There’s Got To Be A Better Way To Fire Someone
In corporate America, layoffs and terminations have become routine, yet despite decades of management science and a growing focus on employee experience, the process of letting people go remains one of the most traumatic, impersonal, and poorly handled aspects of modern work.
Too often, terminations are executed with cold efficiency. Employees are summoned to a brief meeting, sometimes virtually, given a script, and told their access will be cut off immediately. Security may escort them out, and there’s little opportunity for closure, dignity, or even a proper goodbye. The rationale is usually “risk management,” but the result is a process that strips people of their humanity. We freeze their accounts and walk them out like criminals and then wonder why our employer brand suffers.
Terminations are inevitable. Performance issues happen, business conditions change, and roles become obsolete. Instead of treating these moments as an organizational competency to master, we handle them like liabilities to minimize, to be done quickly and quietly by managers who are untrained, HR teams that are overwhelmed, and executives who remain distant.
The Cost of Getting It Wrong
Most organizations approach terminations with three faulty assumptions:
Speed equals protection – We think moving expediently reduces legal risk, but what actually reduces risk is clarity, transparency, and treating people with respect.
Distance equals professionalism – We train managers to be unemotional and scripted, mistaking detachment for professional competence.
Severance equals resolution – We provide departing employees with money in exchange for a release of liability and assume it softens the blow.
This approach ignores the profound emotional impact of job loss. For most, work is a source of identity, community, and purpose. Being suddenly severed from that triggers stress, alienation, and loss of self-worth. But the damage extends far beyond the individual:
Your remaining employees are watching – How we treat someone on their worst day sends a powerful message to those who stay. When done poorly, it erodes trust and disengages entire teams.
Your reputation is at stake – Glassdoor reviews, social media posts, and water-cooler conversations are disproportionately shaped by termination stories. One bad exit can undo years of positive employer branding.
Legal exposure compounds – Terminations handled without clarity, consistency, or compassion are the ones that end up in litigation. Treating people with care isn't just ethical, it's risk mitigation.
You lose institutional knowledge – Even when someone isn't working out, they have information, relationships, and context. Showing them the door without any transition burns value that can't be recovered.
You're destroying your best talent pipeline – Alumni are the #1 and #3 sources of quality hires (boomerang employees and referrals, respectively). Exit people poorly, and we eliminate our most credible talent source and turn potential advocates into detractors.
A Better Way to Exit
It’s time to rethink how we approach this critical moment in people’s lives and careers.
Prepare managers properly – Termination conversations led with dignity require training, practice, and support. Don't send managers into these moments alone and unprepared.
Allow for transition – Most terminations are not high risk. Create space for handoffs, goodbyes, and closure that respects everyone involved.
Think beyond the last day – Outplacement services, alumni networks, contacts, and check-ins post termination help former employees feel seen and respected.
Fix the mechanics – Map every touchpoint through final paycheck and benefits to identify process failures—lack of follow-through, delayed COBRA paperwork, incorrect final paychecks. Operational incompetence turns difficult moments into lasting bitterness.
Debrief and learn – Every termination is a data point. What could have been caught earlier? What systemic issues contributed? Use exits to improve talent decisions, not just close a file.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: if you're an executive, you likely have no idea how terminations happen in your organization. You're insulated from the experience. The question is, do you care enough to find out?
How we fire people isn't a side issue. It's a test of our culture, our values, and our leadership. Get it right, and we build trust. Get it wrong, and no amount of employee experience efforts or recognition programs will compensate for the breach.
There’s got to be a better way to fire someone. The better way starts with deciding it matters.
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