Communicating the dismissal

Notify workers as soon as possible after someone has been dismissed. Pretending that nothing has happened will only fuel gossip or concerns among remaining group members that they’ll be dismissed next. The best way to do this is to hold a team meeting in which you:

• Concisely explain what has happened. For example, you might say, “Elsa was dismissed yesterday because of chronic lateness” or “Toby was dismissed after many months of unsuccessful effort to improve his work performance.” Do not go into detail or elaborate on your decision. Also, be sure not to criticize the former employee.

  50 Dismissing an Employee

• Reassure team members that the dismissal had nothing to do with their own performance or behavior.
• Acknowledge that this is a difficult time for the entire department and that you understand people will be feeling uncomfortable about it.
• Explain what your plans are for seeking a replacement and whether the team’s focus will change because of the employee’s departure.

After the meeting, schedule time with each person to listen to his or her concerns and help them process their feelings about the change. Ask what you can do to help people navigate through this difficult time.

Redistributing work

After you’ve dismissed an employee, talk with your team about how best to redistribute the workload. Reassign projects and tasks in a way that’s realistic, fair, and manageable for the remaining team members and that enables them to remain productive and positive.

Equally important, you’ll need to decide what to do about the former employee’s formal and informal skills. If you aren’t planning to replace the former employee, or if you think it will take a while to recruit someone new, you’ll need to ensure that the dismissed employee’s skills are covered by other individuals in the group.

For example, a former employee may have had important social skills (“Ramon always knew how to smooth out disagreements”) or technical skills (“Talia was the only one who knew how to use that graphics software”). In either case, other team members will need to take responsibility for ensuring that those skills are still present in the group.

Talk about these skill gaps with your team, and work out ways to get them covered by the most appropriate individuals. Your team may feel understandably hesitant to offer ideas or ask for changes, so you will need to clarify how these decisions will be made.