As the end of the year draws
near, you might be thinking about terminating an employee
you've been meaning to, but haven't. Or you might be
considering eliminating those positions you've been talking
about, but haven't had the time. Your accounting and
finance department might be pushing the decision for budgetary
reasons. Don't let them. Business articles say the
time of the year is irrelevant. Don't believe
them. Now is not the time.
How you treat your employees
is a form of public relations for your organization. How
you treat your employees, especially at this time of year,
says more about your company, for a longer period of time,
than you might realize.
Chances are that you've been
talking and thinking about these changes for a while.
None of us like letting someone go, so we usually put it
off. You already know this, but stalling has made the
situation worse. The employee assumes things must be
okay if some time has passed without any negative or
corrective feedback. Others will feel their positions
are safe until next year. Any action taken now could
come as a bigger surprise than is necessary. Adults are
not fond of surprises when it comes to their employment
situation.
I'm not talking about an
employee who is dishonest or violating company policies.
I'm talking about the employee who hasn't been a good fit for
a while (maybe from the beginning) and you've been putting off
the inevitable. Now is not the time.
When you have on-going
performance issues with an employee that have become
career-ending, or a department you want to shut down, the
employees should be notified before November. At this
point, the notification should wait until the first of the
year or after. Some companies even have policies
covering this.
Employees that are laid off
during the holiday season remember it for years.
Employees
terminated this time of year can get very angry, which
makes them more likely to look for revenge (i.e., sue
you). They also will tell a lot of other people, and
remind others annually. Repercussions of this type of
decision-making can affect your recruiting efforts externally
and your employee relations internally. Can you
afford this type of advertising, especially with the predicted
crunch coming in our hiring market?
Linda Bailey,
SPHR, is a consultant, speaker, trainer and teacher in Human
Resource issues facing employers, emphasizing the
employer-employee relationship. With a goal of "helping
employers from needing employment lawyers", her expertise
covers both crises intervention and continuing management
solutions. Linda can be reached at (727) 528-0556 or e-mail at
Linda@BaileyCG.com.
Her website is www.BaileyCG.com.
