Have to make layoffs in an hour
 

I was just told this morning to eat lunch early as my manager needs me to help escort people off the property today. The problem is, two of these people are friends of mine and one actually works for me on a program I manage.

I feel so crushed that he is getting cut and I've got a knot building in my stomach. I don't want to go over there.

This **** sucks!

Had to vent.

I've had to fire good friends in the past. It sucks. Good luck--the hard part gets over quickly.

That is the worst. I've had to let people go that I play golf with. FWIW, they still talk to me. :)

Good luck.

Escort them off the property? Whatever happened to 2 weeks notice?

I can totally empathize. Good luck.

Bad day in the making.

I've had to layoff a friend before, he's still my friend and we're going skiing this weekend.

Yes it sucks and yes your friend will be hurt, but friendship transcends this kind of thing most of the time. Still sorry to hear about the situation though... good luck.

Depends. I've seen folks at my current company get let go with a couple of months of notice and a healthy severance package. I've also seen wholesale layoffs where I was asked to block all incoming and outgoing email and Internet and folks were walked out.

I was layed off once. I was given a months notice and some severance, but they also escorted me out and told me that I couldn't come back during my month. So I was essentially given an extra month of severance.

That "quaint" practice ended when management decided to end any respect for their workers way back when.

After all, if you are terminated by mnanagement, they want the black eye to go away rapidly.

To further humiliate the person let go, they typically have a guard watch you as you pack what you can of your personal belongings in the tiny box they give you. After all they do not want you to seal anything on this last day. You are then paraded out by the guard (Yes I did have this happen: one day project manager for a multi million dollar project, next day escorted out like a common criminal).

A sad day indeed.

BTDT.

Had to fire a very good friend 3 years ago. He still has not found work - which explains why I fired him, not the most motivated person.

We still hang out. In the end, most understand it's just business.

Firing people is the hardest thing I've done as a business owner.

Even when it's well-deserved (every time, I guess), it's still hard to know you're drastically upsetting the life of one you've worked with, side-by-side.

It never gets easier.

Someone who has been fired and is angry can do a lot of damage in two weeks.

Immediately remove someone, and pay them for two weeks if you're a nice guy.

When I fire someone, I ask them to leave immediately. If they possess any company property (cell phones, equip, etc.), they can pick up their final check when the property is returned. Vehicles are left on the lot and I pay for a cab ride home.

Escorting them off the premises? Seems a bit draconian.

And seriously, WTF, the big corp is too cheap to hire a $10.00 an hour guard to sit at the front desk?

That is standard practice in the corporate world and the preferred way to do it.

Where have you guys been? Everyone gets escorted out. There was one guy that took 2 two hours to clean his office out. He was taking framed pictures off the walls, going thru each drawer, saying goodbyes to people. He made two trips to his car. HR lady stayed with him the whole time. You what his taking his AK out off the trunk and coming back in?

I learned after this that all my stuff in my office must fit in one copy paper box.

It probably gives the manager a woody and power trip to humiliate someone else that way. Especially in front of all the other drones.

I don't think so.

When I got laid off at the RNC two days after the '96 elections, we got marched one by one into the boss's office. Boss was there with a guy from HR. His exact words were, "This is not a reflection of your performance and we hate to do this." We were allowed to take our time cleaning out our desks, I was given a case of J&B scotch to take home and boss said we were all welcome to come into the office anytime we needed to use computers or fax machines to send out resumes. And they honored that too. They were pretty cool about it. But then again, Cap. Hill is a very small place and you need to treat people right because you 100% will be seeing them again in other jobs.

The only time I've seen people get escorted out was when they were fired for cause or had just given notice and were going to work for a competitor.

It sucks, but you absolutely have to do this.

I swear I'm never hiring employees - only consultants. It's such a poor reflection on management/ownership when a company has to cut someone. I don't think I could stomach the self-guilt of knowing it was my poor planning or screwup that cost someone else their job/livelihood/income and potentially might be putting them and their family out on the street. Plus (from a somewhat selfish standpoint) W2 employees are huge recurring overhead expenses (to say nothing about dealing with associated drama). Temps, independent contractors or consultants are expensive in the short run, but I think pencil out long-term (and can be "cut" or let go at the end of a project with no hard feelings or guilt, and tend to be professional because they don't have time to get in a comfort zone and start screwing off/testing the limits).

It doesn't. I can assure you of that.