Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I read this note in an online group and couldn’t resist the opportunity to share some thoughts. Check out the situation below. I did some editing to remove any identifying remarks.
My manager scheduled an emergency all-hands meeting, wouldn’t say what it’s about. We all show up thinking it’s something important. They spent 20 minutes publicly calling out my coworker for ‘performance issues’ before firing them in front of everyone. Just stood there and tore into them while we all watched.
The person was crying by the end. We were all very uncomfortable, but nobody knew what to do. Afterward my manager acted like it was totally normal and went back to their office.
I’ve never seen anything like this. Is this normal? It felt like a power trip more than anything else. Now everyone’s on edge wondering if they’re next.
I don’t believe this situation is the norm. And if this isn’t unusual … it should be.
Mandatory should be reserved for important situations. Regular readers of HR Bartender know I’m not a fan of making everything mandatory. Organizations should be able to explain why something is important (i.e., mandatory) and employees should want to attend. Making everything mandatory can come across as “because I said so” and employees don’t get the benefit of understanding the value.
Performance issues should be discussed in private. Managers should not humiliate employees publicly. Period. They don’t want to be humiliated by their boss in a meeting, so they shouldn’t do it to anyone else. That being said, I could see a situation where the team makes a mistake and the manager says, “I’m not calling this meeting to spread blame. We do need to figure out what went wrong.” Not the same as public humiliation.
Terminations should be handled with respect. Even when an employee does something very wrong and they’re going to get fired, their departure should be handled with respect. That doesn’t absolve anyone of being held accountable. You can hold someone accountable and be respectful at the same time. How a person leaves the organization sends a message to everyone about the company culture.
I don’t know the size of the company mentioned above or if they have an HR professional on staff. I do know that even if an employee did something really wrong, this shouldn’t have happened as described. I’m sure a lot of employees went home and started looking for new jobs. Because they don’t want to be next.
One other thing. I won’t defend the manager’s activity. They were wrong to humiliate and publicly terminate an employee. The organization needs to take some responsibility for creating an environment where a manager thought this was acceptable behavior. I’m not naïve. We’ve probably all had days when we thought snapping back at a mean comment would feel glorious. But we keep those thoughts to ourselves. Maybe we go axe throwing to release some frustration. Actually carrying out the act of calling a mandatory meeting, berating an employee, etc. took some thought. And I have to assume that nowhere in the manager’s thoughts did they ask themselves, “Would the organization support this? Is this going to be perceived badly?”
As working professionals, we all have bad days. Find acceptable activities to help deal with those bad days. And organizations, make sure that managers get the training and support they need so situations like this don’t happen. Because if they do, it will take a long time to recover trust – if they ever had it.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Seattle, WA
