Ways That a Manager Can Cope with Any Negative Emotions That May Accompany an Employee Layoff - Case Study Example

Ways that a manager can cope with any negative emotions that may accompany an employee layoff

Once an employee has been laid off, there are several negative emotions that can affect him or her. Some of them are feelings of disappointment, sadness, guilt and many others. There are many different ways to deal with such negativity.

Communicating Clearly

When a manager decides that an employee’s services will no longer be needed in the organization, it is important to let the employees know what is about to happen to their situation in the company. Most importantly, this can be applied on the day the employee is required to stop the tenure in the company. While doing so, it is important that the manager is clear on the reasons why the organization finds it fitting to lay him or her off (Honeyball & Bowers, 2014). Delivering such news should be done with the prudence of highest order. These reasons should be genuine and not incline to any self-interests or feelings of the manager towards the person. When this is done, the employee understands why the company had to take such an action on him or her. It may deal partly with some of the negativity that may follow the dismissal. The employee remains calm and composed while receiving the news which makes it easier for the manager to express clearly the reason why they can no longer need the employee’s services in the company any longer. The employee will also be receptive to the information without interruption or cause havoc.

Listening to the Dismissed

Once an employee has received the news, it is normal for them to have an immediate response to the situation at hand. Sometime they do it verbally or through facial expressions. Some are very emotional, but they may not speak much or express themselves. It is important for the manager to pose for the employee to ask and inquire why the company takes the action towards him. It is wise for the manager to listen to the employee as he defends him or herself with reasons why he needs to continue offering his or her services to the company. It is clear that such moments are very emotional for the employee and hence one may be unclear on what to do or go next (Honeyball & Bowers, 2014). Most employees feel like their lives have come to a standstill. That is why the manager should listen to how the employee responds to the situation. Where necessary, the manager can initiate for dialogue.

Being Compassionate

It is always wise for the manager to respond to the employees’ situation with sympathy. Despite that the manager is the boss in the situation, the circumstance demands that one remains calm and if possible comfort the employee. The manager should not argue about the decision that has been taken or try to proof why it is the right decision (Barnett & Scrope, 2008). Defending the taken step may worsen the situation at that time. The decision may be right and made wisely but trying to prove the matter may worsen the negative emotions on the employee. More often, sharing and sympathizing with the situation may be a sign of compassion to the already suffering employee. Compassion may include offering applicable compensation for the sake of employee’s wellbeing before he settles.

Processes of conducting the dismissal meeting

Once an employer chooses that he no longer require services of some of the employees or one employee, he makes a decision of dismissing him or them. That is when a dismissal meeting is organized. The first step in conducting the meeting includes finding a location where the activity will take place. A place that is established must allow the meeting to be conducted face to face (Twomey, 2010). Phone calls, short messages, letters or emails for dismissal are unethical ways to lead any employee dismissal. At the location, the proper communication is done, handling of the dismissal and giving the necessary document for the situation. The person being dismissed is also allowed to raise the concerns at the same place.

The next step involves how the matter should be conducted. The employer or the manager in charge needs not to embarrass the employee unnecessarily in front of other employees or the public. The matter should be discrete, and there should be no public knowledge when conveying the message for the meeting with the person. The employee’s colleagues should not notice when the person is being summoned. It is necessary that the person is summoned at the end of the day when the duties are coming to an end or when there are no other employees around (Cabrelli, 2014). The matters should be private and confidential to the rest of the workers in the organization.

According to a legal requirement, the procedure can be conducted. It is important for the employer to act in good faith during the situation. The person dismissed should not be made to have any unnecessary discomfort otherwise, he can charge the involved party in the court. Where applicable dismissal notices and relevant documents must be delivered to the employee being sent home. The other step involves the employer to be direct to the point when delivering the news. Creating suspicion on employees regarding laying them off may create an unnecessary lack of peace on them. When need is, human resource professionals or lawyers are required to handle the person or else they can be in the meeting during the delivering of the news. At this time, the employer or the general manager clearly states the decision and why the company finds it important to take it (Twomey, 2010). They must be no arguments and debates on the justification of the matters, and it should be clear that it was the final decision.

Once the purpose of the meeting has been done, the next step should be to conclude the meeting. The necessary items that an employee carries around should be collected from the person immediately. Those that needs to be collected from his working place should be done so too. The person is then asked to gather personal belongings. The person should be free while leaving without being guarded or paraded before the other employees as a criminal. Finally, the representative of outplacement counseling takes over the situation. Such a person is needed when the company needs to collect the properties on behalf of a company (Cabrelli, 2014). They can work in assisting in career decision for the dismissed and taking the next step of the dismissed outside the working area he has been working in.

Compensation to the separated employee

When an employee leaves a company, there is various payoff that employee must take home or are an optional depending on the stipulated law. One of them is a severance pay. This is usually a weeks or two weeks’ pay for each year the employee has been in the service. The other compensation is a complete wage. Some company can pay for the remaining section of the contract while others may calculate differently depending on the agreement the employer had with the employee at the time of the employment. Some of them will involve vocational and regular leaves pay in the total pay. At the time, a lump pay or weekly pay can follow depending on the regal requirement in the industry. Most companies will decide on pay as per how long one has offered services to the company. For instance, a company may decide to pay off a lump sum that accumulates a monthly pay for each year the person served in the company. These are followed so that the employee may have money to hold on before finding another opportunity. Other companies do so with an aim to make sure that they are not going to be in trouble in case there is somewhere they have violated the labor law during the dismissal (Twomey, 2010).

Timeline of the disbursement of the compensation

Min Service Years

Max Service Years

Weeks of Severance

Months of Severance

0

1

13

3

1

2

13

4

2

3

13

5

3

4

15

7

4

5

18

8

5

6

20

9

6

7

23

10

7

8

25

11

8

9

28

12

9

10

30

12

10

11

33

12

11

12

35

12

12

13

38

12

Three ways that layoff may affect the company

It is important to note that the persons being laid off belonged to a team and had a role to play in it. The members who are left after the person departs may miss out on him and the role he played. It takes time for the left employees to disconnect from the person they were used to. It also means that the duties those who have left were doing will be directed to the remaining members. As a result, there is a possibility that the performance of the team affected may change because of too much workload. They will also be too tired to deliver the work which pushes to the company failing to meet the demands of its services or products in the market share (Cabrelli, 2014). The situation at the time may make a company be overtaken in the industry or eventually closing up for lack of business.

Laying off an employee is also a loss for the company as a whole. Some of the company usually thinks that laying off the employees will save on the cost since there will be no monthly salaries for the departed team. Unfortunately, that is not the case since the persons who have been sending home need to be compensated. The severance pay that is included at that time is too high especially when the group is too big. The pay is actually beyond what the organization would have paid them when they would have remained in the service(Cabrelli, 2014). When the law may demand a lump pay, then the company will have a lot to part with which is not a saving scheme but a severe monetary blow on the company. Also, the duties that the employee conducted will still continue and may force some employees to work overtime. The same overtime will be required to be paid. The organization, as a result, will have to part with an amount beyond what the normal day would have paid up. When all these are added up, the chances are that the company will face a severe cost which may act as a loss at a long run in that year.

In addition to these, the laying off of employees creates an atmosphere of discomfort for those who have been left in the service. The first response is fear since they do not know who is next on line. As a result, it may affect their performance in general and the results for a period may not be as expected. Others start reducing their performance and recognition rest they do a mistake and be terminated too. The following thing is the little or abnormal delivery of daily chores. The peace of the employees is affected in a big way. Furthermore, others start seeking jobs in other places (Twomey, 2010). When opportunities arise, they leave, and there is more demand on the staff who are left behind. Those too decide to leave work for other places and eventually the overall performance of the company will be affected as a whole. The whole idea may be to find peace and working without feeling threatened to be next on line of being laid off.