Should I explain to other team members why I fired somebody?

Question

When I fire someone because of a behavioral problem he has, it's ethical not to talk about the problem in his behavior with other teammates, so that his reputation isn't corrupted in their eyes. But, if I don't explain why I had to do it, 2 problems arise:

1. Teammates may feel that I'm an irrational person who fires people for random reasons, or rumors may spread about why I did it.
2. If I don't tell them why I did it, they may not believe that that kind of behavior is intolerable in here, and they may be tempted to do it too, forcing me to fire other people too; whereas if I had told them what was the reason of this firing, it will create a deterrence strong enough to make it stop occurring again.

I know that there are several other methods to make people believe if they break rules there will be consequences, but I don't think there's any method more powerful than saying: "see, he did it, so he was punished".

And please assume that in this case, there's no way to tell other ones what happened without damaging reputation of that person. If I disclose the reason behind termination, everybody agrees with me that it was right, but this behavior in particular wasn't in front of other ones eyes, so they didn't notice it.

What I'm most afraid is that they may think that termination had some other reasons, jumping to conclusion: "He got fired because of that totally rational behavior, so managers are crazy and they may fire me too for some other stupid reason". It's clear without saying how this damages the morale.

What should I do in this dilemma? Am I allowed to ruin his reputation in this team, or should I just pray that this behavior isn't repeated again? I know it's disrespectful to talk behind back of other people, hence the dilemma.

Answer 1

NO

There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, but the bottom line is it was a business decision to terminate the employment. It is very disrespectful to go around afterward and gossip about why they were let go. They have no opportunity to respond to the allegations you would be making, and it might open you up to legal trouble.

To be most safe and respectful to your company and your current and former employees, do not mention termination at all. Simply state that the former employee is no longer with the company, and direct questions to... yada yada..

That said, if there were an issue that happened in the office, that led to termination, then having a meeting to discuss the policy that prohibits that behavior is not inappropriate.

We had someone who worked for our division at a Fortune 50 company, get fired for using their company backed credit card at a casino. When that happened, the entire division had meetings where the policy on the proper use of the company backed credit card was discussed as well as clarification that it was grounds for termination to use the card for personal expenses. Here the specific case was not discussed but the policy was.

At another company, someone was caught using their company laptop at home after hours to visit adult web sites. This time a meeting was called and the policy of not visiting work inappropriate sites on company laptops was discussed, as well as further discussions about how the company was going to be cracking down on Fantasy Sports Betting. This was something that was already prohibited but had not been enforced.

In the end, your team's morale is best served by having strong effective leadership that they can count on. In a week, the gossip about "Ted in accounting" will be old news and everyone will have moved on. Assuming you were prepared for the loss of the team member and properly shifted the workload, your team should be on course and back to normal.

Answer 2

What should I do in this dilemma? Am I allowed to ruin his reputation in this team, or should I just pray that this behavior isn't repeated again?

No.

Remain professional. Don't ruin anybody's reputation.

Even after being fired, former employees deserve to be treated professionally and with respect.

They may have not fit the job well, but they didn't kill anyone (unless they did, in which case you really don't need to tell your team not to kill anyone).

It's virtually never the case that behavior which resulted in someone getting fired isn't already known as something that "isn't done". If you feel compelled to give some reason, use the same generic phrases that you would use if you were asked why you were fired - "It wasn't a good fit.", "We decided to go in another direction", "It just didn't work out", etc.

In general, a person getting fired is seldom surprised. Warnings, chances to improve, and formal Performance Improvement Plans should take care of that. If they are surprised, think over why that is, and find a way to convey your expectations more clearly.

For your team, emphasize your expectations during regular one-on-one meetings. If for some reason you haven't already made clear that the intolerable behavior which led to the firing is bad, then you must list that as something that is not permitted without referencing the individual. If you are communicating with your team well on a regular basis, there's no need to pray about their behavior.

Although I don't know the specifics of your situation, I think you aren't giving your team enough credit for knowing what they must do to prevent being fired. Once you announce that this individual is leaving (or is gone), human nature tells us that if they don't already know why, your team members will ask their former colleague about it and learn the reason why. You want the fired employee to relay that they were treated professionally even when being fired. And hopefully, your team trusts you enough to know that you would never fire someone for a "random reason". If not, you have bigger problems to work on.

The last few times I had to fire someone, it was simply because they weren't capable of handling what the job required. They weren't bad people, they were just a bad fit. The rest of the team had already come to the same conclusion, so I really never needed to explain it. I did need to think harder why I wasn't able to more accurately assess their abilities before I hired them, so that I wouldn't repeat my mistake.

When I was young, I worked in a supermarket. One of the clerks was fired for stealing a $0.19 pen. Word got around quickly without any manager ever having to explain why he was fired - the grapevine took care of that. And everyone already knew that stealing could get you fired.

(As @closetnoc wisely points out, there are issues with liability if you choose to talk about reasons for firing someone. The company and individuals can be sued for what they say post firing. What you say could potentially be used as evidence in a discrimination or defamation lawsuit. If you still decide to go that route, talk with HR first.)

Answer 3

YES.

The previous answers did not address the question as asked, namely:

If I disclose the reason behind termination, everybody agrees with me that it was right, but this behavior in particular wasn't in front of other ones eyes, so they didn't notice it.

What I'm most afraid is that they may think that termination had some other reasons, jumping to conclusion: "He got fired because of that totally rational behavior, so managers are crazy and they may fire me too for some other stupid reason". It's clear without saying how this damages the moral.

I know it's disrespectful to talk behind back of other people, hence the dilemma.

You are a businessman in charge of a team. All that matters to you, professionally speaking, is the team. Team morale is important, and that morale is shattered, absolutely shattered, when one of their numbers suddenly disappears. The worst motives are suspected. You have to say something.

Just do it the right way. Stick to the facts, avoid adjectives, don't exaggerate, briefly explain your opinion, and leave it at that. Don't go into details, don't belittle the former employees. There is nothing belittling about the truth, and it's impossible to be successfully sued for slander if it is true.

Answer 4

Context is very important for this question. Large companies generally handle it differently from small ones. The largest we ever got was 11 people. If someone left, there were lots of questions in the minds of those remaining. Along with "who is going to finish that work?" and "what are we telling clients if they ask?" there was often also "is this information that changes anything for me or makes me feel less secure?"

I would have an all-hands meeting as soon as the person involved was told, and I would give an explanation that wasn't specific enough to violate confidences, but wasn't vague enough to leave them worrying about themselves. Examples:

I am sure you're all aware we've been getting less and less X work this year. You also know that Person has been trying other kinds of work here, and how that went. We've agreed there just isn't enough work Person can do coming in, so we laid them off. [Quick summary of the mechanics such as they will be paid till the end of the month etc - this is to reassure people that we are fair and helpful when this happens. Also logistics like who will get new duties now, and what to say if someone calls for them or asks about them.]

For an actual firing:

It's no secret that Person's performance hasn't been where it should be. Everyone in this room has been part of helping with that, whether it's fixing mistakes after the fact or trying to train Person in what we need doing. I appreciate all of that effort and want to thank you all again for it. This week [partner] and I decided that it was just not working out and Person isn't working here any more. They'll be paid for the next 3 weeks , [etc with mechanics. These may include that there were warnings, or multiple meetings with Person about it, again aimed at "don't worry we won't just fire you tomorrow and say it was for performance."]

I never had to deal with this, but for a firing-on-the-spot when very bad behavior was discovered:

Yesterday Person committed a firing offense and was fired. I am not going to discuss the details with you, and I am confident none of you would ever do such a thing. This wasn't a personal conflict between two people: it was unprofessional behavior that could have seriously damaged this company. I can't provide more details on that. On the mechanics of Person's departure, [usual stuff people want to know, but in this case nothing about severance pay or benefits.]

The more complete your statement is, the less likely people will ask nosy questions. You don't want to close with "if there's anything else you want to know just swing by and ask me." This isn't a chit-chat topic.

Answer 5

People in the workplace don't always like to work for "authoritarian" leaders. By just seeming to randomly fire people without explanation, you seem very "authoritarian".

Your employees will feel very uneasy and insecure about their positions. It is better to express the wisdom and insight in as to why you fired the individual, and your employees will probably have more respect and trust of you.

Answer 6

Employments are terminated all the time for a variety of reasons, most common among them being resignation, end of contract, and getting fired. There seems to be no good reason why other team members have to know any more details than "Mr X would be leaving the company on DD/MM/YY". People can usually guess if an employee was fired based on the preceding events, but as a manager, you don't have to disclose confidential details to anyone who doesn't need to know.

There is also no need to set an example for the other team members as to what can get you fired. They should know what is expected of them without "referring to an example". Besides, announcing to the remaining team members that "this guy for fired because he did that, and it could happen to you as well" only hurts morale, as people will begin to wonder "who's next on the boss's list?"

Answer 7

Discussing the private details of an HR-related action with other people in his work group is something no manager should ever consider doing. This is highly confidential information. It is cause for firing in most companies with an HR group in the US for a manager to let confidential information out. (I can't speak for other countries, but suspect it might be in many others because betraying confidential information is serious stuff).

Managers must be able to keep private information private and should have the judgement to know what is private and what can be shared. Managers are often required to keep quiet on a variety of topics including who might be promoted, who is going to be on the layoff list, who is buying the company, what other people's performance ratings are, etc. Anyone who does not know that they need to keep this stuff quiet has no business in management.

If there was a policy problem that needs to be reinforced, then address that separately and not related to the firing at all. Without mentioning the fired person by name, most employees will get the message that this is a firing offense.

If the firing happened for something unreasonable but not covered in a written policy (since you do not have to show cause in many US states), now is the time to make sure that the prohibited actions get spelled out in writing to avoid future violations.

However, you must also consider that if you fired John for doing X and you you know that Mary is doing it as well, then you may be in trouble in a challenge to the firing if you did not also fire Mary. I have seen companies get into trouble and have it cost them a good bit of money of they choose to allow a practice for some employees that they fire others for. This is part of why all companies need an HR (either full-time or a consultant) or a labor lawyer. (Small start-ups especially as they often have no one who knows how to legally protect the company). So before you reinforce this policy, you need to get get rid of all known violators even if one of them is your best employee. We had a large company locally that ended up firing half of the staff for accessing porn at work. I am sure they were not thrilled but once one was found, then the others had to be fired as well.

In the future, if you are in the US, it is often to the company's benefit to let people go with out stating a cause. There are far fewer ways to get into trouble when you do this.

Answer 8

Address it, by just telling them that it was necessary but that the details are confidential.

Don't let it be an un-spoken elephant in the room. Say something about it. Say what's necessary to say, while making it clear that revealing the details is not appropriate and not their business.

Reassure them that they should not perceive this person's departure as a signal that their own situations are precarious.

I assume the fired person was given a chance to correct the behavior? And was fired after failing to do so?

If any of the remaining staff ARE displaying similar behavior to the fired person, deal with that on its own, with that person. At that point, it's not even about the fired person, it's about the next person. Make that their business - you don't even have to say "that's why the other person got fired", all you have to say is "YOU are on thin ice".

Answer 9

You may say "There are details which I may not disclose that brought me to terminate this employee".

Then, in a few weeks, update the code of conduct to include the actions of this employee to be among those which are unacceptable without naming the person.

Answer 10

When I fire someone because of a behavioral problem he has,

For my answer I will assume this means you gave him warnings in private and he did not change this behavior prior to firing him.

Teammates may feel that I'm an irrational person who fires people for random reasons, or rumors may spread about why I did it.

You are not free to discuss these private details with your team. Other answers explain why, I will not repeat it here, it's simply not professional. And quite frankly, the team doesn't care that much about the nitty gritty details. Sure, it's curiosity, we all have it. But what they really want to know is "is my job safe, or will I be next?".

From their point of view, you just fired somebody out of the blue. They don't know about the prior warnings, they need to know that it wasn't a spontaneous thought you had when you came in today. You gave ample warning and the employee did not comply. You need to communicate, that despite what it looks like, you will not fire random people on the spot. Everyone who is in danger of getting fired will get a private warning from you first.

This solves most of their morale problem. It does not solve your personal "I don't want to go through that with another employee" problem. If someone else does the same thing your ex-employee did, you will have to take them aside for a private warning as well. Hopefully, they will remember your little speech and take the warning more seriously, knowing that you do fire people if they don't comply.

Answer 11

When you fire someone you are also responsible for that person's privacy and reputation.
Since you do not say exactly what was the problem I assume he was not doing something illegal or extremely immoral. People can do mistakes for personal reasons in the workplace and as a manager you can decide to let them go. But do you want to damage their careers too by discussing personal matters? Your team members would be concerned with their relationship with you. If that person was a star in any way they may be curious but does not mean that they would have a right to know. And if they see a pattern where you just do whatever you want and your manager does not stop you well then they would realize where they work.....

Answer 12

In a small company (10 employees, 2 contractors) I was a contracted to, three people left the same day—all of them highly regarded employees.

I had been away that day (personal holiday) and returning, I noticed a distinctly bad atmosphere which no one was talking about. I inquired of coworkers but received little information. I sat in my office totally unmotivated (and thoroughly unproductive), wondering if I would be terminated in the next hours.

In a rare appearance in the back offices, the V.P. organized some cubicle cleanup from outside my office. He asked me how it was going, so I mentioned my concerns: he seemed surprised and concerned, then left. The president arrived a few minutes later and addressed the remainder of us. One person had been fired for unfortunately poor business judgment; their spouse (also an employee) chose to resign, which he perfectly understood and agreed with. The third person had been about to resign for another distant job and thought that day was as good as any to do it.

For me, this was a night and day difference in atmosphere. Not saying anything about sudden disappearances was debilitating for morale for the whole team. Understanding it had nothing to do with anybody else made the rest of the day sparkle with the knowledge that all was well. There was no need for total details, but it was good that there was a hint of what they did wrong so everyone got some education about where the good/bad line was.

Answer 13

Everything depends if the employee actually was stupid enough to tell that e was fired. normally there is no reason to disclose the fact that somebody was fired at all.

If it comes to light in the team that he was fired then the only explanation should be that keeping him in the team would not have been good for the team, together with the instruction not to speculate about the details.