It’s the worst thing you probably have to do, but firing people is a business constant.

learn from my mistakes…

1998. A small attic above Regent Street, London. “It’s not you, it's me. You really are lovely, I just don’t think I am the right person for you.” This was how I approached the conversation with the first person I ever fired. She definitely had absolutely no idea what was going on and walked out of the room completely confused. I could not have been more useless.

Fast forward to 2021 and Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better.com, a “unicorn” mortgage lender startup, fired 900 employees in one go, over zoom. Garg accused the employees of "stealing" from their colleagues and customers by being unproductive and only working two hours a day. The announcement was issued days before Christmas and the incident made Garg the subject of dozens of national news stories.  

“Moving people on”because of a team restructure, cost savings programme, their substandard performance, or their misconduct is unfortunately always going to be an aspect of business life. Just this week, both Rolls-Royce and LinkedIn announced significant job cuts. Yet most of us, understandably, still find it stressful and very hard to get right. 

When someone loses their job, it is going to be tough, but  you can minimise the pain of the process for both sides. I have had to make whole teams redundant, fire senior underperforming executives and get rid of people because of bad behaviour. I am sure I still frequently get it wrong, but there are four rules I try to keep in mind to avoid the disaster of that first sacking. 

Be quick, be clear, be creative and be kind.  

Firstly, be quick. When someone has mentally checked out of their role, or when you have decided they are not part of your longer term plans, it is vital to have a straight conversation about their future quickly. I have seen too many fudges when people are sidelined or given a different or made-up role all because a boss wanted to avoid an honest and timely discussion. This is unfair on everyone. In one company I served,  the board created a completely absurd job title and role, completely unsuitable for the CEO who should have been exited as soon as he started to lose momentum. It was then a torturous process to remove him and was a distraction to both the new CEO and the board.

 Second, be clear. Avoid sugar coating or beating around the bush, as this can confuse your employee and create unnecessary tension. It can take practice to be direct, but it is much better to say less and get to the point. It's important to get straight into the reasons for a termination, both with the employee and sometimes even with other team members. This stops rumours or misunderstandings from spreading and resentment from building up. 

Make sure you have all the necessary paperwork and documentation. This probably includes performance reviews, warnings, or other communication related to the employee's performance and behaviour. You might need some legal advice too, so make sure you have that worked through in detail too. Practice what you are going to say, make sure you have thought of the questions someone might ask. 

Thirdly, be creative. There might be a number of things you can do to help their situation. Reverse headhunting could be helpful. I once employed a good manager but he was not right for the startup environment we were in. He needed more structure than we could give him. I talked to a couple of friendly recruiters who gave him a call. Everyone was happy. He got a better fitting role and the recruiter got a good placement for less work. 

Lastly, be kind. Even if someone is being fired for underperformance or misconduct, it's still important to be respectful and treat them with dignity. Avoid using unnecessarily harsh language or personal attacks, and focus on the specific behaviors or issues that led to the end of their employment. 

 I have witnessed a manager take someone off to have this difficult conversation at one end of an open plan office. Not clever. Always choose a private and comfortable setting, away from the prying eyes of colleagues. Offer support. This could take many forms - from allowing them to keep a laptop to career counseling. These gestures matter. Not only can they help ease the emotional and practical challenges the person faces but they also indicate to others that you, the management, are not monsters.

You can learn a lot from an exiting employee. I have found that people are far less guarded and you can gain a great deal of useful information when you are careful to show you are interested and it’s not just lip service.

Twenty years later, I bumped into the woman who had to suffer my appalling first attempt at firing. I imagined that she might have forgotten it, we might even laugh. But no. “You definitely knocked my career off course for several months” she said. No jokes, no warm fuzzy ending. The way you deal with this stuff matters.