15 things you should never do when letting an employee go
Managing a team can be one of the most rewarding, but also the most daunting challenges of your professional life.
As a small business owner, manager, or team leader, you know how important it is to inspire and motivate your workforce to collaborate towards shared goals and targets.
Establishing a healthy workplace culture should be a priority for every organisation. When people feel valued and supported in their work, productivity and company loyalty improves, as well as staff retention rates. High staff morale also reduces absenteeism and performance problems, and helps you maintain a strong relationship with your team.
Sometimes a working relationship doesn’t work out, however, and you have to let one of your employees go. It’s not ideal, but if you have exhausted all other options of professional support, performance improvement plans, and disciplinary procedures, then you need to get ready for one the unenviable task of arranging a dismissal.
Nobody enjoys a dismissal, but you are in a position to make sure it happens with minimal upset not only to the employee you are letting go, but also the rest of your workforce. Effective leadership involves compassion and empathy, as well as clear thinking and firm resolve.
Hopefully you won’t find yourself in the position of having to part ways with an employee very often, but when it does happen, it helps to be prepared. HeadwayCapital have put together a useful infographic of advice for conducting a dismissal with professionalism and compassion, to get you started.
Photo by Toa Heftiba
