Last week, I discussed the termination process and ensuring measures are put in place right from the beginning so employers can safeguard against potential unfair dismissal cases.

It’s one thing having all the procedures in place, but it’s another actually having to sit down and have the meeting to tell an employee that their services are no longer needed within the company. This week I focus on steps towards making the termination interview as smooth and controlled as possible in such a difficult situation for both parties.


Logistics of the Meeting

Environment and timing mean everything when it comes to holding a meeting as important as this. The most important things that should be considered are:

Where the meeting will be held – employers should aim to have the meeting in a neutral setting i.e. not in either employer or the employee’s office or even in public. If possible, employers should book a conference room within the building and ensure no one has booked the room immediately before or after the meeting. It’s important that the meeting does not have to be cut short because other people need the space.

Day and Time – this can be a tough one to decide on and very much depends on the type of business, however generally speaking; meetings should be scheduled for the middle of the week sometime after a lunch period. Mid-week meetings allow the employee to seek advice, legally or otherwise, instead of having to face the weekend not knowing how to proceed.

Length of meeting – why draw something out that neither party will enjoy? It’s imperative that the meeting is as concise and to the point as possible, no more than thirty minutes. If the employer has all the information necessary then the news and evidence can be delivered promptly.

Who is in the room – it’s always important for the person managing the interview to have a supervisor or HR person in the room. The additional person will serve as a witness and take notes of what is said by each party.

After the meeting – employers should consider what the employee will do after the meeting. Will they leave the workplace immediately or gather their work belongings etc. and take time to say goodbye to team members? It’s important that company policy is followed at this point and that the employee is made aware of the options. If the staff member is to carry out notice then they should be notified of the date they are to work to.


Emotions will be Running High

Employers should be emotionally prepare themselves for the meeting as well as expect the unexpected.

Taking time to mentally and emotionally prepare for firing a staff member is important as the employee may feed off feelings, such as weakness or anger. The employer must review staff notes and reasons for the termination before the meeting to ensure they know what they want to say and are definite in their stance.

Tensions will be running high and therefore employers need to be prepared for the employee to become defensive or argumentative and potentially have a number of questions. Going through the potential scenarios and thinking of how best to deal with them before the meetings begins will enable the employer to react and reply in a factual manner.

Some examples include the employee crying, not answering a question, demanding to speak to someone else, threatening the employer, not listening to what is being said. However, if the employer has followed procedures correctly, then the termination should not come as an outright surprise to the employee, as they will have previously been notified of warnings and therefore will hopefully not react in such a way.


Employees are People Too

No matter the reasons for the termination, employers have to remember that the employee is a person and will undoubtedly by upset with the news. It’s important that the person managing the meeting looks the employee in the eye and takes time to listen to queries and respond appropriately.

Sometimes we try to remove ourselves from a difficult position; however this can lead to shutting someone out and not respecting their feelings. Therefore, employers can’t let the unpleasantness of the situation over rule a professional attitude towards the situation.

Notice of termination should be mentioned within the first ten minutes so the employee knows why they are there and where they stand. This also gives adequate time for them to ask any questions. Trying to prolong the news will only cause more tension in the long run.


Clear Expectations are Key

Employers must ensure that any paperwork and wording used regarding termination is clear to the employee. Sometimes legal jargon can be confusing so going through the paperwork may be necessary. If the employee’s first language isn’t English then it may be worthwhile having paperwork translated so there are no future issues surrounding “miscommunication”.

Certain elements of the termination must be discussed in person and included in the paperwork. These include:

• The date from which the termination is effective
  
• The severance pay to be received by the employee
  
• Any remaining leave or bonuses applicable to the staff member
  
• When the last payment will be issued
  
• Support and services available to the employee to make the transition
  

As emotions will be running high, employers should follow up with a letter regarding the termination and include the points listed above. The employee may not be listening properly depending on what state they are in, and the letter further documents exactly what the company has committed to at the time of termination.


Final Words

When the meeting is wrapping up, employers may feel a sense of relief and perhaps relax a bit more towards the employee. Whilst it’s important to end on a positive note, thanking the staff member for their contribution and wishing them luck in the future, employers MUST NOT try and soften the blow by saying they will help find the employee a job or that they will have no trouble in finding work. Being more relaxed can lead to over empathising, with perhaps employers stating that they feel bad about the termination or apologise. This is definitely not recommended as it can lead to mixed messages and make the situation worse.


Review and Move On

Once the meeting is over, the staff member who held the termination interview should review their performance and learn from it. Assessing the situation and discussing the outcome with colleagues will ensure valuable skills have been learnt for future situations.




The contents of this article are necessarily expressed in broad terms and limited to general information rather than detailed analyses or legal advice. Specialist professional advice should always be obtained to address legal and other issues arising in specific contexts.

We all know that letting go of employees is just as horrible for employers as it is for the staff member being terminated. Involuntary termination of employment is often seen as a double failure – on the side of the employee being unable to deliver, but also that the employer perhaps didn’t manage the hiring process and staff member appropriately.

Whatever the reasons for an employee having to be let go, following correct procedures is of utmost importance to avoid potential legal issues. Employers must keep in mind basic management rules to aid in defusing anger and upset from the employee in question, otherwise they could take their issues to a courtroom.  The rules that employers must adhere to are also imperative for building a defence case if they are sued.

First, I want to discuss the facts on the different types of dismissal:

Minimum Notice

In the case of employees wanting to leave a post, those who have worked for a company for at least 13 weeks have to give their employer a week’s notice of their leaving. If, however, a greater amount of notice is stated in the employee’s handbook or contract then this notice must be adhered to.

The amount of notice an employer gives an employee whose contract is being terminated depends on the length of time the staff member has been with the company:

• 13 weeks – two years = minimum notice of one week
  
• Two – five years = minimum notice of two weeks
  
• Five – 10 years = minimum notice of four weeks
  
• Ten – 15 years = minimum notice of six weeks
  
• More than 15 years = minimum notice of eight weeks
  

Sometimes the employer doesn’t need or prefers the employee not to work out their notice; in this case the employer still must pay the employee for their notice period.

Insolvency

Insolvency relates to issues where a business is either in liquidation, receivership, legally bankrupt or if the owner has died and the company is being administered under legislation.

In cases related to this, employers need to make their staff redundant and therefore ensure that all employees are given at least two weeks’ notice and are paid the correct redundancy payment due to them. If employees believe they have been treated unfairly, they may be able to appeal issues relating to unfair dismissal, discrimination, arrears of pay, outstanding holiday pay and pay in lieu of notice under the Insolvency Payments Scheme.

Redundancy

If a business is downsizing, they will generally make employees redundant as their places won’t be refilled. If this is the case, then employees with 104 week’s continuous employment within the one company is entitled to statutory redundancy pay.

Sometimes, an employee will leave the company, perhaps to start alternative employment, before the date of their redundancy. If this is the case, employers are not necessarily obliged to pay the total redundancy package offered to the employee.

Employees who have been made redundant are entitled to two weeks gross pay per year of employment (maximum €600 a week) as well as one week’s pay which is tax free.

Planning Starts at the Beginning

As awful as it may sound, every employee who is hired has the potential to be fired at any stage. Therefore it’s important for employers to give employees plenty of feedback about performance expectations, as well as keep a record on all positive and negative conversations conducted throughout the period of employment.

Right from the first day an employer takes on a new member of staff they need to:

Determine fair work rules and policies: I’ve stated many times that companies need to ensure all policies relating to the business and staff are in place. Employees need to know workplace rules and be made aware of them in their staff handbook.

Enforce rules fairly and discipline when necessary: If staff rules aren’t enforced then they aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Employers must apply the rules to all employees equally.

Give feedback on performance: Employees like to know how they are performing and be told of any areas they need to improve upon. It is up to an employer to ensure this feedback is being given, both so that the staff member has a chance to improve if need be, but also so it has been documented that the employee has been made aware of any improvements that have been asked of them.

Documentation on each employee: Carrying on from the last point, employers have to keep a comprehensive record of any formal or informal reviews and warnings, as well as any comments made by management demonstrating poor work or misconduct from each staff member. If the reason for termination is due to improper conduct, then witness statements, accident reports and customer complaints should be collected and reviewed. If a case of unfair dismissal is ever brought to court, these documents may prove vital evidence to support why the employee was let go.

Ensure there is a proper foundation for termination: Before firing a staff member, employers should thoroughly investigate and review any personnel manuals and policy statements to guarantee everything is done above board and that there has been no previous mention or agreement of certain employment terms or severance pay that may be inconsistent with company policies.

Exit Interview: Employers must hold an exit interview for every member of staff that leaves the company, for whatever reason. Reasons for the employee being let go should be discussed during this meeting, with a concise explanation being offered alongside evidence that has been collected. The person conducting the interview, usually a manager, must emphasize that the reasons for termination are legitimate and consistent with similar circumstances in the past. During the exit interview, the employee might wish to know what prospective employers may be told, which should be discussed honestly and openly.

Terminating an employee is both emotional and frustrating for an employer, however if it’s not handled properly, a business owner may leave themselves open to expensive litigation. In my next article, I will discuss the exit interview in depth so employers can ensure all bases are covered.



The contents of this article are necessarily expressed in broad terms and limited to general information rather than detailed analyses or legal advice. Specialist professional advice should always be obtained to address legal and other issues arising in specific contexts.

As many of you may know, The HR Department carried out a survey a few months ago to get a better understanding of the role and influence of HR in Irish businesses and the results were quite surprising!

You might have seen the article in The Irish Times on Monday, however if you missed it, I have included some of the findings below.

The report, based on a survey of 600 small to medium enterprises across Republic of Ireland, revealed that 93% of Irish companies believe that HR plays a crucial role in business, yet only 55% actually invest in an HR service.

The figures showed that a surprising 68% of companies who employ 1-10 employees do not have an HR function, with this figure only dropping to 36% for companies with 11-50 employees and 29% for businesses who employ 50-250 staff members.

The research also discovered that more than a third (35%) of businesses surveyed don’t have the most essential HR material - a staff handbook – which is imperative to ensure company policies are in place should a business be involved in an employee/employer court case.

Of the 65% of companies who do have a staff handbook, not all of them contain the necessary policies, with only 61% including an annual leave policy, 60% covering disciplinary procedures, 57% incorporating grievance procedures as well as bullying and harassment policies, 56% indicating rules on termination of employment, 55% covering maternity rights, 48% referring to pension policies and 25% including a dress code policy.

Most unexpectedly, the statistics proving a lack of companies investing in an HR function, contradict the reasons why Irish companies feel HR is important to businesses, with 56% believing it provides support in the hiring and dismissal of employees, 53% having the confidence in an HR professional to best understand employment law and 49% who rely on HR to avoid legal issues.

The primary reason for not investing in a dedicated HR professional or outsourced HR service was that companies felt their business was too small (40%), followed by cost (16%). Interestingly, 11% of respondents feel they have a good enough relationship with their staff and therefore do not require an HR function.

Of those companies that do not have a dedicated HR function, 42% would consider outsourcing their HR requirements, including 57% of businesses with 1-10 employees, 47% of companies with 11-50 employees and just 45% of businesses with 51-250 members of staff.

Perhaps even more startling is the number of businesses who don’t see just how big a role HR can play to a company. Human Resources encompasses a number of things, however some companies don’t realise to what extent. Only 65% of businesses believe HR has the capacity for change, employee contribution (64%), administrative efficiency (60%) and strategy execution (40%).

Of the companies surveyed, the three industries most likely to invest in HR are Technology and Communications (66%), Banking and Finance (61%) and Manufacturing (55%) with the three least likely industries being Business Services (43%), Retail (40%) and Hospitality (38%).

Thank you again to all who participated in the questionnaire! With an increasing number of companies being involved in court cases relating to employee complaints, it’s startling to see how many business owners are willing to forgo even the most basic, essential HR material. If you’re interested in having a chat about your company’s HR then feel free to get in touch.



The contents of this article are necessarily expressed in broad terms and limited to general information rather than detailed analyses or legal advice. Specialist professional advice should always be obtained to address legal and other issues arising in specific contexts.