Planning the Termination Meeting

You need to do some planning before you notify the employee that he or she is going to be terminated.

1.  Immediate departure or delayed exits. Decide if you want the terminated employee to leave the workplace immediately upon notification. This is something that you need to be prepared to communicate to him or her during this meeting. There will also be situations when it is preferred that the terminated employee’s actual departure be delayed, and this needs to be decided ahead of time and communicated to the terminated employee. Any company communications concerning the termination should also be planned in advance.

2.  Where to conduct the meeting. One of the first things you need to think about is where you are going to conduct the termination meeting. The office of the Human Resources manager or someone else assigned this responsibility may be the best location. Regardless, you need to ensure that this meeting takes place in private. You should also think about how the employee will leave the facility after the meeting is over (this is especially important if the terminated employee is to leave the premises immediately upon notification of the termination). The less contact the terminated employee has with others, the better, particularly in a retail setting where customers may be present.

Even in non-public settings, you still need to think about the logistics of the termination. Avoid offices with windows where other employees can observe what’s going on. Try to conduct the meeting in a location that is closest to the exit of the facility to limit the contact with the rest of the workers after the meeting is over. Also think about what the terminated employee will need to take with him or her when leaving the facility, such as car keys, coat, and other personal belongings. Some of these things can be sent to the terminated employee afterward. Make a list with the terminated employee of what personal belongings he or she wants you to send, and then do it immediately and carefully pack up everything, including the inventory list.

There are a number of other decisions that need to be made before you notify the employee. The timing of the notification is important. A decision you need to make is when you are actually going to conduct the termination. In some situations, this decision will be dictated by the circumstances. If the employee has just been found to have violated a major work rule or has committed some other kind of serious policy violation, employee notification may have to be immediately after discovery. However, it still may be best to suspend an employee pending a complete investigation before finalizing a termination.

In other less urgent situations, there will be some latitude concerning when to notify the employee. You might be able to pick the time and day to make this notification. Obviously, there is no really good time to tell someone that he or she is being terminated, but certain times are less desirable than others. It is often thought that the end of the workweek is a good time to notify an employee that he or she is being fired. However, this is probably not the best timing, because if the former employee has questions or concerns, he or she will have to wait the entire weekend to get answers or guidance. Waiting until the end of the day may not be the best timing for this same reason. The best time is later in the day but before the end, when there is still time to talk and when the fewest coworkers are still on the premises.

3.  Contacting the employee. Do not notify the employee to come to a termination meeting until you have everything decided and approved, with all the information that you will need to share with the terminated employee available and ready to present. If you do not have all the information or are unable to provide important facts concerning the termination, it will make this process even more difficult for everyone. Specifically, make sure you have information concerning termination benefits, the organization’s policy regarding references, state unemployment compensation eligibility, medical benefit continuation, final paycheck, unused vacation pay, and so on in advance of the meeting.

Safety and security issues are important considerations in some termination situations. Remember, terminations don’t always have to be conducted in person. There may be times when notifying an employee by telephone or even mail is the preferred manner of notification (more information concerning safety and security concerns are covered in Chapter 4).