Tom is asked to suddenly lay off an IT employee whose terrible work ethic has cost the company business from two clients. Upon hearing he'll be fired, the employee looks in the company's password directory and tries to make large, unnecessary purchases in Tom's name in an attempt to bring Tom down with him. Here's what happened and how Tom reacted to the whole situation.
Finding good employees seems to be like finding a small fish in a huge pond. So when Tom is asked by his CEO to layoff an employee whose work ethic isn't the greatest, his life is made significantly more difficult. Here's how Tom handled the situation.
Be prepared.
Tom knew, at least, a few days before the employee was set to be fired, so he prepared himself for the unfortunate task. Being prepared is very important when laying off an employee because you don't want the pressures of the moment to throw you off your groove. Have all the necessary paperwork ready and know how they are going to return employee materials before you fire them. They will inevitably have questions about the layoff process, so anticipate those to ease their concerns.
The less you say, the better.
The terrible awkwardness of a layoff meeting is enough to make anyone go crazy, and Tom is no exception to that. In situations like these, the tendency to ramble is very apparent, so resist the temptation to talk too much and over-explain. Tom did everything correctly and had all the documentation with him. Because of that, Tom didn't need to say more than "I'm sorry, but we have to let you go." If you are terminating an employee for misbehavior of any kind, make sure you consult with your company's HR department or your company's attorney and have a paper trail documenting your employee's actions. Be professional and give your employee enough information to help them understand why they are being let go, but there is no need to go into detail.
Restrict access to confidential information.
Thanks to Tom's superior planning skills and thanks to the company's password permissions feature through TeamsID, the employee could no longer access any sensitive accounts. That's a good thing because the employee was upset that he was being fired and tried to access that sensitive information in order to bring Tom down with him. Tom got to keep his job because he made sure that any access to sensitive information was restricted.
Don't forget to plan ahead and restrict any access to information you need to keep confidential before you meet.
Take it from Tom.
You can make your life, and the lives of your management team, easier by implementing a good employee termination system if you:
- Come prepared
- Say as little as possible, while still giving pertinent information
- Restrict access to confidential information
Your former employees and your sanity will thank you.
Learn More About TeamsID
If you are working in an office that uses web or cloud services, TeamsID helps you ensure that your data is secure and your employees are more productive. All passwords, company as well as personal, can be managed, updated, and shared with only the people who need them. Permissions can be set for a team or individual level, so you never have to worry that the wrong people are seeing the wrong information. No more "lost password" calls to IT. No more emails or calls between employees regarding passwords or password changes.
See how TeamsID works, and you'll see at how it made Tom's training process infinitely easier.
