Member-only story
Man Down! How to Tell Your Team You Have an Unexpected Departure
Beware of cardboard boxes…
It was an ordinary Monday in the office — I was hammering away on my keyboard and my coworker who sat behind me breezed by. I nodded hello and didn’t think anything of it.
He rustled through his desk, opened and closed some drawers, shuffled some papers and then he headed out with a cardboard box in his hands.
I thought nothing of it since our employees sometimes work off site and not everyone carries a bag big enough to fit a notebook and other items such as spare parts.
A half hour went by and then my Microsoft Teams channel flashed a message and started with “Regretfully…”
And then I knew — that cardboard box meant something else…
When co-workers leave us unexpectedly through voluntary (another job) or involuntary (layoffs, firings) the part that is the most awkward is what a manager needs to do or say to the team when that person leaves.
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” –Semisonic
I’m not an HR manager or an HR person, but I’ve been a manager who needed to let people go and I’ve been a person on the receiving end of being fired or laid off.
