Ask HN: What is the best way to Layoff in a small team?

3 points·bitlad··4 comments

We have a situation. We are a small team of 4-5 people. We have a person who is clearly not a great fit. As a tech lead, I have never fired a person before. What is the best way to do that?

What are some Pre and Post steps? Esp. with the current economic situation, how would it be perceived by everyone else in the small team?

View on HN

Your first step should probably be asking somebody in your management what the best process for this is because there's stuff you want to make sure you handle right to minimize your legal risks.

If it's like any other company, you'll probably schedule a meeting with them and some other manager, give them the bad news, make sure they know what paychecks and benefits they still have coming their way, and be a human and offer them some words of support and encouragement.

As far as your team, I think it's important to not say a bad word about the person let go.

> We have a person who is clearly not a great fit.

By the way, this isn't a layoff. Layoffs are done for financial reasons, due to company restructuring etc - in a layoff it's not the employee's fault that they're losing their job.

According to "No Rules Rules", letting a person not a great fit go makes the team more robust. I believe honesty is essential. How about explaining the differences between expectations and outcomes clearly and helping the person find a job that fits?

Commenting so I can come back and see HN opinion

Reply on news.ycombinator.com