More managers need training on how to fire their staff. That’s the headline figure revealed by a new survey of US workers looking into how companies dismiss employees and the affect it has on their mental health.
A massive 92% of respondents said that giving managers more training in this aspect of their role would be beneficial, with two thirds of those who had been on the wrong side of a termination saying that the situation had been handled poorly.
With so many tech companies laying off staff over the last two years, the survey also looked at the language used during the process, with the somewhat euphemistic “Letting you go” far and away the most used phrase.
Burnt When Fired
The survey, which was carried out by online language lessons and communication training platform Preply, asked more than 2,000 full-time workers across the US about their feelings on the process of firing and what can be improved.
Of the managers included in that number and who had laid off staff in the past, over half (55%) said that they had never received any training.
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It is perhaps unsurprising then, that 65% of respondents who had at some point been fired themselves thought that their manager had handled the situation poorly. And overall, 92% thought managers would benefit from more language training on how to fire someone.
“Outside of additional training, one way to better understand the nuances of firing someone is to learn from others.” – Preply
Goodbyes Are Hard
Respondents were asked what factors they thought made for a less damaging dismissal.
“Leading the way as the most common mistake managers feel they make during a firing is not providing a better explanation,” said Preply, with around 3 in 10 saying that would help. A more empathetic approach was second in the table.
The managers who answered the survey thought that the next most important things to consider were that firings should take place in person rather than by video call and that the recipient of the news shouldn’t be compared to fellow colleagues.
But around 20% of employees said that lay offs would be much easier to take if the manager took responsibility for the decision instead of trying to avoid blame.
Not a Case of “You’re Fired”
Preply’s survey also sought to find out the kind of language that managers tend to use when delivering the bad news to an employee, with 1 in 6 reporting back that they regretted the language they chose when laying people off.
Overwhelmingly, it found that “Letting you go” was the most common phrase employed – 45% said that they had received or used this phrase.
“Effective immediately” was the next most common wording, followed by “Terminating your employment.” A quarter of managers said that they had used the words “This isn’t working out” in these conversations.
