I don’t know that I ever met anyone who enjoyed firing someone who worked for them. Firing people is a dreadful experience, yet it is also essential for a marketing professional to understand. When you fire someone from your team, you reinforce to your other team members what is expected of them, what you don’t want, and how they can continue to succeed.
From a human perspective, firing someone sucks. It is hard and a part of management that is unfortunately necessary.
Sometimes, you get a directive from “the corporate office” or leadership that you need to cut costs for the company, and every department head must sacrifice one FTE (full-time employee) or, as I like to call them, a human being.
Don’t let anyone tell you differently, but firing someone is miserable.
Phone Home
The first person I had to fire worked in our bakery around 1981.
We had a guy named Kevin who operated our packaging machine at our bakery in Malvern, Pa. He was a young guy with a bit of a temper and his work was inconsistent. When we realized people were afraid to be around him, we knew it was time to let him go. We didn’t want that type of environment or culture of fear. Our bakery was built on being a kinder, gentler company with respect for the dignity of each worker.
Don’t you love that phrase -let someone go.
It is the words you use when you can’t say you are firing someone. It makes the boss feel better.
I was so unsure of myself as a manager that I called Kevin at home and told him the news. I couldn’t face him, and I was afraid of his wrath. It was quite an emotional experience and something I was ill-prepared to do. I didn’t feel good doing it remotely, but it was how I handled the stress at the time. I think I was 28 years old at the time and was a novice at managing people.
Zoom Bye
Over decades of hiring and firing folks – and getting canned a few times myself, I thought about this topic when I heard that the CEO of Better fired 900 people over a Zoom call last week. Imagine that!
“I come to you with not great news,” CEO Vishal Garg said at the beginning of the meeting Wednesday, according to a TikTok recording someone posted. If you are on this call, your job is being eliminated.”
The mortgage company had to lay off 15% of its workforce. Each person got four weeks severance and three months of benefits. The CEO has since taken a sabbatical after realizing how poorly he conducted himself and the terrible way he handled this situation.
Ten Lessons On Letting Go
The following are some thoughts on firing someone based on decades of experience. My hope is that this is helpful to someone who has to fire someone on their marketing team or within their company.
- Stay Lean: Keep your team as lean as possible and use outside resources like freelancers and consultants for overflow work. If things slow down, perhaps you won’t need to let anyone go by being lean in your staffing.
- Compassion and Specific: If you must reduce “headcount,” how can you be as compassionate as possible yet spell out the details of the separation agreement. Be completely honest with them about what happened unless there is a legal issue pending. Sometimes, an employment attorney might give you specific instructions that you need to follow where your language needs to be extremely specific.
- Promise to Help, Only if You Mean It. Don’t tell the employee that you’ll help them find something else if you aren’t genuinely committed to networking on their behalf. If you have an extensive network, maybe you can assist them with connections and introductions or review their resume.
- Make It Private: Firing in masse is ridiculous. This is a terrible way to manage. This type of life-altering event requires one-on-one meetings and is best with an HR professional with you.
- Give Them Space: Let them gather their things privately if they are in an office. Respect their dignity. Everyone is watching – not just the exiting employee.
- The Employee Won’t Remember What You Said: People often go into shock, so handing them a packet of information and a letter explaining what you tell them is mandatory. When the shock settles down, they can read the separation terms.
- Be Available to Answer Questions: The manager should make herself available to answer questions for the employee. Make sure they know how to connect with you.
- Termination Checklists are helpful: Make sure you cover everything by having a list in front of you of topics you need to cover. You will also be a bit stressed so that the list can be pretty helpful. Be prepared to answer questions like will you give me a letter of reference, exactly why was I let go, what about my year-end bonus?
- Be Succinct: Don’t go on and on in the meeting. This isn’t a negotiation. It is an information session, and it goes one way. You can answer questions, but many companies will have FAQs prepared that help ensure consistent behavior by all managers.
- Please Don’t say It is Hard for Me. The employee is the ones who are having a hard time. It is about them, not you. Don’t say, “we decided to let you go.” Take responsibility – say, “I decided to let you go.” Own it – it is an integral part of management. And don’t compare their performance to anyone else.
Firing someone who works on your marketing team is never easy. Remember, the better you hire, the less often you fire.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
