Correct Employee Layoff to Avoid Adverse Effects for the Company - Essay Example

EMPLOYEE LAYOFF By Employee Layoff “Employee layoff” refers to the termination of a worker’s employment by the employer. An employee’s layoff meeting can be a very traumatic and hectic process for the employees and the manager respectively. In many occasions, when employees receive the news of their layoff, they develop negative emotions. For instance, they might quickly turn into an emotional wreck, become belligerent or even hurl verbal abuses on the managers. A manger should therefore formulate ways of coping up with these negative emotions. According to Pettinger, Nelson and Economy, there are three techniques that managers can use to defuse the situations of negative employee’s emotions during layoff (2011, para. 1). These technique are discussed as follows. The first proposal is that as a manager, one should not emphasize with the employees. Pettinger et al., state that during employee layoffs managers should not try to “sweeten the pill” but instead they should try to understand their situation (2011, para. 2). This is so since the dismissal news delivered to the employees can be one of the worst that they can take with ease. Therefore, the employee could respond in emotional ways such as crying and acting distressed. The manager should therefore not emphasize with the employee instead, they should carry out the appropriate measure depending on the situation. For instance, upon the disclosure of the news, when the employee starts crying, the manager should not try to stop them. However, they would hand the employee a piece of tissue and continue with the discussion. Secondly, managers should always be a matter of fact and firm during the dismissal meeting. During the meeting it is highly likely that the employee will become angry. According to Pettinger et al., managers should always try to uphold a “calm and businesslike demeanor” during the dismissal meeting (2011, para. 3). This implies that the managers should not in any way try to show the employee that they can have a change of mind during the process. Managers should therefore not lead the employees to believe that they are engaging in a negotiation process but they should rather use the available facts to show the employee the real reasons behind the dismissal. Consequently, the managers should uphold firmness and insist to the employee that the decision is final and it is not subject to any alteration whatsoever. Lastly, the managers should ensure that the meeting is kept on track. The emotions and action brought up by an employee during a dismissal meeting can divert the scope of the meeting. Pettinger et al. points out that even though letting the employee express his feelings during the meeting is appropriate, the manager should not give the employee the chance of steering the meeting from the main objective. The manager should therefore outline and inform the employee on the particular framework upon which the meeting will take place. If the employee does not comply, for instance when he becomes angry and abusive, explain to him that you will terminate the meeting. Using these techniques will ensure that the manager carries out the dismissal meeting appropriately. The dismissal process follows a step by step procedure. There are several procedures of conducting a dismissal meeting depending on the type of organization and its practices. The steps of conducting a dismissal can be discussed as follows. According to Armstrong, the first step requires the manager to notify the employees on the meeting (2012, p. 586). Employee notifications ought to be carried out in person. Usually, the employee’s immediate supervisor or is the one supposed to conduct the notification meeting since this would not be an appropriate time to have someone that the employee has never related with to conduct the meeting. During the meeting, managers should not engage in small talk but rather get straight to the point. They should pass the message directly but empathetically giving the workers time to read the written notice of layoff. However, Armstrong points out that the manager should ensure that the employee has a reasonable notice, for instance, a couple of days (2012, p. 586). This would enable them to plan for the meeting. Consequently, the manager should plan on how the meeting will be conducted. For instance, the manager will identify another member or members of the managerial board to be present in the meeting and take notes to depict evidence since they could be important in case the employee decides to appeal. These notes or any other evidence generally provide support and shows the systematic proceedings of the meeting. After this, the interview is bound to commence. The manager should start the meeting by stating to the employees, the main reason behind the layoff (Armstrong, 2012, p. 586). This will ensure that the employee is given the knowledge on what is expected to go on in the meeting. During this time, the manager is supposed to give the employee adequate time to respond and state their case. After the response, the manager should take a break in order to critically look at and consider the various points of concern that have been raised (Armstrong, 2012, p. 586). This can have a generally good effect to the meeting since it will create relief and ease any pressure that had ensued in the meeting. After the critical analysis the manager should determine the appropriate decision or action to be taken. In case the manager decides on taking an action, it should be staged. According to Armstrong, depending on the manager’s knowledge of the employee, it may be sensible to have another manager from the HR if needed. The manager should also discuss with the employees what they felt could occur or they could have (2012, p. 586). This will enable the manager to listen to the employees critically thereby documenting anything that be seen as a potential problem. An employee who has been separated or laid off by a company can be entitled to compensation depending on the contract or agreement that was in existence. Compensation can be provided by the company in several ways. Guerin points out the different ways through which compensation may be provided by a corporation for the dismissal of employees as discussed below. The first option requires that the manager pays all the money that is owed to the employees (Guerin, 2014, para. 1). This could be the final paycheck before lay off and any other accruals. The second option might be compensation in terms of severance. This might be necessitated by either the state laws or the company’s policies (Guerin, 2014, para. 2). State law severance requires that the employees who are laid off should be given a pre-determined amount of money by their managers. On the other hand, companies could have policies which for example would pay the laid off employees a specified amount of money each year. Comparatively, the laid off employees could be entitled to unemployment benefits (Guerin, 2014, para. 3). Generally, these benefits are given if the employees had worked in the organization for a specified minimum amount of time, they have been laid off without fault, mostly due to the company’s financial reasons, and finally, they are able, available and actively hunting for another job. In addition, workers can receive compensation as a result of insurance (Guerin, 2014, para. 4). This mostly occurs when employees are laid off due to work related injuries and they can therefore not be able to continue carrying out their organizational duties. Finally, in some cases, the company can give the laid off employees pay depending on the court ruling (Guerin, 2014, para. 5). This mostly occurs during instances where the layoff was not legal. For instance, on grounds of racial discrimination. The disbursement of compensation can be shown using a chart. The following chart could be used to show the timeline of the disbursement of compensation. This is an example of a chart that can be used to show the proportions of compensation reimbursements that the employees are entitled to incase of a layoff. Even though employee layoff may be done so as to benefit the company in various aspects such as financial performance, it might affect the company in various ways. Some of the ways that employee layoff can affect the company are discussed below. According to Rappaport, employee layoff in corporations that depend heavily on their personal customer relations can have an adverse effect in terms of the profitability (1998, p. 10). This implies that when employee’s personal relationship with the customer is strong, during layoff, the customers may opt not to continue purchasing the company’s goods since the individuals that they were relating with is not present. Consequently, employee layoff might lead to adverse effects in the corporation in terms of the morale, hard work and productivity of the workforce that has been left behind (Rappaport, 1998, p. 10). This is because most employees work coherently and therefore when others are laid off, some will be demotivated. Lastly, employee lay off can also affect the competitiveness of the company in the industry. According to Pinder, at times employees do not keenly look at the hidden skills and key job performances during employee lay off (2008, p.344). Therefore, these employees can look for jobs elsewhere in the same market thereby providing excessive competition in the industry. This could affect the overall performance of the company. References Armstrong, M., & Armstrong, M. (2012). Armstrongs handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Guerin, L., (2014). Laid Off Employees: What Compensation is Available? Retrieved from http://www.employmentlawfirms.com/termination-layoffs/laid-off-benefits.htm. Pettinger, R., Economy, P., & Nelson, B. (2011). Management for dummies. Chichester: Wiley. Pinder, C. C. (2008). Work motivation in organizational behavior. New York: Psychology Press. Rappaport, A. (1998). Creating shareholder value: A guide for managers and investors. New York: Free Press. . Read More