IS personnel termination policy

ksjohnso

I manage an Information Services team for a large metropolitan health care organization in Indiana. I have been tasked to develop a termination policy for IS personnel. Due to the sensitive nature of the position and the potential for extreme harm to the organization, it has been suggested that a written policy specific to IS personnel should be in place. The discussion centers on having a different standard for IS personnel vs. other personnel within the organization. Our concern centers on using standard disciplinary action for infractions vs. termination. Most of the employee’s in this department are exempt. It has been suggested that termination should be automatic for most infractions. We have also discussed the two-week notice policy. Do we accept a two-week notice or should employees be asked to leave as soon as their intention to leave is announced? I would appreciate input from anyone familiar with this topic. What do other organizations have in place? I would also appreciate referral to web sites that may address this topic.

Margaret Morford

Many employers do not let IS people serve out a notice because of the potential damage they could do to the system. Usually they accept their notice effective immediately and make the day they become aware the IS person is leaving his/her last day worked and his/her access to the system is terminated immediately. Your state law will determine whether you must pay them for that two weeks. Of course, once the IS department becomes aware of the company's policy, anyone terminating that wishes the company harm has already done what they are going to do prior to announcing their departure. I would recommend that you evaluate each termination on a case by case basis. If someone has been having performance problems or has made negative remarks about the company, I would accept their notice effective immediately. If he/she has had good performance to date and just foound a better opportunity, I would allow he/she to work out a notice and use the time for transition. Some companies even work out a part-time arrangement for IS people to continue to work evenings and weekends.

As far as a discipline policy, I would not necessarily have a different one, but one that allows for accelerating steps with oversite, usually by the head of HR. Then given the sensitivity of the work in IS, I would look at accelerating the steps in most cases. Give your organization lots of leeway to keep good performers and weed out bad ones. If you want to discuss this further or need additional information, call me at 615-371-8200.

HR Consultant

I personally would not develop a separate termination policy for IS personnel. in addition, should you decide to terminate an employee for violating a policy or for unacceptable performance, you should terminate the employee once the decision has been made to terminate. This means that if you make this decision on Tuesday morning, then that is when the termination should take place. Obviously, you need to keep the individual's self-esteem intact, like waiting until lunch when everyone else is gone, or at the end of the day, when everyone has left. I hope this is of some help.