Offboarding With Care: Conducting Legal & Ethical Terminations

If an employer has exhausted all the necessary steps to help the employee improve his or her work performance – and those steps are not working – it may be time to terminate the employee. 

Terminating an employee is not only stressful for the employee losing a job, but also for the employer. There are legal and ethical steps to take when you terminate an employee. The company must ensure its actions are above reproach. How the company terminates an employee sends a powerful message not only to the terminated employee but also to the remaining staff, either positive or negative.

Session Highlights:

• Offboarding is not an afterthought
• Pre-termination efforts on the part of the employer
• 3 key aspects of a proper termination
• Top 10 things NOT to do when terminating an employee
• Laws affecting termination
• Legal ramifications of not terminating an employee
• Contractual and At-Will Employment situations
• Offboarding involuntary and voluntary separations
• Conducting the termination meeting
• Preparing for and effectively dealing with a volatile employee
• Determine when severance is appropriate
• Final pay considerations: Federal vs. State laws
• Resources to assist the employee in the transition
• Handling requests for references for terminated employees
• Communicating the termination to co-workers without invading the employee’s privacy
• Documenting your termination discussions
• Post-termination record retention guidelines
• Recognizing lessons learned
  

Why you Should Attend:

Regardless of the company or industry, the way an employer treats their employees as they exit has never been more important than it is today. When termination is done well, the affected employee feels he or she has been treated with dignity.

Most managers, regardless of level, handle the uncomfortable task of terminating employees badly. The biggest mistake managers make is terminating an employee in a harsh, unkind, and insensitive way. Most times, this happens because managers have not been properly trained to handle terminations and are left to their own devices. In all too many cases, managers are likely to either say inappropriate things or fail to handle terminations expediently and professionally.

Who should attend:

• Senior Leadership
• HR Professionals
• Managers & Supervisors
• Team Leaders
• Operations Professionals
• Compliance Professionals