Leadership

Hey, where did my job go? Employee terminations in a brave new world

Marie Gervais, Global Leadership Associates www.global-leadership.ca

What happened to my job?

It has become standard practice in industry and most organizations, regardless of the size, to layoff or terminate employees as quickly as possible. An engineer friend of mine was worrying out loud about job security the other day. She works at a large construction company with a team of 15 engineers on at site that will be active for the next three years. Two weeks ago eight of their team were called into a meeting and given 20 minutes to clear out their workspaces and leave the building escorted by security guards. Last week the same thing happened to five of the remaining team members. There are now only two engineers left from the original team and she has been spending her evenings redoing her resume and looking for her next gig.

Most news-worthy manufacturing stories in Canada over the past two years have involved employees arriving at work to a lock out and being handed termination letters at the door. Six months ago, an HR manager I know was given no notice about a plant closure and came to work one morning to deal with 300 employees who were told they could transfer to another part of the province or lose their jobs, and 500 who were simply met at the door with termination notes. She told me that for the first half hour she feared for her life, and if it were not for the fact that the employees held her in high esteem, she might not have left that situation in the same health as when she had arrived that morning.

A couple of people I know who work in health care administration experienced the same fate when someone they did not know met them at the office with a termination note and supervised them packing up their offices. Computers had all been confiscated and phones disconnected the night before. Same story for a couple more people I know who worked for small not for profit organizations.

I asked a few of the people who told me these stories why this “instant termination without notice” procedure seems to have become standard. The answer was, “Companies need to be protected from angry employees who sabotage, sue and vandalize when they are terminated.” I can understand that.

But somewhere in another universe there is a host of leadership and managerial best selling material that tells managers to give people as much notice as possible for change, to engage employees in decision making regarding team needs and to motivate workers with the knowledge that their jobs will be protected because the company has their best interests in mind. I have a nephew with a disability who works with a window manufacturing company. Last week the HR department called his work team into a meeting to tell them that there was bad news and good news.  The company was losing profit but they had a plan. Employees would sign up for and qualify for one day of unemployment insurance a week, they would work four days and have a three-day weekend but receive most of their original salary. The change involved losing 25% of their wages for one day a week, and getting a day off with pay versus having several employees lose their jobs entirely. HR told them this was considered a temporary measure that would change if the company profits rose but that they should be realistic and understand that if the market got worse, things might go in another direction.  Even though the news brought a sense of foreboding, my nephew was relieved about this arrangement and told me that he thinks he is working for a “great” company. He asked if we need any window work done that he could set up for us because he really wanted the company to make a profit.

I’m confused about all these conflicting messages. Is the situation really such that employees need to be treated as disposable? This instant dismissal with (or without) security guards seems devastating and heartless to me. How do we reconcile this so-called standard practice with all the leadership literature recommendations for a democratic and humane work environment? Can somebody explain this to me?