It's NEVER fun to be terminated, it's NEVER fun to be the employer who has to terminate the employee either, but it is important to remember to be sensitive and keep things legal. Read on! TrainingSys.com has it right!
What do you think?
How to Terminate Employees Smartly
from October 2001 Recruiting, Inspiring & Retaining E-zine
Courtesy of http://www.trainingsys.com
• Work out all the details of any severance package before the termination meeting. You may want to ask the employee to sign a severance agreement with a litigation waiver if you are providing assistance above and beyond what laid off employees typically receive. (For employees 40 and older, make sure the agreement includes conditions and language consistent with the older Worker Benefit Protection Act.)
• Have a plan for retrieving any money or equipment the employee needs to return.
• Be prepared to answer the employee's questions about departure, references, unemployment, COBRA, and any assistance in finding another job.
• Strongly consider providing some outplacement assistance. This often redirects any employee anger into constructive efforts.
• Carefully craft your opening statement, clearly communicating that the employee is being terminated and why. While showing compassion, convey that all relevant managers agree with the decision, that all factors have been weighed, and that the decision is final--not open to discussion or negotiation. You may want to rehearse this statement or write it out.
• Cite reasons for the dismissal briefly and factually. don't make value judgments or attempt to analyze.
• Don't apologize, and don't take responsibility for the failure. You may want to just express regret that the opportunity did not work out.
• Don't talk about "how difficult this is for me." You still have a job, and the employee may resent your indulging in your discomfort.
• Have documentation of transgressions or poor evaluations on hand, but don't use them unless necessary. Make sure that the documentation is 100 percent accurate so you aren't compromised in any future legal proceedings.
• Aim for a 5- to 10-minute meeting. Maintain control of the session and don't stray from the central issue. If the employee gets argumentative, keep your responses measured and factual.
• Hold the meeting in a private area. If no neutral area is available or appropriate, the supervisor's office is fine.
• The ideal number of people representing the firm is usually two. (You want a witness, and you don't want someone to be alone with an employee who could get combative.) The person who evaluated the employee should participate, and the other representative might be from human resources.
• Arrange for the employee to remove personal effects in private.
• Terminate employees before Friday. Most experts prefer this timing because you're not ruining someone's weekend; the employee can immediately consult with a counselor, attorney, or other helpful professional; and fellow employees aren't building questions or anger over an entire weekend.
• Terminate employees at the end of the day. Letting someone go earlier can imply severe wrongdoing and "defame by innuendo."
• Try to avoid terminating employees around holidays or birthdays.
• Determine what will be said to remaining employees. The best route is usually to be quite general ("It just didn't work out") while avoiding dishonesty.
• Offer a delayed telephone exit interview, if appropriate, to demonstrate respect for the employee's observations and ideas.
• Try to end the termination meeting on an upbeat note, such as your organization's willingness to provide transition tools to the employee.
• Document the termination conference.
• If you need to terminate some employees and layoff others, try to do the terminating first. If you let everyone go at the same time, the laid off employees may blame their departures on failure to get rid of the poor performers.
Talking pains to terminate employees sensitively is the humane thing to do, and it is good business. You want a reputation for fairness and compassion throughout your industry and community, and you want to minimize any risk of litigation or charges of discrimination within your organization.
Remember that employers with 100 or more employees are covered by WARN--the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act. Effected nationally in February 1989, the act required employers to provide at least 60 days notice of plant closings and mass layoffs.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
NOOSE in the NEWS!!!!!!
WHAT?
It's TRUE! Can U believe this still happens? SHAME ON Crom Companies!
FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES SUED FOR RACIAL HARASSMENT, THREATENING BLACK WORKER WITH NOOSE
EEOC Says Crom Companies Subjected African Americans to Racial Insults, Physical Abuse
MIAMI – The Crom Corporation and Crom Equipment Rentals violated federal law when they allowed the racial harassment of black employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today. The EEOC also says the Florida-based construction companies unlawfully suspended an African American employee for complaining about severe racial insults, threats and physical abuse.
According to the suit, a white employee at Crom’s Holly Hill, Fla., location locked a black coworker in a tool shed and then spray-painted the shed door with the word “Jail.” The EEOC said that the same white employee also put a hangman’s noose around the black employee’s neck, hung the noose in his work area, and threatened to decapitate him. Another African American employee was offended when he saw the noose hanging at the Holly Hill site. Crom was aware of the harassment but didn’t stop it, according to the suit. Instead, the EEOC said, Crom suspended the black worker after he complained about the noose and rewarded the white offender with a higher-paying position.
“It is shocking and sobering that such cruelty can still occur at an American workplace,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “The EEOC will not falter in its quest to put an end to such injustice.”
Racial harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida (EEOC v. The Crom Corporation, Case No. 1:09-cv-00128-SPM-AK) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
EEOC Miami District Director Jacqueline McNair said, “Even in 2009, nooses still make their way into work environments. The EEOC will vigorously prosecute cases with this sort of workplace terror.”
EEOC Miami Regional Attorney Nora E. Curtin, added, “The nightmarish abuse endured in this case is appalling. The hangman's noose is a haunting symbol of racial hatred and must never be tolerated. Employers must take swift and meaningful action to punish those responsible for such outrageous conduct.”
Crom Corporation and Crom Equipment Rentals sell concrete water tanks and scaffolding and operate throughout Florida and in at least nine other states.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
It's TRUE! Can U believe this still happens? SHAME ON Crom Companies!
FLORIDA CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES SUED FOR RACIAL HARASSMENT, THREATENING BLACK WORKER WITH NOOSE
EEOC Says Crom Companies Subjected African Americans to Racial Insults, Physical Abuse
MIAMI – The Crom Corporation and Crom Equipment Rentals violated federal law when they allowed the racial harassment of black employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today. The EEOC also says the Florida-based construction companies unlawfully suspended an African American employee for complaining about severe racial insults, threats and physical abuse.
According to the suit, a white employee at Crom’s Holly Hill, Fla., location locked a black coworker in a tool shed and then spray-painted the shed door with the word “Jail.” The EEOC said that the same white employee also put a hangman’s noose around the black employee’s neck, hung the noose in his work area, and threatened to decapitate him. Another African American employee was offended when he saw the noose hanging at the Holly Hill site. Crom was aware of the harassment but didn’t stop it, according to the suit. Instead, the EEOC said, Crom suspended the black worker after he complained about the noose and rewarded the white offender with a higher-paying position.
“It is shocking and sobering that such cruelty can still occur at an American workplace,” said EEOC Acting Chairman Stuart J. Ishimaru. “The EEOC will not falter in its quest to put an end to such injustice.”
Racial harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida (EEOC v. The Crom Corporation, Case No. 1:09-cv-00128-SPM-AK) after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.
EEOC Miami District Director Jacqueline McNair said, “Even in 2009, nooses still make their way into work environments. The EEOC will vigorously prosecute cases with this sort of workplace terror.”
EEOC Miami Regional Attorney Nora E. Curtin, added, “The nightmarish abuse endured in this case is appalling. The hangman's noose is a haunting symbol of racial hatred and must never be tolerated. Employers must take swift and meaningful action to punish those responsible for such outrageous conduct.”
Crom Corporation and Crom Equipment Rentals sell concrete water tanks and scaffolding and operate throughout Florida and in at least nine other states.
The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Would YOU hire you?
Darlene McDaniel hits the nail right on the point! Think about it; if you wouldn't hire YOU, why would you expect someone else to?!!!!!
Would You Hire You?
May 31, 2009 by Darlene McDaniel
courtesy of www.bizzia.com
So many of you are out there in the market competing for jobs. Prior to the unemployment rate increasing, HR departments were very good at communicating rejection to job seekers.
If you applied, received an interview, typically you received a phone call or letter to let you know the status of your application. Today, not so. Many job seekers interview for a job, and then go home and wait by the phone. Unfortunately, the waiting may seem eternal when you don’t hear back from the organization one way or theno other. So my suggestion is to prepare for rejection. It is inevitable if you are seriously pursuing job opportunities. Here are three ways to help you prepare for rejection.
First, as you work your job search strategy, plan for “no”. In a perfect world, you would get a job offer every time you meet with an organization, but that is unrealistic. You are not going to get a job offer every time. So plan for it. Prepare yourself mentally so that you don’t allow discouragement to creep in. Every “no” is an opportunity to make an adjustment and keep moving forward in your search.
Second, keep your pipeline full of potential job opportunities. Don’t allow yourself to put all your hope on one job. If you have an opportunity to interview for a great job that you believe was tailor made for you. Find another one. Give yourself options so that if the opportunity doesn’t work out, you still have other opportunities where you are competing.
My third recommendation for you as you handle rejection in your job search is to learn how to self correct. If you are not getting job offers and no one is willing to give you feedback, than you have to learn how to assess the interviews, get input on your resume/cover letter, make minor or major adjustments and stay in the game. Self correction takes the anger and frustration out of the rejection.
Look at your self with an objective eye and ask yourself of you would really hire you based on your responses, your resume, your experience, etc.? If you wouldn’t hire your self than why should anyone else?
Would You Hire You?
May 31, 2009 by Darlene McDaniel
courtesy of www.bizzia.com
So many of you are out there in the market competing for jobs. Prior to the unemployment rate increasing, HR departments were very good at communicating rejection to job seekers.
If you applied, received an interview, typically you received a phone call or letter to let you know the status of your application. Today, not so. Many job seekers interview for a job, and then go home and wait by the phone. Unfortunately, the waiting may seem eternal when you don’t hear back from the organization one way or theno other. So my suggestion is to prepare for rejection. It is inevitable if you are seriously pursuing job opportunities. Here are three ways to help you prepare for rejection.
First, as you work your job search strategy, plan for “no”. In a perfect world, you would get a job offer every time you meet with an organization, but that is unrealistic. You are not going to get a job offer every time. So plan for it. Prepare yourself mentally so that you don’t allow discouragement to creep in. Every “no” is an opportunity to make an adjustment and keep moving forward in your search.
Second, keep your pipeline full of potential job opportunities. Don’t allow yourself to put all your hope on one job. If you have an opportunity to interview for a great job that you believe was tailor made for you. Find another one. Give yourself options so that if the opportunity doesn’t work out, you still have other opportunities where you are competing.
My third recommendation for you as you handle rejection in your job search is to learn how to self correct. If you are not getting job offers and no one is willing to give you feedback, than you have to learn how to assess the interviews, get input on your resume/cover letter, make minor or major adjustments and stay in the game. Self correction takes the anger and frustration out of the rejection.
Look at your self with an objective eye and ask yourself of you would really hire you based on your responses, your resume, your experience, etc.? If you wouldn’t hire your self than why should anyone else?
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