How to Lay Off Employees
How to Lay Off Employees
Payroll is not just paying money to hard working employees. Sometimes it is also using information from payroll to decide when and where to make cuts to keep the company going. These cuts can be small, like taking the free coffee out of the break room. Most times though they are to an employee’s hours, and in some cases even their entire job. As a company expands, it will at times have to lose to gain. If a department that is based on an old technology or service is still on the payroll, it could be costing more than it is making. This is when layoffs and downsizing must be done.
Very few people enjoy telling an employee that they are getting laid off. The people who do enjoy it are typically not the most popular managers with the company for obvious reason. When it comes to keeping a company going, difficult decisions must be made. These situations are difficult for everyone in the company. The employer must tell someone they have lost their job. The employee has lost his job. The other employees are all nervous that they may lose their jobs. This is why it is important that when laying off employees, the procedure is done correctly. Know when, where, and how to approach an employee to make the entire progress a little bit easier.
• Analysis the Duties of your Employees: This is not a decision to take lightly. Do some research and observation of your employees. Make sure that the ones you are looking at dismissing from their job are really assets you can operate without. Seek out positions that are outdated or that can be absorbed into another department without much hassle. See who is taking the more out of a company’s payroll than they are putting back in.
• Don’t Drag Out the Process: If you are looking to dismiss multiple employees, do not let them take several days to complete. Other employees will notice their fellow co-workers losing their jobs and the longer it goes on the more they will fear for their own job. Stress in the workplace can be counterproductive and should be avoided as much as possible.
• Keep it Private: Losing your job is never easy to handle. Losing your job in front of your friends and co-workers can be simply embarrassing. Invite the employee into your office or another quiet location. The rest of the work place will eventually learn about what happened, but it will be more comfortable for the employee in general not to lose his position while being watched by a crowd.
• Have Information Ready: Don’t approach the employee without the proper information ready. Know how you are going to explain why his position is being terminated. Do not use names to designate a position, use the job title. Have information about severance packages and any other benefits available for the employee.
• Be Respectful: The employee may not work under you anymore, but he still knows the other employees who do still work for you. Make sure the employee feels like his contribution to the company was appreciated. How he is treated while being let go can affect the rest of the work place’s feelings about their own jobs.
• Don’t Use Email or Text: The best way to inform an employee he is being let go is in person. It may be uncomfortable for you, but it is a part of the job as an employer or manager. If the employee works away from the office in a position you cannot physically reach them at, use the phone and call them to inform them. Never use email or text messages. It feels highly impersonal and causes the employee to feel as if they were not appreciated enough to even be informed in person or by phone.
• Don’t Wait Till the Day is Over: The employee may love or hate their job, but at the end of the day chances are they are going to be tired from working. This is why it is more ideal to inform them of their termination earlier in the work shift. Maybe wait a little bit after they clock into work. Let them wake up a little first.
• Do not announce the Layoffs until those Affected have been Notified: Wait until the ones that you are planning on dismissing are told about their job being terminated before telling the office. Telling them before could start a small sense of panic in the office. The employees wondering who is next? Should they keep working if they are just going to get laid off? They start to gossip about who they think is going and staying and can cause tension between employees.
• Don’t Go all at Once: You shouldn’t prolong the inevitable, but neither should you rush it. Space it out evenly so it seems a well calculated situation and not a sudden downsizing where everyone is at risk.
• Offer to Give Referrals: It may seem like a small thing, but it shows that you cared about your employee and it can help them find a new job position. All it involves is a one page letter stating that the employee did his job effectively and was productive to the company
• Be Ready to Handle the Remaining Employees: The employees that remain after the layoffs are complete will understandably have questions about the future of the company and by extension, their own jobs. Speak to them about why you were required to dismiss some positions and be ready to answer any questions that may arise.
Though these tips may help ease the process, it will still be difficult and for some employees it can also be emotional. Go into the situation ready to do what must be done. It will be difficult, but the sooner and smoother it goes, the sooner it will be done with and you can get back to managing the company. The longer it takes the longer you are losing profit because of an out of date department.
