Publicising dismissal reason to colleagues

[WhatapityWapiti]

I was slightly shocked today to receive an email telling me that a member of my team would be leaving because they had been unable to reach the desired standard of performance so had been served notice. The email was sent to about 20 people of all grades including admin staff, and it went on to say that the person was working their three month notice.

I can’t comment on whether or not this person’s performance was indeed inadequate, but I have never before seen anything other than vague language about “x is leaving to pursue other opportunities” when leavers are announced. It seems rather cruel and unnecessary, and maybe to be read as a warning to others?

I also can’t fathom why on earth our bosses would think that this was going to help the working dynamic during the notice period? I know that the person did not consent to the message, which was sent only 30 mins after they were told.

I work in a large international professional services organisation staffed by highly-paid graduates, and we have a full HR function. Can anyone help me understand why they might have done this?

They like being sued?

They want to scare everybody else into doing unpaid overtime?

The Director who ordered the email has a professional death wish?

That's really bad

I agree they just want to scare the shit out of everyone so everyone performs as hard as possible

Yeah I must admit it has scared me. But I have also lost respect for my employer due to the lack of respect they have shown to that person’s dignity.

Wow. That's disgusting.

Even if the fired employee is the worst worker in the entire organisation, there's zero excuse for that email and subsequent humiliation.

Whoever sent it out should to be fired - and have everyone know why!

I work contract jobs in the professional environments and honestly companies are not nice. They have got worse over the last 10 years. I have worked in around 14 companies. Many of the jobs are when they have fired someone and the elephant in the room is usually the company... I myself have been forced out/fired maybe 5 times. I have come to realise I am not the problem. You are not the problem. If the want rid they make stuff up.

I did a job a few months ago where they were all positive and gave good feedback to my agency. Then fired me on the Friday but wanted me to work the notice. Weird why they say you are rubish then make you work for them. Turns out they had found a "better candidate" who then failed to show up for the job. 😂 Now 3 months on they still have not got anyone else as word got out among the contractors.

It's a really poor move by your company but not unusual.

I don’t think it’s particularly bad….if you work for a large international organisation surely 20 people who need to know is all relative?
I wouldn’t take it as a warning unless it directly involved me?
if they were a new hire then perhaps on probation?

I think you’re all overthinking this. It isn’t a tactical move to scare people…

It’s likely some dumbass gone rogue that has no concept of HR or confidentiality. Eg I worked with an administrator who was tasked to rearrange a colleague’s calendar after they provided a 4 week fit note. The woman went out of her way to manually write “sick - miscarriage” in all meeting cancellation messages, and wrote the same as she blocked out the absent colleague’s daily Outlook calendar. Bear in mind, the woman had the option to just close the calendar without any comment! Loads of colleagues were therefore unnecessarily made aware of why the colleague was off. You can imagine how upsetting it was.

Yes, people that dumb exist. The union wasn’t happy, and the woman pretended she had no clue it broke confidentiality or was accessible to a wide audience. She then changed her story to say she was making people aware to raise a collection, and followed up on that in an attempt to legitimatise her actions. Sometimes idiots that are winging it, and are full of hubris, do zany shit at work. Especially in an environment where they won’t suffer consequences

Not the point, but why are they working a three month notice? Surely they should be dismissed with immediate effect or put on garden leave. What’s to stop them stealing data or sabotaging systems?

Awful and if the persons performance is that bad why in earth would they want them working their 3 month notice period and not just put them on garden leave?

We would never disclose the reason (although often it gets out anyway - gossip is better than a newsletter!) and it's awful practice. But yes, I think it's to put the fear of God into others. Not a way I'd want to run my work.

Sounds like a shit company to work for. I would take that as fair warning that anyone working there who is competent and employable should get set on finding a new job elsewhere.

I imagine the rationale in the head of the person who sent the nessage was to ensure that everyone who needed to work with this person during their notice knew the reason for their leaving and so (a) would be careful to check if they were relying on them to have done something competently and (b) so that no one gave the poor sod any undue sympathy due to any different narrative that they might share. But you aee quite right that its an awful breach of privacy and dignity and I hope she sues.

But the fact that this isn't general practice is why it can be difficult to get an actually detailed good reference from a job you did brilliantly but the person who was your manager has left. HR will only confirm dates of employment. Your colleagues who think you were amazing can't give you a reference because if you were sacked for gross incompetence they wouldn't know.

They need to know that the person is going, not the reason they are going.

Slightly different scenario but a colleague was fired during pandemic for failing a PIP and we were told during a Teams meeting. I thought nothing of it at the time but reading this I can't help wondering what the motive was behind telling us - scare us, perhaps? I'd already been threatened with one after four years of very good work (not my opinion, my appraisals and colleagues said so) because during lockdown working with a crappy laptop sitting on my sofa and not being given any support was not upholding the standard of work management expected. It was an interesting situation because the managers who did the PIP also had a tight little clique that this colleague was part of, so perhaps the subliminal message was doesn't matter if you're a management crony, we can come for you. It was probably just the lousy management we all were aware of, though.

Anyway, I got out soon after.

Surely the person in question would have a case for constructive dismissal?!

We have a monthly meeting where leavers are mentioned. The past few months we’ve had a few ‘failed probation’ mentions, followed by a stern “We’re tightening our recruitment standards” warning.

I don’t like it, I don’t know why they do it, but you’re not alone.

I wouldn't want to work my notice if I were that leaver

Of course it's not the way things should be done.

However...... in my experience some people just have no concept of confidentiality, minimal understanding of what's ok and what's not ok to disclose and zero self awareness. Where I work it's awful. We always know why people are off sick.