Discipline & Termination

Go positive in exit interviews

September 23, 2020
Though exit interviews can yield key insights into what’s wrong with your organization, don’t overlook the positive side.

Plan layoff meeting carefully

September 23, 2020
Laying off an employee is never easy, but not thinking about it won’t help. It’s better to plan your meeting with the employee in detail, including the steps you should take before the meeting. These tips should help.

Prep bosses to deal with layoffs

August 13, 2020
Impending layoffs are tough on everyone—including those who must deliver the bad news. Here’s how to prep your supervisors for the unpleasant job.

Beware 4 discipline traps

June 24, 2020
Most managers don’t spend a lot of time on discipline, so it’s no wonder that many of them aren’t very good at it. Correcting mistakes and misbehavior is part of the job, though. Learn to avoid these pitfalls.

Why you should think twice about a ‘Zoom termination’

June 1, 2020
Even during a national emergency, sometimes you have no choice but to terminate an employee—and sometimes the termination is brought about because of it. How should you go about the process in this time of heightened legal and emotional sensitivity, especially when face to face contact might be tricky?

Can I fire a snoozing worker?

March 13, 2020
Q. I caught one my workers with his eyes shut in front of his computer. I knocked on his desk and gave him a warning that sleeping on the job will not be tolerated. That’s grounds for termination. Right?

Cut off gossip as soon as it starts

February 26, 2020
It’s easy to get caught in gossip, even for managers. You know you should it, but how should you do it? Lori Palatnik and Bob Burg, authors of Gossip, offer three useful options.

Should we question a worker we suspect is gaming our reward system?

February 13, 2020
Q. We encourage our retail staff to go above and beyond their duties to please and impress our customers. To that end, we reward them gift cards to various restaurants each time a customer comes to our service desk to compliment one of our employees. One of our workers has landed several of these rewards, but I have a suspicion that the “customers” are his friends, and he’s gaming our motivational system. Should I come right out and ask him?

Misconduct? Keep your cool

January 23, 2020
You need to act when employees break company rules or fail at their tasks, but you should never become abusive or slanderous. Here are a few suggestions for treating a bad situation as positively as possible.

Don’t select your layoffs based on “broken English”

January 10, 2020
When parking company LAZ converted to an automated payment system in a parking complex in Baltimore, management terminated three employees: two Moroccans and one Ethiopian.