Ask HN: How to announce your team that someone got fired?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4355481

by vrkr • 14 years ago

6 16 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Discuss!

codegeek• 14 years ago

Usually in the US, everyone knows when someone gets fired. No need to announce. We just find out that the person is not there anymore since their desks are cleaned up secretly or they are walked out right away by security.

vrkr3• 14 years ago

I work in a digital marketing company and there is a lot of people that gets fired and I'm just trying to know if theres a better way they should do it. They usually send a generic email to everyone (we're around 120 people and I think it affect the morale of a lot of people

alexhawdon• 14 years ago

You have a 'lot' of people getting fired?

It's good that you're thinking about how announcing team departures might affect morale, but I'd say it's a bit more important to get to the root of the issue - why are so many people getting fired?

Either you're hiring the wrong people and/or treating your staff so poorly that they simply don't care about getting fired (usually people will quit before they get fired so they don't have to explain it to future employers). Or perhaps this is some dodgy sales business where you hire a ton of people and then fire most of them that don't make impossible sales targets. I hope to god it's not the latter!

s_henry_paulson• 14 years ago

Anything you say regarding firing an employee may end up being used against you in court, so it's likely not worth the time and effort trying to plan something like this unless there are mitigating circumstances that I can not possibly imagine.

brudgers3• 14 years ago

"Today, Bob left us to pursue other opportunities. In this difficult time, I want to convey my appreciation for the dedication and hard work each of you brings to our team. Keep up the good work, and thanks for all the fish."

wamatt2• 14 years ago

That could seem like the company is unattractive to Bob (and hence could start wondering more), versus Bob is unattractive to the company.

dholowiski• 14 years ago

There is little to gain (and much to lose) by making it sound like bob was unattractive to the company, even if he was. This kind of thing is best done immediately, and kept as short and as detail-free as possible. If there is a lesson to be learned through bob's leaving, it's best done in a small meeting between the manager/team lead, and bob's immediate co-workers.

brudgers3• 14 years ago

Anyone who knows Bob well enough to care, knows what happened. Anyone else will appreciate the positive tone.

mryan• 14 years ago

Uncertainty kills morale very quickly. I think the most important thing is to be clear about why they were fired, so your well-performing employees know they are safe.

Of course, if you tell everyone you fired someone because of X, anyone else who does X will be worried. That may or may not be a good thing.

vrkr3• 14 years ago

Yeah, it can be part of the answer. We have different departments so instead of announcing to everyone, maybe keeping it in the dept instead of agency wide?

prehnra• 14 years ago

Address it early with people who need to know (direct team and people who work with this person frequently). Be honest without going into too much detail. If people press for details you can't or don't feel like sharing, tell them you can't share.

Don't make up a softer story to cushion it-- this can bite you big time. there have been companies that have been sued and lost because a manager used the "Tom left to spend more time with his family" white lie, because it masse jurors believe that Tom had been fired due to familial status (a no no).

Ask HN: How to announce your team that someone got fired?

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