| “A good manager” knows when to contact legal and insurance to get help. My point isn’t that managers don’t need assistance. My point is that managers don’t need to send a prerecorded message or read directly from a script. Having consulted with legal, etc. a good manager can inform an employee of a layoff in a personal way. Part of effectively laying off employee is minimizing hurt feelings. Some pain is inevitable, but adding to is asking for trouble (and bad PR). Once someone is let go, they are often asked to give a “departure interview” - for legal reasons it’s best if they participate. If they can check box saying “I have no complaints about the company,” it will help avoid lawsuits. This involves coordinating with legal, HR, etc. But it also means an impersonal layoff is a bad idea. Being afraid of lawsuits is a terrible reason let employees go in an insulting manner. Edit: individual managers rarely (if ever) do layoffs on their own. it’s always a cross-company effort. |