How To Terminate Employees Gracefully

Terminating an employee is probably the hardest decision for entrepreneurs in Pakistan. This decision, if not taken properly can lead a company into a series of lawsuits and bad name on a whole. Therefore companies should take this decision thoughtfully without getting into unnecessary haste.

Employee termination is a multifaceted process involving the legal, sociological and psychosomatic aspect in it. Majority employers in Pakistan only concerns with the legal aspect of termination without realizing the sociological and psychosomatic consequences of the decision. Legal aspect of the termination revolves all the legal bindings between employer and the company and the employer has to make sure that the reason for which employee is terminated should come under the legal jurisdiction and all the necessary steps are taken to make sure nothing proscribed has happened. Psychosomatic aspects gives the liberty to an employee to explain him/herself before the final call is made. However the sociological impact considers the impact of termination on other staff members.

For a successful business an employer has to make sure that termination procedure is taken with all the sensitivity involved without hurting the self-esteem of the employee and rest of the staff.

Here are few do’s of terminating an employee with all the dignity intact.

Be objective no matter what: Jobs in Pakistan can never run so smooth to have no single intense moment. People get pressured and take steps in the heat of the moment. However, the decision to terminate an employee should be taken on emotional ground with all the protocol being observed. If something awful happened, supervisors should take suspension orders in account and decide the final verdict only after proper investigation and evaluation of facts. It should be an administrative decision rather than an individual call.

Do not burn all the bridges: As stated earlier it is a crucial step for employer as well to wind up the termination process as smooth as possible. This is because terminated employees serves as a company’s introduction to new place they move and can cause to build contacts across the board for the previous company. Similarly if the termination is conducted without considering the self-esteem of the employees, they may end up in sharing fabricated or even true stories of employer’s misconduct which can lead to demotivation in the existing staff.

Complete your paperwork: Even if everything leaves smooth apparently, there can be chances that the employee contest the termination decision. Therefore you must complete your paperwork and record of the employee’s work review. The legal experts of the company should take a close look at the employer’s record to make sure that company is not laying behind at any of the deserved payments or act of wage violation on their part which can later embarrass them.

Analyze what you gained from the chapter: Termination is not a onetime act. A professional company has to go through it many times. Therefore, they shouldn’t just take it lightly. Instead they should review the situation properly and take notes for future reference. Particularly the sentiments of the team members should be taken into account and they must be conveyed the entire situation in order to avoid the flow of rumors mill and disappointment of the existing staff. If you contained the situation well, you can avoid some other valuable resources to flow out after being disappointed by the company termination policy.