How to handle termination at workplace?

It could be the company’s decision to terminate a person, but everyone would shun when they are aware that they might have to communicate this termination to the affected employee. There will be fears of how the affected employee would take it once they are confronted with the decision, and it might seem as a very distasteful way to execute this decision. 

THE THOUGHT PROCESS

It is important to ensure the company have sufficiently thought through this process before handling the termination letter. A good company policy would be sufficient to handle any reasons why a supervisor might be reluctant to hand the termination letter. These reasons can then be used to justify to the affected employee on their reasons for termination.

Before termination is decided, employees should have been aware of the reasons of their performance issues and have given opportunities to improve. It is only justifiable if they have been aware of their issues and proper remediation steps have been advised and executed.

Fundamentally, the affected employee is affecting the team synergy and his outcome of his work is dis-satisfactory to the team’s work performance. This is the exact case of “It’s better to have no one at all, than to have the affected employee on board”. If the affected employee performance is not up to par, it is also to justify to his co-workers and then the entire misconception of the person executing the termination is cruel and inconsiderate would also be misplaced. People prefer to work for managers who enforce exacting standards and who give continuous feedback on their work.

It is also important to understand to consider this affected employee a re-designation before termination. The affected employee could be kept due to good attitude and willing to learn but a non-performance in the role that was assigned

HANDLE THE PERSON EXECUTING IT

The person handling the termination should be trained and be advised prior to executing the termination to the affected employee. The person executing the termination should never retaliate to anger or violence during the termination process as both parties could have been displeased with each other for a period.

It is important also to let managers listen to their perspective of the affected employee before finalizing the discussion by saying the discussion is over, but the decision still stands. It would not be very professional for an employee to have been kept interrupted with “Our decision still stands”.

During the execution of termination, it would be a fatal mistake to go through the empathetic stand and shower compliments to a candidate when the decision has been made for him to be terminated. You might also confuse your employee on the decision and might result in the employee challenging the manager on why the decision was made.

How to fix your workplace culture

We all understand that work culture is important as it enhances productivity, increases retention and make your company more attractive to new hires. Culture is based on the set of beliefs and values, and it fundamentally affect your actions your employees do at work as well.

IDENTIFY WEAK CULTURES

You must first identify what is your current culture you have. Are your employees constantly engaged, or are they very confused about what is expected of them? Do you constantly see signs of verbal gossips, or verbal and physical abuse? Are you also hearing whether feedback is useless since Management do not consider that as well and that they are underpaid for all the roles and duties they are assigned within the Company?

You will then want to understand what is it that cause your employees this mindset? What exactly is the actions that have resulted in this behavior traits. Through understanding what are the infrastructure that have resulted in this culture, you might want to act on it.

LISTEN TO YOUR EMPLOYEES

The best person to explain to you why the culture is being set today, is to have a quick chat with your employees – whether is it a focus group session, one to one communication or data in the form of quantitative or qualitative. You will want to make them feel validated and that they matter.

START FROM MANAGEMENT

Fundamentally, for the culture to be set right – your management must set the good examples as well. You will want to understand what has caused or resulted in this culture. Do management take feedback seriously and do they recognize excellent work? 

FIXING THE INFRASTRUCTURE

You must understand that people are resistant to change – generally be it management or employees. You should set priorities on what are the things to change. Evaluate how big your actions can cause based on just one change. You could also identify the influencers in the team and start the change from them. Generally, once accepted by them – acceptance rates from the others would be higher as well.

If your common feedback that everyone is overworked, then it is time to propose realistic deadlines and workloads. If you need to hire more to distribute the workload more evenly, you might want to consider that as well. It could be good to set in accountability to ensure that your employees are aware of what they are responsible for. It is especially important for management to show recognition of excellent work done to constantly motivate employees.

If communication is a problem, you might want to ensure feedback sessions are conducted regularly and for management to have more transparent communication with their employees to reduce confusion and hence, frustration.

REVIEW THE PLANS

Constantly seek feedback and ensure you are going on the right track. There will never be any harm on hearing more perspectives.  Give your changes some time to be implemented, and do not rush the process. Gradually, you should assess if there is any change in the work place culture and constantly tweak to finally have the culture you require in your team.

How to assist your colleague during their challenging times

We always say that it is good to separate work from personal issues, but we also know and understand that it is not always possible. While handling Human Resources must be an objective approach, we must always remember that we are still handling people. It is good to strike the correct balance between empathetic, yet objective.

These are things you could help your employees going through a tough time. 

SETTING YOUR CULTURE RIGHT

If you think that your colleagues are going to approach you to share their problems when you have been nasty throughout the entire year, you’re wrong. You might even be the last person that they want you to be aware of their personal issues.

You must start it right by being seem as approachable and making the extra effort to be approachable and non-judgemental. By constantly engaging your peers, it will also be easier for you to take notice when you know that something is not right with them and you can approach and then lend your listening ears.

LISTEN AND SET THE CORRECT TONE

When someone is sharing their challenging times with you, you should not be asking too many private questions that one might be unwilling to share. You might want to give them the opportunity to share with you, if you’re willing. Do not be quick to provide advice or solutions – they could just need a listening ear.

SHOW YOU CARE

Not about your business, or your daily operations – but about your colleagues. Imagine after hearing about their personal issues and asking them “I understand, but how will this help you focus at work?” – how would your colleagues feel?

The questions you can ask could be “How can we assist or support you during this critical period of time?” to show you care more about their feelings and understanding what their thoughts process are.

Do your follow up with your employees if you know they are going a tough time. Conversations like this is not concluded over one time. Remind them you are available to listen when any more issues happen.

BE OBJECTIVE

The rule of the thumb is still not to be over empathetic. You would want to clear about your company policies and understand any restrictions before over promising or committing yourself to their recommendations. If you need to check and get approval, you can explain you’ll need to check before committing. You would not want a situation where you promise and not deliver.

Building a Successful Company Culture

Empathy, a common word but also often a skill that companies might not practice. Employers should be aware of own's and employee's feelings, needs and concerns. Research has shown that being empathetic helps boost morale, reduces misunderstandings and disputes while building a long-lasting relationship all together. 

To practice empathy in a workplace, one has to take note of the following points.

Be attentive

It's human nature that we usually forget to consider how others are feeling, which is usually the reason why misunderstandings and disputes happens creating a stressful working environment. One needs to take time aside to understand each other's feelings before passing comments about any issue.

Always be mindful about how the other party is conveying the message, which include their facial expression, gestures or any other factors verbally and non-verbally and revert in a supportive manner.

Lend a listening ear

Listening is one of the key factor to a successful business. Listening to others helps redirecting one's personal goal into those of the team, which would help company's career advancement leading to a successful company.

Staying on the same track

Studies shows that empathy is the most essential factor when comparing to job performance.

Getting to know your employees better helps the company work towards the common goal, resulting in a more efficient working culture.

Even though profit plays a big part for a business but working in a profit oriented company would mean that its success is driven by the expenses of its employees, which will lower their morale and productivity, making them emotionless and always in great pressure.

Employees plays an important role in any successful business, engaging in a more empathetic approach would help boost the productivity to create a more conducive working environment leading the business to success.  

Explaining things to someone who do not get it?

There will come a time, when you will get to meet a new colleague. The new colleague is willing to learn, expressed strong interest in staying long in the company and is determined to prove their performance in the company. You have been assigned to be a mentor, and are accountable for her to adjust to the new environment.

However, repeated questions keep coming and you suddenly feel that the new entrant might not be the most suitable for the role. You really want to help her, but you remain clueless how.

Here’s How.

Understanding the root of the problem

Different people come in with different learning capacity. Some people have a preference over a learning style over the other. It is important that you understand that fact and respect the fact as well. If you feel that your training is not effective, you might want to understand further with regards on how else the person can be more receptive to it. You can instead ask “I understand that you are still experiencing some difficulties with regards to learning. Is there any other way I am able to better help you with?”

Sometimes, the problem could be you. You could have been a terrible person to instruct, or you do not explain to them the rationale of why things are done in a certain manner. If you are a terrible trainer, you could get someone else to do the coaching and guiding.

Training Evaluation

It is always a good idea to evaluate your employee’s training to understand which of the parts of training did your employee understand the best, and which one is not the best. Through understanding that, then you could cater your subsequent training to emphasize on the one that the employee might not be unsure of.

Encourage Questions

The worst thing you would want to do is to discourage an employee from asking questions. If employees are unsure, it would be good for them to clarify by asking questions. If your culture discourages questions, employees would deem what they deem fit which could result in operational errors. With operational errors, you would then encounter all the difficulties to rectify the errors over the long run.

Bored of Work – Finding New Excitement

After a few years on the job and that you thought that you have mastered the skills required and that you are doing the same old work every day... Sometimes, the itchiness in you just tell you to move on and find more challenges, something that’s more “exciting” and “better”.

Sit down and really think – you achieve a level of trust with your bosses and colleagues and maintain certain flexibility at work – in terms of schedule and project timeline with colleagues. Imagine stepping into a new environment and having to build relationship and understand the culture and working styles all over again… well, some call that challenges. However, I thought challenges and excitement can be found elsewhere.

PARTICIPATE IN VOLUNTARY WORKS

Here you are, with neighborhood or surroundings with people who are the less fortunate. Don’t let our free time run wild. Use this time to return to the society. Look out for the causes that you feel you can relateand that you do not seek favors in return. Be sure to attend voluntary works with heart to help others or expect nothing in return.

You will get to meet more people, and feel the warmth of the society and people who are going around with you. While you may find slight unhappiness and boredom at work, see the faces of the people you are helping, they will let you forget about unhappiness and you will be looking forward to seeing them for each cause or project you’re supporting.

GO FOR VACATIONS

You have your annual leave to consume yearly. I’m not telling you to use your annual leave all on vacations, but one or two vacations will be sufficient. Go for one that you leave your work behind totally – emails and business calls out of reach. Leave your work to your deputy in-charge or even your covering colleague. Have the trust and confidence that they’ll be following up with your work closely.

Honestly, there will never a “good” time to go for vacations. Every boss will tell you that they need you to be around. I’m sure your boss said that because you have been the person he/she has been relying on but when you start your break, they will respect your absence from work. Come on, he knows it – he yearns for the break too!

DO SOME SMALL SIDELINE

Start a new mini project out of office time. May not be the challenging and big money making project but it’s okay… do a really small one. For instance, picking up a small sale business like selling things off Carousell or assisting wedding photography. Things that are totally unrelated to your office-hour job.

Look, your current job is giving you a stable income and peaceful environment to pick up new skills (with more income)