The corporate boot

[Gali]

Something that has been on my mind for several years as I've worked in the corporate structure is how companies deal with employee termination. I'm not sure how it was handled years back, but these days HR (Human Resources, corporate Nazi SS) walks in, has closed-door conversations with managers and the next day they release private communications saying who is no longer invited to the dinner table (Fired). It's dirty. It's all cloak and dagger with these secret meetings on who to slip the silver bullet to next. Most of these folks that I've seen prematurely depart have been with the company for decades. What a way to send someone off, right? "Hey there Mr. Buckley, we're sorry but your services are no longer needed. You have 30 days to clear out your desk. Goodbye." It's like ... wait ... what? Dafuq??

 

Are we seriously to that point where we don't give a shit about human lives enough to give them proper opportunity to make life adjustments, or even corrective action, before sending them off in a fiery blaze? Especially the younger crowd who have no nest egg to fall back on ... all they have is bi-weekly income. If that falls by the wayside, they're screwed. Hopefully they have savings, but if not you have yet another skilled and trained technician or tradesman working at a fast food or retail joint.

 

Was this always the way it's been? I'm in IT and that's all I see happening. People are given max 60 days, unless they declare their retirement themselves, to clear desk space and gtfo of Dodge. That's insanity. I know a lot of it is asset protection and security ... that's why companies shut down access immediately so an employee can't retaliate. But really? These are valued employees who have 20-30 years working for the company ... It's shocking, if not, down right wrong to do.

 

(This obviously excludes horrible employees who have broken the rules/ been given their chances and squandered them)

[dalekphalm]

1 hour ago, Gali said:

Something that has been on my mind for several years as I've worked in the corporate structure is how companies deal with employee termination. I'm not sure how it was handled years back, but these days HR (Human Resources, corporate Nazi SS) walks in, has closed-door conversations with managers and the next day they release private communications saying who is no longer invited to the dinner table (Fired). It's dirty. It's all cloak and dagger with these secret meetings on who to slip the silver bullet to next. Most of these folks that I've seen prematurely depart have been with the company for decades. What a way to send someone off, right? "Hey there Mr. Buckley, we're sorry but your services are no longer needed. You have 30 days to clear out your desk. Goodbye." It's like ... wait ... what? Dafuq??

 

Are we seriously to that point where we don't give a shit about human lives enough to give them proper opportunity to make life adjustments, or even corrective action, before sending them off in a fiery blaze? Especially the younger crowd who have no nest egg to fall back on ... all they have is bi-weekly income. If that falls by the wayside, they're screwed. Hopefully they have savings, but if not you have yet another skilled and trained technician or tradesman working at a fast food or retail joint.

 

Was this always the way it's been? I'm in IT and that's all I see happening. People are given max 60 days, unless they declare their retirement themselves, to clear desk space and gtfo of Dodge. That's insanity. I know a lot of it is asset protection and security ... that's why companies shut down access immediately so an employee can't retaliate. But really? These are valued employees who have 20-30 years working for the company ... It's shocking, if not, down right wrong to do.

 

(This obviously excludes horrible employees who have broken the rules/ been given their chances and squandered them)

I'm gonna say this is going to be different on a company by company basis.

 

Most big companies have very specific and clear termination policies, that you can find listed in official documentation. Generally, someone doesn't just get fired on the spot, unless they've done something really bad (violence at work, theft, harassment, costing the company lots of money, etc).

 

Usually there's a process involved, and the person who is getting fired should probably have some indication as to why they got fired.

 

Now, getting laid off is a different matter. It's often as simple as "we can't afford to keep paying you all" and the person laid off hasn't done anything specifically wrong.

 

Furthermore, what would you prefer they do? They shouldn't make a spectacle out of it, and it should DEFINITELY remain confidential. Your coworkers don't need to know why a person was fired, generally.

 

For those companies who don't do any sort of process? Well that's different. It also depends on what country/state you live in. Canada has pretty good employee protection laws, so you can't be fired without due cause, and if you do get fired without due cause, you can take them to special arbitration (or just sue them) and win monetary compensation.

[killcomic]

4 hours ago, Gali said:

Something that has been on my mind for several years as I've worked in the corporate structure is how companies deal with employee termination. I'm not sure how it was handled years back, but these days HR (Human Resources, corporate Nazi SS) walks in, has closed-door conversations with managers and the next day they release private communications saying who is no longer invited to the dinner table (Fired). It's dirty. It's all cloak and dagger with these secret meetings on who to slip the silver bullet to next. Most of these folks that I've seen prematurely depart have been with the company for decades. What a way to send someone off, right? "Hey there Mr. Buckley, we're sorry but your services are no longer needed. You have 30 days to clear out your desk. Goodbye." It's like ... wait ... what? Dafuq??

 

Are we seriously to that point where we don't give a shit about human lives enough to give them proper opportunity to make life adjustments, or even corrective action, before sending them off in a fiery blaze? Especially the younger crowd who have no nest egg to fall back on ... all they have is bi-weekly income. If that falls by the wayside, they're screwed. Hopefully they have savings, but if not you have yet another skilled and trained technician or tradesman working at a fast food or retail joint.

 

Was this always the way it's been? I'm in IT and that's all I see happening. People are given max 60 days, unless they declare their retirement themselves, to clear desk space and gtfo of Dodge. That's insanity. I know a lot of it is asset protection and security ... that's why companies shut down access immediately so an employee can't retaliate. But really? These are valued employees who have 20-30 years working for the company ... It's shocking, if not, down right wrong to do.

 

(This obviously excludes horrible employees who have broken the rules/ been given their chances and squandered them)

American problem? (North Carolina is the US, right?)

Don't you guys have workplace regulations to control this kind of stuff?

[Nuluvius]

Welcome to the corporate world, why does this surprise you?

[Bsmith]

on one hand, welcome to the corporate world where costs have to be low and incomes have to be high for the CEO and board  partners.

 

on the other hand, it's different for each company and country, FujiFilm for example(had an internship there) had an average of 20+ contract years on their employees at the location where I was, the HR person proudly boasted that at my first talk about how and what, alongside with the question if I could see myself there.
There are a lot of companies with shitty values for their workers since they can be replaced easily, but companies that find their origin in a country where family matters bring those values with them and other companies can learn from that(nothing saying that its needed here in the Netherlands)