The secret of writing severance agreements in the employer's favor

There are many reasons that make it necessary for an employee dismissal. As unpleasant as the idea of employee dismissal might seem, business owners and Human Resource Managers can approach it in a well thought out way to minimize the negative feelings associated with “letting people go.”

Some of the reasons for employee dismissal are circumstantial.

* Business and technological changes in recent years have made it necessary for employees to develop new skills. There are instances where some of those employees either cannot master the skills or simply refuse to do so. That brings the business owner face-to-face with the need to eliminate a problem they cannot solve in any other way.

* Downsizing is a business need that confronts businesses both big and small. Asian countries such as Japan have had to learn the lesson that in today’s global economy with all its fluctuations and changes, the day of “employment for life” has become financially impossible.

* Automation that replaces people in the workforce is also a reality of our age. Labor-intensive tasks cannot keep pace with automated competitors and businesses must stay abreast of the times or go out of business altogether. Unfortunately, this fact produces the same need to reduce the workforce.

And those are the easy ones--some employee dismissal is distasteful.

* The employee is not doing his or her job for whatever reason. It is one of those situations that nobody likes to deal with, but left alone it will not get better all by itself. There is a dire need for the manager to take immediate action.

* There are times when an employee becomes a liability the business cannot afford to support. For example, a refusal to wear protective devices, smoking in undesignated areas, or after repeated warnings for misconduct create situations where dismissal is the eventual consequence.

The “when” may be clear, but the “how” is another matter altogether.

When the need for employee dismissal arises, it rarely comes as a surprise to either the employer or the employee involved. Consciously or subconsciously, the employee facing termination, will often begin offensive behavior to make it more difficult to let him or her go. An employee-employer stalemate of this kind can only make it worse and the manager must address this immediately.

To borrow from a late President of the United States, the employer has nothing to fear but fear itself. That is, of course, if the employer has followed all the legalities associated with employee relations. Unless the dismissal is disciplinary in nature because of employee misconduct, there are successful ways of easing the separation anxiety of everyone involved. Severance packages and job relocation services may be a part of the termination interview. Tactful language and providing a way of leaving the business with dignity in front of other employees are conditions for making the termination process less painful for everyone involved.

What you may be missing before firing any employee