8 Practical Tips for How to Conduct a Termination Meeting
Sometimes employment relationships don’t work out and you may find yourself in the position of having to terminate an employee. Termination is a difficult issue. Following are some practical tips on how to approach and conduct the termination meeting.
- Concisely and clearly advise the employee of the termination message. For example, “we have come to a difficult decision to end your employment and your last day will be _____”.
- Obtain company property from the employee on their last day of work.
- Do provide a termination letter to the employee, and provide an overview of the key items in the letter.
- Do demonstrate empathy and concern for the employee.
- Do not appear rushed.
- Do not discuss anything other than the termination decision.
- Do not discuss performance issues or take/assign blame.
- Do not encourage discussion that could or would allow the employee to renegotiate the decision. Be firm. The termination is a business decision which is final and non-negotiable.
Questions? Comments? Please contact Scott Marcinkow at smarcinkow@harpergrey.com or anyone else from our team listed on the Authors page.
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