Recruitment and Retention
The problem of retention begins with recruitment! In most of the organizations the recruitment function operates independently of the retention department. HR people have so far been naive to the direct relationship between the two and the resulting increase in employee turnover. It is therefore in the interest of organizations to understand how the hiring […]
Job Analysis Process
Where to place the employees in order to best utilize their skills and talent? How to determine the need of new employees in the organization? How to eliminate unneeded jobs? How to set realistic performance measurement standards? How to identify the jobs and prepare a plan to fill them? Well, all this can be effectively […]
Qualities in an Organization for a Better Employee Retention
Employee Retention refers to the various steps involved to retain the outgoing employees. Hiring is a cumbersome process and it is really not easy to find an employee who is loyal towards the organization and looks forward towards achieving its targets. An organization must encourage the employees to stick to it for a good amount […]
Steps in Creating Individual Development Plan
Individual development plan plays an instrumental role in employee development. Individual development plan is generally prepared both by the employee as well as the employer as to what all initiatives the organization needs to take to enhance the skills of an employee and help him grow both personally as well as professionally. Individual development plans […]
Linking Training Programs with Organizational Goals
It is the practice in many organizations to conduct training programs periodically for their employees. Often, these training programs are conducted to enhance on the job skills and to enable the employees to pick up valuable soft skills. Further, the training programs can be technical/job oriented or human resource skills oriented. For instance, it is […]
How and when do corporates decide to fire employees? Are there any alternatives to dismissing employees? What are the circumstances in which dismissal is the only option and is the best course of action? The answers to these questions lie in the way in which corporates and the executives heading them make decisions based on data points, and individual decision making aspects.
Before we go deeper into the dynamics of dismissal and firing employees, it is important to distinguish between the different types of dismissal from employment. While layoffs and mass firing of staff during recessions and downturns and other unfavorable economic conditions is well known and publicized, there are other forms of letting go of staff and these can range from dismissal due to poor performance, bad behavior, or simply because the said employee(s) have violated the workplace rules and policies.
More often than not, it is the dismissal due to poor performance that receives relatively more attention than the last aspect, namely dismissal due to policy violations. However, in our working experience, we have seen all three types of dismissals happening depending on the exact circumstances.
To start with, mass layoffs are becoming more common these days and more so with the tech firms that are now letting go of employees like a “leaking” sieve. Whether it was Meta/Facebook laying off 11,000 employees, or Twitter under its mercurial new owner, Elon Musk, downsizing nearly half of its employee base, or the very fresh instances of Amazon and other tech firms firing employees in thousands, the reason for the mass dismissal of staff is mostly economic.
Indeed, while the pros and cons of these decisions are debatable, what is clear is that The Great Tech Moderation has begun, as Big Tech firms realize that the “party is over” and the golden age of tech is coming to an end. However, in these cases also, dismissal is based on both cold logic of cost benefit analysis as well as the more emotional aspect of taking loyalty and capability into account.
In other words, corporates, even during downturns often retain their best staff and those who have been with them for years, and the best course dismissal hits those who the Senior Execs think can be let go. So, there is the element of the human touch as well.
Having said that, dismissal due to poor performance happens anytime and not only during recessions. Indeed, in our working experience, we have come across two types of dismissal due to non performance.
For instance, there are policies in these entities that specify the layoff of the Bottom 10% of employees based on their appraisals every cycle. In addition, many leading firms review performance metrics periodically and decide to let go of those deemed unproductive.
This is because in case of individual employees, the labor laws specify that such employees should first be placed on PIPs or Performance Improvement Plans and then given chances to make amends and only if they fail to better their performance even after these that they are fired.
In addition, dismissal becomes the best course only under extenuating circumstances or in other words, only under the most compelling circumstances. This is also the case with dismissal due to policy violations that happens very rarely.
Indeed, both these types of dismissals often entail elaborate review and reasoning steps as the laws mandate such conditions. Of course, the rarest of the rare form of dismissal is the instant firing where the employee(s) are asked to leave immediately. This happens in case of serious policy violations like poaching staff, corruption, and misconduct and sexual and other forms of harassment.
In our working experience, we have come across only one instance where this happened and that was because the said employee was encouraging the colleagues to switch to rival firms. Of course, these spot dismissals also happen at the senior levels as the case of some leading corporate figures involved in business scandals shows.
Last, letting go off employees is always a hard and painful decision to make, and more so if the employees have been with the firms for a longer period of time.
Having said that, the corporate world is a very competitive and brutal place for anyone who falls afoul of the conditions which we described lead to dismissals and so, our advice to prospective graduates entering their careers is to be aware and alive to the various circumstances in which dismissal is the only course of action left for the corporates and so, they must be on their toes always.
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