By Alex Yohn
Feb 14, 2017
Some loathe it, some love it, and others don’t want to discuss it. But as long as you work with humans, chances are you’ll come across workplace romances. Let’s talk about how to keep it in check.
In order to prepare your company for the ups and downs of workplace romance, you’ll have to understand where romance is today.
Dating today
Much like everything else it touches, the internet has changed the process of courtship forever. With the introduction of dating apps like Tinder, OKCupid, and eHarmony, courtship took a turn for the strangest. Dating became a ratings war.
“The rise of phone apps and online dating websites gives people access to more potential partners than they could meet.”, said Michael Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford who conducted a study of online dating. Rosenfeld told Roberto A. Ferdman for an interview with the Washington Post, “It also helps the people who use the apps by allowing them to enjoy a pattern of regular hookups that don’t have to lead to relationships. I think these things are definitely characteristic of modern romance.”
These romance-finding apps have seemingly run their course, though. Tons of users are reporting a type of “dating app fatigue”. Folks are beginning to understand the value of real-life meetings and relationship building, which brings us to face-to-face serendipitous meetings – the office included.
“If you ask me where I’d like my only daughter to meet a guy, I’m not going to say at a bar or online.”, writes Liz Ryan, leader of the Human Workplace movement to reinvent work for people. “The workplace is a perfectly wonderful place to meet a person and start a romantic relationship.”
By the numbers
When your staff is putting in full-time work at your office, chances are they have a few admirers. It is, after all, where they are spending the bulk of their time, and the numbers prove it.
Vault Rankings conducted a study on office romance in 2015, finding a number of interesting statistics.
The company surveyed nearly 2,300 professionals and discovered that more than half had a workplace romance. Of those who have been in a relationship with someone they work with:
- 42% said they had an ongoing, casual relationship
- 36% said they have had a “random office hookup”
- 29% have a serious, long-term relationship
- 16% had met their spouse or partner at work
One of the most engaged career fields for a workplace romance is human resources. 57% of HR folks admitted to having a workplace romance at some point in their career. (Are you one of them?)
While romance in the workplace typically has a bad ring to it, the numbers don’t lie. Could finding love in the office lead to any good? It sure can.
The upside to a workplace romance
The biggest positive to your company with employees in a workplace romance is boosted production. Let’s face it, while they shouldn’t be talking about work outside of the office, it’s a challenge for most people to let the work day go and not focus on their growing list of deadlines.
Employees who are dating will likely have a lot to talk about from work, and as long as it doesn’t go against a policy, it will help them be more engaged, too. If your employee’s relationship becomes long-term, it could lead to a longer period with both of them on your staff.
People generally like to be around others they love, and while it’s their responsibility to act professional at work, that doesn’t mean they aren’t yearning to get to the office early just to see their partner.
And if you’re going to treat your lovebird employees with respect and hold them accountable (more on that later), you’ll likely build better relationships with them and their teams, leading to a more positive culture.
While the positives of workplace romances rely on you, the company, and each of your employees to communicate often and early about the relationship, there are still ways the relationship could become a pitfall.
The downside to a workplace romance
The easiest way for an office romance to go astray is if one of your employees is already in a relationship. If they are married or have been with a long-term partner, your employees’ office romance is going to be considered a home-wrecking situation.
When an employee is cheating on a partner with another employee, your company could face morale concerns, and maybe even lose a staff member or two.
Another issue is if the employees are in the same department or are part of each other’s regular working groups. Once the relationship is known publicly, other folks may feel like your lovebirds are playing favorites or becoming a conflict of interest.
Without explicit arrangements before a relationship disaster, your company could be brought into a sexual harassment nightmare.
Popular culture took notice of sexual harassment in 1990’s with the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas hearings. In short, Hill accused Thomas of sexually harassing her when she had worked for him. Politics aside, this case helped usher in awareness for sexual harassment policies, but still has a long way to go.
After a relationship turns for the worst, a subordinate employee may claim that they only consented to the relationship because their supervisor threatened them with demotion or getting fired. Regardless of the truth, this situation drags your company into the mix.
Another way these allegations come about is when the relationship ends and one of your employees is harassed by the other person. Sexual harassment is no joke and would require your HR and other leaders to intervene.
Prepare for romance
The Society for Human Resource Management conducted a study on workplace romance readiness finding that 54% of companies don’t have a written or verbal policy on workplace romances. For the companies that do have a policy, 99% say romance between a supervisor and a direct report is not permitted.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to your risk management or legal folks to get started on drafting a workplace romance policy. If you don’t have a policy, you need one. There could be legal concerns if a situation occurs and you don’t have a workplace romance policy.
“Employers should consider both the legal implications associated with sexual harassment and retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Acts of 1964 and similar state and local laws, as well as the practical implications associated with favoritism stemming from consensual relationships in the workplace.”, writes Donald D. Gamburg, for the Philadelphia Business Journal. “At a minimum, a good fraternization policy prohibits romantic or sexual relationships between supervisors and direct subordinates.”
Completely restricting workplace romances isn’t the direction to go, either. This ignores the truth that whether or not workplace romances are allowed, they are going to happen. The stronger the consequences, the more likely your staff will hide their relationships.
Love contracts
One of the best strategies for avoiding workplace romance nightmares is to draft a “love contract” or what’s generally called a romance agreement. We know, it might feel funny to even be talking about this, but here’s why you need one.
While a love contract doesn’t replace your workplace romance policies, it does bring the lovebirds and the company to an agreement. A typical love contract informs your company of the relationship and that it is with two consenting adults.
The employees agree that their relationship won’t become a conflict of interest, that the relationship won’t affect the business, their performance in their jobs, and informs your employees that either of them is allowed to end the relationship without fear of retaliation.
A little heavy on business and not on love, sure. But when paired with your workplace romance policies, a love contract can protect your business. Here’s a love contract to get you started.
Workplace romances will continue to play out in offices around the world. Some people will meet their life partner at work and others will want to switch departments because of a break-up. Nothing your company restricts can change this outcome and the best you can do is prepare your policies, communicate with your staff, and hope for the best.
But if you’re still bent on trying to eliminate workplace romances completely, may we suggest becoming a remote company? It’s much easier to have fewer romances when your main forms of communication are video chats and Slack. Though, it still could happen!
By Alex Yohn
Jan 25, 2017
The truth is usually a lot easier to understand than we give it credit for.
Part-time employees can take a few hats off the heads of your full-time staff, work on new projects that don’t require 40 hours a week to do, and even help create a pro-vacation environment by taking on the work of others who are out of the office.
Part-time reality
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics defines a part-time employee as someone who works 1-34 hours a week, though most employers in the United States consider part-time employees to have 20 hours a week on average.
As of December 2016, part-time employees made up 18.3% of the workforce (calculated as total hours worked, whether the hours were from a single job or more than one job). While some initial stereotypes of part-time workers include retail employees, part-time employees are in every role of the company, including the C-Suite.
Hiring a part-time employee at any level in your company is a big deal. While they may not be committing full-time hours, the decision process and the way to get your candidate to say yes to the job is strikingly similar to the way candidates accept full-time roles, and benefits could make or break the job offer.
Making sure your prospective (and current) part-time employees know what benefits are guaranteed and what additional benefits your company provides them is a great way to compete and hire the best talent.
Guaranteed benefits
Listing and discussing guaranteed benefits is key to creating a level playing field. While some requirements can vary by state, the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to all full- and part-time employees. This includes standards for:
Reiterating these standards to new part-time folks will help make them feel more like one of the team. It also gives them the understanding that they start off their job in the same place that full-time employees are, equally protected.
Voluntary benefits
While a higher level of benefits should always be provided to your full-time staff, that doesn’t mean that part-time employees should be left out.
One of the easiest benefits to include is a retirement plan.
In the past, employers were quick to write retirement plans that would exclude part-time workers for reasons like lack of interest on the part-time employee’s part and administrative costs. According to a 2014 study on retirement readiness from Transamerica Institute, 79% of companies provide a 401(k) option to their full-time staff, while only 49% offer the same retirement plan options to their part-time employees.
More than just differentiating from competition and providing a great benefit, if you choose not to include your part-time employees in your company retirement plan, it could lead to issues with the IRS.
An IRS Bulletin document focused on part-time employees and benefits in 2006 declared that unless your retirement plan contains clauses that directly exclude part-time employees, you’re risking your company retirement plan to disqualification.
But why exclude part-time staff? Part-time employees are generally eligible for retirement plans if they work 1,000 hours a year, or 20 hours a week, according to the Department of Labor. That number isn’t hard to hit in the United States, so consider including your entire workforce instead of cherry-picking staffers.
Another major benefit to think about is health care for your part-time employees. However, with the future of the Affordable Care Act unknown, it’s best to continue following the law as it exists today. Be sure to understand if your business is required to provide a group healthcare plan for your employees.
If you’re looking to create a unique experience for your employees, full- or part-time, consider taking a few pages out of the book of Starbucks.
While Starbucks continues to reinvent themselves, they include their staff as part of the ongoing growth of the company. Among their fully customizable benefits package is free products like coffee and tea to take home, and the widely reported college education program with Arizona State University Online.
The creative partnerships Starbucks makes with other companies and the way the company publicizes their new benefits for employees attracts dozens of folks to apply for them, and while we know we may not all have budgets that are Starbucks level, we definitely can appreciate the attention and recruiting capabilities it’s given the company.
Start small with these low-cost benefits often overlooked.
Part-time employees are still employees
Just because a role is geared to a part-time employee, it doesn’t mean that their employment with your company should be treated any less real than your full-time staff.
“When we are talking about treating part-time employees equally, we are not just talking about wages. They should feel like they are a part of the team at all times.”, writes David Galic, a member of the team at ShiftPlanning, a software company that makes scheduling employees easier. “If you offer your full-time employees free lunch and beverages, be sure to do the same for part-time workers. And if you are having a company Christmas party, be sure to invite everyone, part-timers included.”
Can you imagine not being allowed to take part in a company party, eat lunch at a meeting, or enjoy a cup of coffee because you’re not listed as a full-time employee?
A story I personally like to tell my team at Kin is this one:
I once worked for an entertainment company where some of my time was as an intern and some listed as a part-time employee, though the hours always floated around (or above) 40 a week.
I spent over three years with the company and in various departments so I felt like I had a great handle on how the company worked and what we could improve on.
The HR team emailed out an employee survey at the end of the year to get feedback from folks across the company. When I clicked on the link, I kept getting an error screen. I was eager to provide feedback at a company I loved, and when I reached out to my HR representative, I found out that because of my employment status with the company (intern to a part-time employee), I wasn’t eligible to participate.
I spent 3 years working for a company that told me that I wasn’t valid because I wasn’t classified as a full-time employee.
The Truth
The truth about part-time employees and benefits is a lot easier to understand than the attention needed towards the laws and policies.
Your staff, full- or part-time, is human. They want to feel valued, like a part of the team, and never below another employee simply because they aren’t in the office as often as others.
You can create a workplace where part-time employees feel equally a part of your team with benefits and inclusion.
By Alex Yohn
Jan 19, 2017
“Who says you can’t go back?
I been all around the world
and as a matter of fact,
There’s only one place left I wanna go.
Who says you can’t go home?”
Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles sang their hearts out to this song. While the music video depicts a group of volunteers rebuilding homes for Habitat For Humanity, there are other ways to define what your “home” is.
Career options can sometimes lead employees back home (meaning where they grew up) or home (meaning somewhere they’ve worked before).
The idea behind rehiring employees isn’t a new one, it’s just typically noticed in larger-than-life returns.
Jerry Brown was elected governor of California in 1974 and was re-elected in 1978. After spending some time in the late nineties as the mayor of Oakland, California, Brown campaigned, and won, his third non-consecutive term as governor in 2010 (and was re-elected in 2014). While he won the office in four separate elections, he returned to his job in the governor’s mansion after a 32-year break.
Jack Dorsey, who helped launch the social media giant Twitter in 2006, was fired from his post as CEO in 2008. The company went through a number of chief executives before settling on, you guessed it, Jack Dorsey in 2015. Dorsey’s story is a unique one culminating in the return of a controversial employee.
Is there a bigger name of an “employee” who left a company only to come back and bring success with them, than LeBron James? He left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat in 2010. Once James discovered that returning home to Cleveland was a good idea, he returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 and brought home a national title to boot.
While the stories of Jerry Brown, Jack Dorsey, and LeBron James are almost movie-worthy for their triumphant returns, the idea of going back to work at a company an employee previously worked for isn’t that uncommon anymore.
Like a boomerang
There is a term to describe employees who come back to work at a company they previously worked with, boomerang employees.
Your former employee may have wanted to try working for a large company, see what life is like at a startup, try out a new industry, or go back to school. None of these reasons should prevent you from working with a boomerang employee.
A boomerang employee can provide insights and experience from similar businesses or help open new opportunities because of the work they did elsewhere. Their perspectives have evolved, allowing them to look at your business with a new set of eyes.
Businesses small and large are beginning to agree that boomerang employees might be the next big recruiting pool.
The perception is changing
The Workforce Institute and WorkplaceTrends.com surveyed nearly 2,000 human resource professionals, managers, and employees to discover not just what businesses thought about the prospect of boomerang employees but what they were actually putting into practice.
50% of HR professionals say their company previously had a policy against rehiring former employees, even if the employee left in good standing.
These types of policies prevented the return of former employees in the past, but they don’t present much of a blockade these days. 67% percent of HR professionals say their company is more accepting of hiring boomerang employees today than in the past. Some two-thirds of managers now agree with the sentiment that it’s okay to rehire boomerang employees.
Because of the bad mojo behind the antiquated idea of a returning employee, only 15% of employees said they had boomeranged back to a former employer. But, nearly 40% said they would consider going back to a company if they thought the attempt wouldn’t be frowned upon.
These statistics are a driving force behind the ever-changing ways we work, and in some companies, the change is moving from the top, down.
Brendan Browne, vice president of global talent acquisition at LinkedIn, wrote on his perceptions of boomerang employees, “Jumping between jobs doesn’t mean that employees today are less loyal. Rather, the concept of loyalty has simply evolved. Employees might move around more, but they also remain much more connected to former employers. Social media and alumni networks have played a crucial role in helping maintain relationships between employers and their former employees.”
Should you rehire boomerang employees?
In the same Workforce Institute and WorkplaceTrends.com survey mentioned earlier, 33% of HR professionals and 38% of managers agree that having some level of familiarity with your company’s culture is the largest benefit to rehiring boomerang employees.
If your former employee left on good terms, and you recall them acclimating to your culture well, this is an important factor in your hiring process, so don’t overlook good talent who used to work for you.
Boomerang employees are likely wanting to rejoin your company after having spent time looking for greener pastures, which changes their perspective on your business. They have experienced new challenges and the hope is that if they are rehired, they could bring similar solutions to your business.
Another benefit to rehiring boomerang employees is that they do not require as much onboarding and training as a new employee would need. This saves your human resource team, and maybe even the hiring manager, time and energy. It could also save your business money.
In the book “Agile Talent: How To Source and Manage Outside Experts”, the authors Norm Smallwood and Jon Younger write, “[a boomerang employee] has one of the highest returns on recruiting investment an employer can ask for.” They continue on, “The cost to rehire a boomerang employee has been reported to be one-third to two-thirds the cost of hiring a ‘virgin’ employee”.
Proceed with caution
While boomerang employees are more accepted in the workplace than ever before, businesses still have some concern.
One-third of HR Professionals and managers feel that there is a stigma around boomerang employees and their perceived loyalty, will they leave the company again? Nearly 25% of the former employees who are attempting to return are carrying the same baggage that they originally left with, though these aren’t the employees you should strive to attract back to your company.
During the interview process, be sure to discuss in detail what they have been up to since their departure and get a solid reason why they want to return to your company. Do the same to them as well, be sure to let them know why you reached out to set-up the interview and why they might be the right person to fit the job.
Another concern to keep in the back of your mind is how your current employees will think if they were applied for the same role that was filled by a boomerang employee. How you choose to communicate to your workforce why bringing back “old employees” is the right decision is a sensitive issue and should be put together before you tell your current staff.
To the opposite effect, if a top performer left your company, this is typically a morale killer. But rehiring that top talent could re-energize your staff. Think about our example earlier about LeBron James moving back to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Have you had a good or a bad experience with rehiring employees? Why would you (or wouldn’t you) be open to boomerang employees? Drop us a line and tell us your boomerang employee story.
By Alex Yohn
Dec 28, 2016
A thank you can go a long way. Even more so, acknowledgment of a job well done, whether personal or professional, can make someone feel understood, valued and respected. We’ve been taught this since we were children, yet it isn’t always what we think to say to our colleagues or employees because often times we are led to believe they are just ‘doing their jobs.’
In fact, recognition for performance in general is rare, with Bersin & Associates reporting that 87% of recognition programs in the US alone focus only on tenure, and not contributions or efforts. Couple that with the report that more than half of employees believe their company does not care about them, and 52% are dissatisfied with the level of recognition they receive at work, and we have a problem.
Despite not putting a lot of effort into recognition programs on the whole, the companies that do greatly benefit from it. We decided to dig a little deeper into this to find out what happens when good employee recognition programs are put into place. We wanted to know what metrics it affected, and if the outcome was a better customer experience from an internal program made for employees.
What we found was definitely worth taking a look at.
58% of leaders believe better engagement comes through employee recognition
A study by Psychometrics showed that leaders believed quality recognition of their employees could help increase engagement in their work and the quality of output.
Why? It’s simple. Employees feel motivated when they know what they are doing is being valued. There is no such thing as too much recognition (unless you do it in a way that isn’t seen as authentic). Recognizing your employees’ hard work is just one of the many ways your employees can be motivated.
Alternatively, it can be seen as a way that employees know their managers are watching. That hint doesn’t have to only come through criticism of the employee’s work, but also praise and recognition of a job well done.
69% of employees report working harder when they feel appreciated
Employees surveyed by SocialCast could not stress enough how much recognition can drive a productive work environment. Even when we were kids in school, a gold star on a report card made us want to do better.
Recognizing an employee isn’t just saying thank you and moving on. It’s recognizing the work they do, and the time and effort they spend to keep the business afloat day in and day out. It is recognizing them, and their existence. While it may just be a few, heartfelt words from you, it could be a game changer for them.
How you actually recognize an employee can be specific to that person. There are some people on your team that would be over-the-moon about you writing a company-wide email spotlighting their efforts. Another employee would be mortified at just the thought of it.
Getting to know your employees is going to be key to creating a recognition process that truly accomplishes what you’re looking to do: making your employees feel valued and appreciated.
Furthermore, when you make an effort to do employee recognition well, you’ll become more in-tune with the business because you’ll be seeing what decisions are being made, day in and day out.
41% of companies that use peer-to-peer recognition see positive increases in customer satisfaction
There’s no arguing that a happy employee passes that happiness onto customers. The same goes for an employee who hates their job.
What can you do to up the chances an employee passes on a good experience to a customer? Use peer-to-peer recognition programs. In a study by Globoforce, 41% of companies reported positive increases in customer satisfaction by doing just that.
What is peer-to-peer recognition? It’s allowing colleagues to recognize each other and the work they are doing. Programs such as Bonus.ly do a great job at this. The tool allows employers to give each employee a small amount of “money” each month. The employees can then recognize each other’s efforts through micro-bonuses, distributed whenever they please. These micro-bonuses can then be redeemed for gift cards to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Sephora or donated to a charity the employee cares about.
The way an employee feels about the work they are doing directly connects with the customer. A happy employee is willing to go above and beyond not only in their day-to-day tasks and responsibilities but also in interactions with customers. They have a sense of ownership that transcends their job responsibilities, and in turn, keeps your customers beyond satisfied with your business.
By Alex Yohn
Dec 22, 2016
At some point in recent history, workplaces began to understand the value of culture in the workplace. Not just the perks an employee receives while working there, but the way the environment makes them feel.
There’s a long story of how the relationship between employer and employee came to be. As the smoke began to clear about a decade ago (literally, in some industries), there were just humans. Humans who started their businesses out of a passion and the humans who work for them and share that passion.
There are a ton of ideas you can float to treat your staff better but we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about a fact too often forgot.
Bogged down with policies and procedures, we often forget that on both sides of the table are just human beings. We have quirks, can be nerdy about weird topics, and life tends to get in the way of everything, not just the work day.
There are big ways that your business can be more in tune with the human experience. It’s not all about the rules you write. It’s about the way your business treats people, both your customers and employees. We’ve all heard people discussing why your employees are the key to success and sometimes it’s challenging to bring that idea to action.
Here are a few ideas for you to include the human element in your everyday employee experience.
Give your staff guidelines they can relate to
Have you ever read an employee handbook? Not glanced at a page or two, but read your company’s handbook front to back? Unless you wrote it, the answer is likely to be a no. More often than not employee handbooks read like legal documents and are filled with all of the things your staff is not allowed to do.
Focus your employee guidelines on the actions and responsibilities you want them to take on instead of what they are not allowed to do. This not only moves your staff in the right direction, it also provides your employees a roadmap of success.
Instead of policies that explain what not to wear, craft a policy that asks your staff to dress accordingly and that lends itself to a professional environment.
Include write-ups about positive workplace experiences and culture that you’ve built and are proud of. If there are holiday parties every year, include that in the employee handbook. Do you offer career planning for each employee? Give them a sample of it in the handbook, and direct them to the person they should speak to to set up their best career year yet.
By showcasing the good that your business provides as well as the policies in a handbook, you’re likely to get more engagement overall.
Show your staff appreciation
This one might sound like a broken record. But this bears repeating as often as you could hear it, treat your staff better by showing them appreciation.
We’re not talking about expressions of gratitude, though saying “thank you” plays an important role. Treat your staff better by building appreciation into your policies.
Have you had a salaried employee come back from lunch a few minutes late, need to leave the office early, or suddenly becomes unavailable without a proper amount of notice? Unless it’s a trend that is causing issue within the workplace, let it go. Remember, we’ve all been a minute or two late. If it’s a rarity, it’s not something to bring up.
If an employee has a last-minute appointment, instead of being rigid, look for ways to have the shift or meeting moved, covered, or eliminated altogether. Again, if this is becoming a problem, it’s one thing. But for a tenured employee who has earned their time with you and does excellent work, being flexible will mean far more than many other perks do.
Your staff not only spins the gears that make your company move but when they are happy they perform better. If you forget how to treat your staff like humans, they are less likely to be motivated to work the long hours during a tough project.
Treat your staff like humans
Everybody gets it wrong sometimes. Employees make bad decisions, and so does everyone else. Be sure to align your feedback to employees with their history at the company. If there’s never been serious issues and this is a minor mistake, use it as a teaching opportunity versus a harsh criticism.
Of course, stealing, lying or cheating should never be allowed.
What if this policy is not good for your company, have you gotten feedback? Implemented changes according to feedback? Are you certain you would consider it fair if you were the employee?
A great way to make sure your policies are fair and balanced is to instate a task force. Recruit 3-5 of your employees who have sincere passion and dedication to making the workplace better. Work with them to create policies that make sense for your team. You’ll find the gathering of several opinions and thoughts will develop well-rounded policies that could even help you attract high-quality talent in the future.
Remembering your staff is human can sound easy and prove to be a challenge. But you already knew this, because just like your staff, you’re human.
By Alex Yohn
Dec 16, 2016
You’re a manager and you have finally realized that after months of coaching, retraining, and discussions that a member of your team just hasn’t responded to your efforts to become a better-performing employee. No one said letting an employee go during the holidays – or at any time, really – is easy.
Regardless of when or why it’s the how that matters most when releasing an employee from their position. Contrary to some opinions, business operations and empathy can intersect if you’re willing to take the steps.
Compassion matters
How your company and your employee will feel about the situation can go one of many ways. If you let an employee go with compassion, it could alter the feeling in the room even before your terminated employee knows that they’ll be leaving the company. At the end of the day, it is two humans, sitting in a room together, discussing something that no one hopes to do or have happen to them. While compassion is a central theme to the holiday season, it should play a role in your termination process throughout the year.
Jeff Weiner, C.E.O. of LinkedIn, writes that “compassion is a more objective form of empathy. This idea of seeing things clearly through another person’s perspective can be invaluable when it comes to relating with others, particularly in tense work situations.”
While you aren’t in complete control of how your employee will react, you can do a few things to show more compassion and establish a better conversation.
Make sure your employee knows what was expected of them
Have you regularly had performance reviews with your employee? Did their job description reflect what they were required to do every day? Has your employee signed a performance improvement plan (PIP) or some other written notification that they needed to do better? Be sure to have these on hand and talk through where it worked and where it did not. At the end of the day, even if you are terminating an employee, your role of being a coach to that person is not over. By giving them the gift of valuable feedback throughout the process of letting them go, you’re allowing them to be better equipped for their next job.
While opinions vary on whether or not to discuss, in detail, what went wrong, providing your employee with this information will help them to better make this transition.
Plan the conversation before you have it
Try to schedule your conversation on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday before the end of your business day. This will allow your employee to immediately begin looking for work and allow them to take quickly arranged interviews.
Speak honestly and upfront. Tell your employee that you are letting them go from their position.
Then move the focus away from terminating an employee. Did your employee achieve anything great in their tenure at your company? Pair that with your appreciation of their soft skills and talk to them about what your company is thankful to have built with them. Have a dialog with your employee that celebrates their successes with your company and softly moves them in the right direction to begin finding their next position or career move.
Start and end your conversation on a positive note
While you ought to let your employee ask questions and process (or not process) what you’re going to tell them, make a point to outline your opening and closing statements.
Your tone is crucial, so be sure to take a thankful yet authoritative voice. Feel like you’re giving them an award instead of a sentence, but don’t let them think your decision to let them go could be persuaded otherwise.
While most terminated employees will feel the latter, once they have moved on to their next job, they almost always feel that their release from a job that wasn’t working was in their best interest. Chances are they too will feel like this day was a good day, just not in that moment.
Go the extra mile
Provide your employee information on their local unemployment office or connect them with a friend in recruiting at another company where their skills might be a better fit.
Do you follow them on social media? If they tweet or post a Facebook status about their search for work, retweet or share their post. Even writing them a recommendation on LinkedIn would be helpful and seen as going above and beyond.
Prepare a reference letter for your employee in advance if you’re letting the employee go under circumstances that allow for it. Not only did your conversation celebrate their successes, but now they have written proof of what you and your company thought about them and can use this to find their next job.
Just because there are many reasons they might not have worked out in your company, that doesn’t mean they won’t be a great fit elsewhere. Maybe they weren’t happy?
Raise respect and maintain morale by not making waves through the office
Close your conversation on a level of mutual respect by discussing ways that you can move through terminating an employee. A mutual understanding to keep heads high and profiles low will help you, your company, and your employee close this part of their career on a positive note and prevent explosive or divisive issues during the most wonderful time of the year.
If you can, let your team know in a way that includes the individual. Send a company email saying that after all of the great time you’ve spent with the employee, they will now be heading to a new adventure. Give them the dignity they need and deserve, despite not being the best fit for the position that they were in at the time.
We’re all human.
