Out of respect for Lucy, please do not engage in hearsay about her termination." Please understand that I’m not at liberty to discuss specifics with you, but I can tell you that we treated Lucy respectfully, listened to what she had to say and took appropriate action based on our findings. "People don’t know all the specifics and are more inclined to fill in the void with inaccurate assumptions." Therefore, the announcement should focus more on instructions and guidelines rather than alluding to details surrounding the separation.įor example, "Everyone, I called this meeting to let you know that Lucy Brown is no longer with the company. "A sudden change in employment for these reasons can have much more of a shock value," Janove says. Such misconduct includes harassment, bullying, discrimination, violence, gross insubordination, theft, fraud, embezzlement, falsification of records and substance abuse. If you have any questions, please see me privately."Ĭonduct-related infractions can be a source of intrigue for co-workers, especially if you can’t provide all the facts for legal reasons. While we’re sorry he’s no longer here, we wish him well in his future endeavors.
Out of respect for John, please keep this news fairly quiet. We will discuss backfilling his position and temporarily reassigning some of his responsibilities to keep things moving while we recruit for the opening.
"The key is to keep it simple, respectful and short."Ĭall a quick meeting to make a straightforward announcement: "John Doe is no longer with the company effective yesterday, and we appreciate his efforts during the past two years. "In fairly straightforward situations like these, it’s OK to make a generic statement to the team members informing them that John Doe is no longer with the company," says Jathan Janove, managing shareholder at law firm Ogletree Deakins in Portland, Ore. Most of the time, co-workers are well aware of the individual’s struggles, so a termination is often not a surprise. The employee receives notices and corrective action plans that convey that the individual’s job is in jeopardy if his or her performance doesn’t improve. Performance and attendance problems typically don’t occur in a vacuum. Allow team members to express their thoughts, to vent and to grieve, but then remind them that they are still employed and have a job to do.
#Public announcement john doe download professional#
As always, I appreciate your support."ĭelivering the news in a professional manner will help quell uneasiness. End the meeting with an action plan: "As a next step, we will take a close look at Laura’s responsibilities, as they will need to be divided among the rest of us. Assure your team members that with the redundancy eliminated, the organization will get stronger-with their help. As a manager, you can’t make any promises beyond that. We’ve treated her with respect and dignity, and she responded in kind."Īfter that brief statement concerning the terminated employee’s well-being, focus on the team by stating that the company has no further plans to eliminate other positions as of today. You can see that Laura handled the news professionally. I know it’s always unnerving to hear these kinds of things, which is why I wanted to bring us all together to discuss this. When a team member is laid off due to a position elimination, call a meeting with the remaining employees to acknowledge and address what has occurred: "Everyone, this is an unfortunate situation and a sad one to lose one of our co-workers. That way, the team can see that the person was treated with respect and ultimately will be OK. If the situation allows, it’s helpful to the healing process to allow the departing employee to say goodbye to his or her co-workers. What you communicate depends on the reason behind the employee’s termination.
To maintain trust, morale and productivity, you must quickly divulge the separation and explain what it means for the remaining staff. Whether the termination is due to a position elimination, poor performance that hasn’t improved despite remediation efforts, or an egregious action that warrants immediate dismissal, the affected employee’s co-workers will have questions. What you do next is important to the morale and the productivity of the rest of your team. You’ve just informed an employee on your team that he or she has been terminated.