How much is "worker tension" costing your company?
Terminating an employee tips.

January 1, 2012

You should prepare to explain the jobholder's termination (Sample Termination Letter)

Our problem employee said after we fired him "what took you so long". He's right. Here's what we should have done.

You should prepare to explain the jobholder's termination to several different people and groups, including. You must list any monetary compensation and make clear any worker benefit packages the former employee should receive. You may believe a worker is doing something against the rules or that puts him or other workers in danger, but have not been able to witness the worker engaging in these actions. When sacking for illegal reasons (which does at times occur), you don't want any documentation. You should treat the disgruntled employee with respect before, during and after the firing. More significantly, affected personnel can sue for damages including back pay. Please note in my definition I say nothing about the merit of the sacked worker's legal action.

Your separation memorandum should briefly summarize the detailed documentation you collected while trying to reform this worker. The written notice template we provided shows simple and formal way to tackle disobedient or errant workers. The worker has 3 days to give you his improvement plan and rebuttal. This proves you are not out to "get" the jobholder. These are cases of gross misconduct, and you can dismiss these employees right away. Or, for misbehavior, you expect to see misbehavior infractions stop right away. You can specify a clause that if an employee is fired for certain reasons, than they will not be eligible for any severance benefits. When you realize that terminating someone will upgrade esprit de corps and the business productivity, you can sleep at night.

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Our problem employee said after we fired him "what took you so long". He's right. Here's what we should have done.