"Termination e-mail"

Paula · April 2003

When you terminate an employee how do you communicate to your staff that "that staff member is no longer with the company". Do you put anything out or just wait for word to filter through the company? Obviously you are not going to communicate that they were terminated, but just wonder what everyone else does in this situation?

Down_the_Middle · April 2003

I encourage the involved department to inform its employees that XXX is no longer working for the organization and we wish him/her well ........... The word just migrates throughout the rest of the organization.

s · April 2003

All you can say is that they are no longer with the company. That's it. Otherwise you are opening yourself to a lawsuit. Do state who will be taking over their duties.

HRMaiden · April 2003

For production employees, we let the individual department supervisors inform their employees of a termination in their department. Because most of our terminations in this area are a result of attendance, it usually is easy to figure out why the employee is no longer with us.

For office employees, we send out a company-wide e-mail and post a notice in the various departments. We do not in either case indicate that the employee was terminated, just that they are no longer with the company.

Don D · April 2003

To signal the departure of an employee, don't waste your time typing an email or official announcement for posting. The word is already throughout the organization before you decide how to word the second sentence!

On the other hand, if there is a significant transition of duties that needs to be quickly announced for pure business purposes, that can be done by memo without mention of the prior employee. The business of the business needs to be the objective; how to meet objectives from this date forward......NOT information being spread to satisfy the curiosity of the idle.

njjel · April 2003

We send out an email advising all staff that the employee no longer works for us. We have many offices (although small ones) so the grapevine doesn't work quite as fast in our case.

Don D · April 2003

......bet me a diet Coke. But I understand the need to send out an email IF staff have a need for the information.

WOCO Frank · April 2003

Everytime I've assumed that word had already gotten around, I've been sorry. Send the e-mail. It takes 30 seconds.

Gerri · April 2003

Even though the office grapevine works wonders when someone is terminating, we still ask the terminating division to send an e-mail notifying all staff that "John Doe's" last day with XXX Company is April, 30 2003.
There are times when a separating employee may not be welcome back on the premises, and the e-mail is an alert to all, that the employee no longer works here. We don't provide any info other than the employee's last day with the company.
If there is a safety issue, we provide additional information to the reception unit, and the exiting employee's division.

mbeam · April 2003

Would recommend sending the e-mail also - typically short and sweet with the basic information (Jane Doe is leaving. Please direct any calls or questions that you would typically send to her to John Jones instead.) Typically it is sent by the individual's manager as we include in the note contact information for who to direct their calls to going forward.

Crout · April 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-28-03 AT 12:07PM (CST)[/font][p]"Terminating Division?" Yeeesh! Gerri, you guys actually have a "Terminating Division?" Sounds rather dark and sinister. Like the "Doom Patrol." I kinda like it. What the heck, people quake when they see me walk into a meeting anyway. It's not MY fault that I often accompany bad news, like an Angel of Death. I might as well have a cool name. Hey! Angel of Death! That's a good one!

ritaanz · April 2003

Watch it! It's Angel of Death II, if you want the title.

Parabeagle · April 2003

I hate the reaction I get when I call someone and ask them to come in to see me (and it's only about 5% of the time that it's a termination). Running jokes about "HR" standing for "Hurry, Run! Here comes Eric!" get old really quickly.

Angel of Death, huh? I've been called the Velvet Glove when I terminate. x;-)

Zanne · April 2003

I was known as "Norm the Axe" after the Cheers show where Norm had to terminate all those people from the company he worked for.

And yes - it gets VERY OLD to have employees say "Straighten up! HR is here!" Sometimes I want to say, "That's so original!"

Zanne

Leslie · April 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-28-03 AT 12:39PM (CST)[/font][p]My assistant is called the Grim Reaper - Doesn't help that he came to work in thtat costume at Halloween a couple years ago. So far, haven't heard anything about what nicknames I might have, but the same Halloween I was dressed as a nun! x0:)

Don D · April 2003

Ha! I can see it now. Leslie, dressed as a nun at a NASCAR event with her fifth wheel trailer and two coolers full of cold beer and Bratwurst.

There was an engineer at my last place of employment. He honestly told me that there is no way I will ever find him on a Friday for any reason. He said if I show up in his building on a Friday he will absolutely hide. He was serious in his firm belief that any Friday could be Black Friday for him and he obsessed about it to the point where he would not answer my page on Friday, no matter what. Even if I told him I was Ed McMahon.

Parabeagle · April 2003

Last Halloween I dressed as Hannibal Lecter - complete with straitjacket and mask. Don't know what I can do to top that this year.

Gerri · April 2003

You misread my post. Our department is made up of five different divisions. When I wrote terminating division, I meant the division that had the employee separating. Sheesh!

ritaanz · April 2003

Golly! What was I thinkin???

AnneHa · April 2003

An employee who was having some performance issues and was spending a bit of time in my company told my supervisor I was the "Velvet Steamroller."

Anne in Ohio

WOCO Frank · April 2003

>>He was serious in his firm belief that any Friday could be Black Friday for him

You're getting too predictable, then. Of the last 10 or so people I've had to terminate, only 3 were on Friday. I want people to be afraid of me all the time, not just one day a week. ~:O

Whatever · April 2003

The union actually requested that I not go out on the factory floor because I made people nervous. C'est la vie

Parabeagle · April 2003

Must be a pretty wimpy union if the sight of a lone HR official makes them nervous. x;-)

JKK · May 2003

As the HR Manager, I make sure I send out the emails regarding staff departures so that no information is included that shouldn't be.
At this very moment though I don't have the staff worried about me coming into their department - in fact just the opposite.... if one more staff member comes to my office asking if I have a minute and closes the door I'm going to hide!!!I have had 4 resignations in the past 2 weeks and am starting to feel like all the rats are deserting the ship.

"Termination e-mail"

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