Professionally managing the termination process
Based upon experiences, of the termination commandments the most critical in professionally managing the termination process is the third commandment. The third of the professional termination commandments states that any business should first establish reasonable standards of conduct for their company. It is not enough to establish these standards of conduct, but rather they should be able to communicate the standards of conduct effectively to each of their employees. The communication of the standards of conduct should be done in writing.
This writing, for the communication of the company standards of conduct, should be written in a simple manner which is understandable to everyone, as straightforward as possible, and direct. It does not matter if the standards of conduct are written in a fashion full of beautiful prose, comprehensive to all of those who might have degrees in advanced rhetoric or a legal field; if the standards of conduct are placed in a filing cabinet or stored on a shelf and not distributed to every employee, then you have taken away the right to fire people based on a failure to meet with the standards of conduct. It is also stated that each employee should sign off on the policy handbook, acknowledging that they have each read, understood, and agree that they are bound to the rules as well as the regulations which are stipulated in the standards of conduct handbook otherwise their failure to adhere to the rules can result in disciplinary actions which include termination (Ten 1).
This is the most important because it establishes the most professional manner of being able to terminate someone without enduring any legal complaints against you or the company. Instead of people getting angry and complaining about the company to others or to the press, because they did not understand the legal stipulations relating to the reasonable standards of conduct, they will be well informed through pieces of writing which clearly and effectively explain on what ground an employee within your company can be fired. It is even more important to have each of your employees sign off that they read, understood, and agreed to the standards of conduct because then no legal concerns will arise and no legal arguments can be made when an employee is fired within the means of the standards of conduct. It is not enough to simply have the book available to people because then they can legally argue that it was not provided to them in the manner it should have. But making people sign that they not only received it, but that they read through it all, clearly understand it without any doubts, and will agree to abide by it completely, leaves no room for negotiations upon termination. It is also important that people, above all else, sign that they understand that if they fail to meet of the aforementioned stipulations within the standards of conduct can lead to either disciplinary actions or termination.
This means that they do not know which one will result from their failing to meet any of the stipulations within the standards of conduct which gives management some “wiggle room”. If an employee is disruptive or lazy but has not given grounds for termination, then suddenly violates a less intense section of the standards of conduct, they can be terminated based upon that violation alone; though, unbeknownst to them, had they acted as better employees all around that same breach of the standard of conduct could have only resulted in a mere suspension or additional duties. In any case, while all of the rules for termination are important, the third one offers the best leeway for management personnel with the most iron-clad legal terms.