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.

Effective Employee Communications

I always believe that keeping employee communications a priority helps keep organisation improve in its performances – an engaged workforce would mean more success.

Proper communications do help in eliminating misunderstanding and assumptions, and also help to encourage a healthy and peaceful work environment. An age-old aphorism goes - “It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” It’s a profound learning process that we must pick up along the way. Efficient communication with the team and all will make work done effective and professional.

Here you go:

Setting the right tone

We tend to encounter employees who try to test boundaries, and see where is good for them to test your limits. However, be sure to display confidence and keep the tone right. Seriousness is key and important for employees especially when you meet the uninterested ones. They must understand and keep in mind the message sends across. If information sent across are seemed to be unimportant, employees will reciprocate the same.

Use simple terms and words & articulate well

We want everyone to be on the same page and yet not everyone is able to understand the same if you use bombastic words to communicate. Keep messages simple for everyone to understand. You do want to keep explaining yourself on any pointers and everyone forgets what was communicated before that.

Listen to your employees

Communications are never meant to be one-way. Always encourage your employees to speak or open during group discussions so that they can be guided properly. You never know, we may have other employees who are also having the same questions in their head, and assume their ways of answers.

Use multiple forms of communication channels

Everyone gets message across in different means. You’ve employees who are good listeners, others who are needs assistance in visual communications while more who digested messages slightly slowly as they need to go through your messages repeatedly. Whenever possible, distribute your messages in all different channels such as e-emails, posters, face-to-face, presentation slides etc.

Plan the communications – Feedback & Q&A

I’m sure no one stands in front of their employees stuttering, and cannot explain any pointers during the session. Plan it out and ensure that the messages are brought across coherently. You might want to have a check-box to ensure that you do not miss out any information. It is also good to have some answers prepared for Q&A session.

Encourage feedback during communications. It gives you the chance to know that your message has been brought across and also to measure the effectiveness of communication.

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.

Job applicants for fresh graduates

You have just graduated, thinking that opportunities are limitless. You walk up the stage, shook hands with the school representative, collected the scroll thinking this is the start of something for you. However, when you are home applying for jobs, you see most of the jobs are requiring experience since we are in the knowledge based economy.

How are you going to get any job exposure if you are not able to attain the entry level positions? Who is going to give you the chance?

Here are some tips to get you started

JUST APPLY

Of course, this is not to apply for every job listed on the job portal. If you have seen any roles and responsibilities on job portals that you would be keen to explore the roles and responsibilities with, you should just apply. Do not be taken aback by the years of experience because you might just need the one chance of interview to impress the interviewers.

While reading the job description, tune the perspective towards instead of thinking of it as a requirement, but as a wish list of the hiring manager. The general rule of thumb is that if it is an 70% fit of requirement, you may proceed to go ahead and apply for the job.

INDICATE YOUR SKILL SET

You will need to upsell your resume by indicating your skill sets – especially if you are aware that the position would lead to many job applications with experience. This is fundamental for your employer to see your skill set and abilities, to understand how it will be able to complement the job requirements.

It is important to include your internships, or projects where you have worked with Companies as all these are included in your skills set. If you have a referral based on your past internship, do include in your resume as well.

SHOW YOUR SINCERITY

Throw in a cover letter, and not just uploading a resume. After submitting the application via the job portal, it would also be good to send a personalized email to the hiring manager to explain how you are keen on the job and how you are able to convince him that you are the best person for the job although you might not have experience. If you do, you might even stand a higher chance in comparison to someone who might have the experience.

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.

How to overcome challenges during your first day of work

On your first day of work, you need to step out of your comfort zone. Being in your previous job was your comfort zone where you were comfortable with your colleagues, your assignments, your routine at work as knew the working style of your colleagues.

On your first day, you might not be very sure with regards to what you were supposed to be doing, and assignments with very short deadline could have been thrown to you.

Here are some tips to overcome that.

ENJOY THE PROCESS

We all must start from somewhere. You must understand that during your previous job, the transitioning process was not that easy as well. When you are experiencing discomfort, it means you are challenging yourself, and are progressing. You are also likely a skill which makes you feel incompetent for now, but you must keep reminding yourself that it is all right.

ASK FOR HELP AND ACCEPT IT

This is crucial because it makes more sense to shout for help in the initial stages in comparison to shouting for help a few months down the road when people assumed you should be well familiar with it. It is acceptable for you to put your pride aside and ask for help from someone who have done it before. Do not assume your colleagues are too busy to help you in transition because as the saying goes – never ask never to know.

When you ask, you also gradually build relationships among your colleague. An intelligent person would make use of the resources instead of just self-reliance.

DON’T GIVE UP

Gradually, it will get better. The starting is always the most challenging, but you will get there one day. You will likely be very uncertain, hence not very comfortable in speaking up during meetings or unsure of how is the best approach to handle your boss.

How do you retain good employees?

There is a higher turnover rate in the market now. Employees are becoming less engaged and are constantly looking out for something better – Be it better prospects or because of poor management.

There is an increasing need to retain good employees and to understand what the employees are looking for. These are some tips to improve your retention rate.

COMMUNICATION

The more communication there is, the better. It is one of the simplest form of engagement and employees would feel that they are valued and matter to the Company when the management takes some time off their busy schedule to have the meet up with them. When there is frequent feedback, employees are clearer on their roles and accountability, and can understand how they are performing.

Communication can also be in the form of outside work, when a manager care about their personal matters as well. The personal touch is what employees really value. 

FOCUS ON STRENGTHS

Generally, people want to feel good at what they do. They want to feel that they are being valued. Mangers who emphasize on employee strength instead of their improvements help employees build confidence and this enhances productivity at the work place.

PATIENCE IS KEY

Being in the highly competitive society, one would always stop and consider on whether is one doing well compared to other peers. You get competitive or would feel unjust when one person who have graduated with you has attained a higher position in her individual’s career. You start to wonder if your career progression is too slow.

At times, you wonder if what you are doing is enough or whether are you in the right company who recognizes your effort enough? Generally, the higher your expectations, the greater the fall when it is not met.

Generally, it is important you enjoy the journey and not the destination. We should all learn to appreciate the small progression and strides we make during the climb of the corporate ladder. Because no matter how fast your peer’s progression is, it takes time and it will consist of multiple attempts and failures.

PATIENCE IS GOOD WHEN YOU HELP IN PROCRESS IMPROVEMENTS

When you feel that the current system is too slow or too many steps, and you seek to create process improvement, this is good, and this can help you with your career progression. Let your impatience question process that are inefficient and ineffective, be it whether your direct change or you could engage a productive conversation with someone involved to make it more effective at work.

PATIENT IS BAD WHEN YOU ARE IMPATIENT WITH YOUR COLLEAGUES

Doing follow up to remind your colleagues on tasks they need to complete is good, if you are not a nag. People generally do not like working with people who are impatient and are constantly sending chasers for an update.

As much as you want to attain your deliverables, you should plan your deliverables where there is enough time for your co-workers to do something and communicate to them on when is the deadline. If there is no submission, then should proceed to enquire and follow up.

PATIENT IS GOOD WHEN IT MAKES YOU PROACTIVE

If your colleagues are not able to deliver what they are expected to, it will be good if you focus on what you can do and help in comparison to when you are waiting for the deliverables, which in turn affect your performance.

It is also good if you are eager to help another colleague out as well, when you know the other colleague has a lot of tasks assigned. Being proactive helps you to learn and progress as an individual. It makes you constantly challenge yourself, and eventually lead to a better you.

It really reflects well if you go ahead and ask your manager on whether are there anymore responsibilities you can take to learn and progress with the Company, instead of asking your manager on when would your next promotion be.

PATIENCE IS BAD WHEN YOU ARE PROGRESSING WHEN YOU ARE NOT READY

You must set reasonable targets, because there is no way of getting a progression when you are merely 6 months into the job, or getting a pay raise. You might have heard from your other peers that they have attained the progression, but you must remind yourself that you must EARN the progression by showing you are ready to progress into the new role.

It is most definitely better when you take on the role only when you are ready, if not you will just be taking the role with more responsibilities and not be able to deliver to your stakeholders.