I’m letting go of an employee this week, and it’s making me feel terrible. I’m wracked with guilty and full of empathy.

I’m still letting them go, but any advise on how to not feel so emotionally guilty for firing someone?

  • uniqueshitbag@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    It should hurt a little, actually. Every time you fire someone, you have failed in some capacity - recruitment, strategic or leadership wise.

    That being said, I have always four things in mind when doing it:

    1. If you hired them, you fire them. Do it in person and be honest. Tell them why it is happening.

    2. It should almost never be a surprise. If it isn’t because of a serious issue like stealing or anything in that area, you should’ve provided feedback and had talks that made them see what was coming. If it was because of a culture/honesty problem, you should be as clear as possible to your team about what is tolerated and what isn’t. That makes the talk much easier.

    3. Most times people, even if they know they aren’t a right fit, won’t have the guts to just leave. I’ve known multiple people that being fired from a place where they weren’t happy and couldn’t grow was the best thing that ever happened to their professional lives. It might actually be good for them in the long run.

    4. My commitment it to the team and the ones that stay. It isn’t fair that I jeopardize their jobs and the future jobs the business might create for fear of having a hard conversation. It’s selfish.