Ninety-two percent of managers participating in a recent survey said they think they would benefit from more training on how to fire someone.
On average, 55% of responding managers who have fired someone said they never received any sort of training on how to navigate the process. Overall, 65% of the respondents who had been fired at some point in their working lives said they thought the manager handled the situation poorly.
Preply surveyed full-time workers across the United States to determine the most common practices when it comes to firing someone.
Language makes a difference, according to the respondents. The most common phrases used in the process, they said, are “letting you go,” “effective immediately” and “terminating your employment.”
When firing an employee, 1 in 6 managers said they regretted their language choices.
“Empathy, clarity, compassion and honesty are the most common aspects Americans encourage managers to focus on when firing an employee,” according to Preply.
The survey results suggested managers should be trained to give a better explanation of why the firing was happening, show better empathy, communicate face-to-face rather than electronically, don’t compare fellow employees, take responsibility for the action rather than blaming the employee and involve fewer team meetings in the firing conversation.
“Outside of additional training, one way to better understand the nuances of firing someone is to learn from others. Leading the way as the most common mistake managers feel they make during a firing is not providing a better explanation,” according to the study. “While in some cases an employee has received warnings about their performance, sometimes an employee can feel blindsided by the decision.”
