packing term'd ee's stuff

HRinGA

I'd like some opinions on this:

When terminating employees, do you sometimes pack up their belongings for them? I've seen it happen during the meeting, while they are in HR completing exit paperwork, and also after they have left the building. Sometimes the ee just wants to leave and we tell them they can pick up their stuff from HR later.

Is this a good idea? What is your reponse to employees who claim their belongings were damaged while the employer packed it? Ever had claims of stuff missing?

I've had good and bad experiences with this and wanted to hear from others.

Thx in advance.

TN HR

This is usually a non-issue for us with most terms. We simply allow employees 15 minutes, escorted, to clean out their desks. My assistant has IT disable network (including email) access during the meeting. If they had "personal" email, oh well.

The only exception to this is with Maintenance Technicians. Due to an WC injury a few years ago with one who was loading his tools, we now handle this. Most of the time they need a forklift anyway to get the toolbox up on the truck even with the tools removed. The termed employee is asked to make an appointment with the supervisor to pick-up his tools. The Maintenance Manager and one of the leads (together) do a complete inventory then they lock the box with one of our locks. The employee comes-in at the designated time, we load the box for him, and hand him the key to the lock as well as the inventory sheet. Haven't had a problem yet.

Gene

ray a

I typically have the manager escort the term'd ee to get their personal possessions. If it is a director being terminated, I do the escorting. There have been some situations we were concerned and wanted to get the person out of the building ASAP and had a supervisor bring the possessions up front during the termination meeting. We have allowed term'd ee's to pick up there stuff at the front desk the next day. No problems in any of the scenarios yet.

deniseE

The manager of the ee generally cleans out the work space during the termination meeting. We don't like to have ee's back on the floor after being termed...too much drama potential!!!!

LivindonSouth

In over 30 years of management I have never known of a situation where the terminated employee with an office or a desk was not shown enough humanity to allow them to gather their own belongings.

I suppose there might always be an exception, but it would have to be pretty rare.

Gillian3

Ditto - I think escorting is OK, but not a lot - only when there is a real reason to expect a problem. The majority of employees leave with good feelings about the their workplace - why change that on the last day. Further, other employees watch how people are treated on their last day and that impacts what they think about the organization.

HRinGA

We usually try to plan the meeting when the workforce is low, so they can box up and leave without a lot of notice. However, the last few, we boxed up for them as we did not want them back in the department (due to various reasons). I now have someone alleging we broke their items due to the careless nature of packing. It's not true, of course, but I now have the task of responding to these allegations. I've been burned by a few ee's returning to their desk, and then creating an all out scene. I guess since then, I'm reluctant to allow others to return. Just trying to get a feel for what others do.
Thx

Whatever

I've
>been burned by a few ee's returning to their
>desk, and then creating an all out scene. I
>guess since then, I'm reluctant to allow others
>to return. Just trying to get a feel for what
>others do.

As far as I can remember, on only two occasions have I had ees create a scene after being terminated (one of these was because the ee was going to create a scene no matter what, the other happened because the employee was angry that we didn't trust him which was proven by the fact his computer had been turned
off). Afterwards, I did review if I could have changed anything that happened in the termination interview, decided couldn't have and wouldn't have and moved on. I suggest you do the same thing. I think it would wrong to be noncompassionate because of the behavior of a few.

HRLASS

With impactions (lay-offs/rifs) we allow the employee about 15-30 minutes to collect their belongings and in some cases, fellow workers help them carry their belongings to their vehicle. With terminations for cause, they generally are told to leave and we go and inventory their belongings and pack them up later - either for pickup or we have had them delivered. In some cases it has taken more than a week to go through everything. Both parties get copies of the inventories and revivew any disputed articles (yours/ours). We have been accused of stealing money and we have found employees hiding tools, equipment and proprietary information in "their" company vehicle. In one case we requested that the employee come to headquarters (for the termination), and when he asked to go to the bathroom, he called his wife, gave her the office security codes and we received frantic calls from the outlying office when the wife came in and started screaming, swearing and taking things apart. Not a good situation. Generally terminations for cause do not get additional time in the office.