Discussion Summary

6/20/15

Mr. Mc Quinn

Our groups topic was mismanaged layoffs. The problem was that managers as well as HR professionals were not laying off employees in the appropriate manner. Another problem is that when the firing/layoff happens, it will have a long term effect on that company based on how it was handled. The text even states that every HR employee should know what it feels like to be fired before they are responsible for firing someone else. I mostly agreed with what the two people in my discussion group stated.

Josh stated the problem and I agreed with almost everything that he mentioned. Josh stated that a manger or whomever does the firing should remember to give that employee respect, honesty and the exact reasoning for the layoff. Alan, who has had experience letting people go from a job had a great input. Alan said a problem that he faced when letting someone go was the lack of information about why the person was getting laid off. Alan mentioned that he uses the “cutting costs” reason for when he has to let people go for his company.

I think that it is really important to keep a good relationship with whomever is getting fired from the company, because like the article mentioned that will impact the company either positively or negatively in the long run. Alan mentioned that he likes to “treat it like a break up, one where you still want to remain friends” and I have to agree with that idea. Basically, in my opinion I think that any manager or HR employee that is responsible for laying off employees should take a mandatory training class/session showing how to do it responsibly. Also, the manager needs to critically think about the scenario before it happens, thinking of how to react to all of the possible reactions that the employee might display.