of sight and not in any venue within the hearing range where other workers can overhear the discussion. The meeting should be carried out somewhere that cannot alert the other employees on what is going on (Valenti, 2013). At times it is advisable to hold the meeting in a public place as it might be easier to evade emotional outbursts. Indeed, it will be stress-free to terminate the meeting by just getting up and walking away in a public place.
Step three
A study by Withers (2013) indicates that it is best to hold dismissal meetings early in the day and early in the week. Conducting a dismissal meeting at such a time is significant for the well-being of the employee being laid off. Equally, avoiding Fridays and the day before any vocation or holiday is the best to conduct dismissal meeting. The avoidance of these days would let an employee to go on a Friday freely and gives the employee 2 days to contemplate on his/her treatment by the company besides looking for any means of retaliation. Dismissing any member of staff at the beginning of the week offers him a chance to arise and search for a fresh vocation immediately and concentrate on the future.
Step four
The actual meeting should last for few minutes (10-15) and entail the exclusive drive of providing a specific and modest statement regarding the choice to dismiss the service relationship. The manager should ensure that there are sufficient reasons for the discharge during the meeting. A number of employees prosecute their former employers owing to their quest for complete description on the reasons they were laid off and an opportunity to explain their feelings. It is wise for a manager to allow the employees to have breaks without any interruption during the time they interpret and explain events.
Equally, making it open that the decision is final is vital as it cools up the air and keep control of the state of affairs. Running through the benefits briefly ensures that the worker comprehends his holiday wage, split-up reimbursement, as well as the maintenance of life and health indemnification wages that the company is providing. There is need to clarify the job reference strategy to the employee in order to familiarize with the history of income, occupation dates, and work designation. The last step during the meeting is to assemble the corporation’s property such as credit postcards, car, mobile phones, keys and whichever other stuff that fll in the docket of the organization (Olson, 2012).
Reimbursement to the laid off worker by the fictional corporation
The employer is obliged to provide the laid off worker one week’s pay for every year that the employee worked. Supposed the employee made 1000 dollars a week and worked for ten years, his reparation will be broken down into two payments in a month for 5 months. In this case, the laid off employee will get 1000 dollars for every 2 weeks on the 1st and the 15th of every month.
A chart for the disbursement of compensation
Severance pay for the next 5 months
Ways that the employee layoff may affect the company
The layoff of an employee may have varied effects on an organization. In essence, the left behind employees will be affected mentally. It is vital to regularly and effectively communicate with the staff after dismissals. Employee might show signs of deficiency in commitment, nervousness, and reduction in the quality of the work done. Similarly, it is very important to show resilient leadership strategies in the weeks and months after a layoff (Stuart, 2012). It enables the worker to recommit themselves to the restructuring and pay attention to the main concern in place. The management should also distinguish and deal with the emotions of the personnel promptly. The management has a duty to hold regular meetings with the remaining workforce.
Regular meetings would enable the management to inquire from the staff the rumors that may be circulating outside the organization. In fact, this would ensure that the management endorses or dismisses such rumors besides setting clear, accurate, achievable and short term goals. The management will also find it easy to create an open door policy, allow the workers to know that they can and should come directly to the management with any information, concerns or questions (Withers, 2013).
The excellent means for earning the admiration of workforces is honesty and being open through reverent and expressive collaborating when there are no direct responses to their anxieties or problems. Keeping workers updated on the expectations and changes is important as it involve them in the decisions making process via asking them for their ideas.
After a downsizing at a corporation, the company might lose key talent who decide to leave the company instead of taking the risk of being laid off unexpectedly. The layoff strips the company of the institutional memory, critical skills, and human capital. In certain places downsizing rescinds or interrupts the familiar systems of workforces that regularly back the profitability of the company. A study by Stewart and Brown (2012) suggests that layoff seems to inhibit the network of informal relations that the innovators use to generate resources and support the fresh products, which assist mesh inventive activities with those of the firm all together. Several businesses or corporations find that the worth of downsizing can be higher in terms of the costs of disability claims, legal challenges as well as other unforeseen costs.
One of the more optimistic elements of most dismissals is usually the company restructures. Restructuring offers a more flexible performance oriented workforce. Many prosperous businesses feature much of their achievement to having shaped a philosophy in which workforces feel invested and appreciated. One collective theme to these businesses philosophies is an obvious or implied company guarantee to lasting terms of service (Valenti, 2013).
A number of companies are underprivileged competitively when marketplace circumstances necessitate extra workforces. However, when corporations engross in liable restructuring performance they get it informal to summon up former workforces and recruit fresh ones in case of commercial upsurges.
Some corporations experience severe public relations glitches as result of downsizing. Such companies have found themselves certainly unpopular within the local communities. Yet, corporations that layoff reliably are often remunerated by communal factions, mutual aid unions, and affirmative media backing. Moreover, investors are more interested in companies that restructure responsibly and willing to take a chance on them. Diversity can be an issue when a company does not downsize responsibly given that if ill-planned it might hit a racial, gender, or demographic groups hard. It would destabilize the inordinate length of time of a business struggles to develop its productivity.
Conclusion
In recent years, there has been growing emphasis on training in regard to dismissal. Whereas the customary concept of enduring employment has died out, a cumulative number of corporations are placing emphasis on lifetime employability. Companies do this through stepping up training programs and enhancing their job skills. Several businesses not only make their workforces more valuable but also make them less susceptible to the influences of being jobless.
References
Olson, L. (2012). 3 Severance pay questions every employee should ask. The U.S. News and World Report. Web.
Stewart, G. & Brown, K. (2012). Human resource management: Linking strategy to practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Stuart, R. (2012). How to conduct a dismissal meeting. Web.
Valenti, C. (2013). How to cope when you’ve been laid off. ABC News. Web.
Withers, A. (2013). Human resource management dismissing an employee by text is legal if employment law has been followed. Web.