Care and respect needed when firing employees: CFIB

Not every employer knows how to deal with a difficult employee or with the potentially dangerous aftermath after they’re fired, but the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is reminding businesses it offers counselling services when it comes to human resources issues and policies.

“Certainly keeping employees safe is (the) number-one priority,” said CFIB’s Marilyn Braun-Pollon.

On Wednesday, a man who was fired from a television station in Virginia shot and killed his former co-workers on live TV. As well, police in Yorkton arrested a man Tuesday night after they found explosives in his home, saying he threatened his former boss.Braun-Pollon said the CFIB has a document outlining a number of items surrounding human resources, including attendance and social media policies, along with exit interviews.

The CFIB can recommend how to properly and safely discipline or fire employees. Letting employees go should be done with care and respect, focused on performance and not personality, she explained, while helping them try obtain another job.

Once a worker is terminated, Braun-Pollon explained how keys and access codes should be changed, employee schedules and personal details secured, and police alerted immediately if any threats are made.

“Many of them are common sense but also just making sure you have those processes in place of limiting access to the workplace by that former employee is critical,” said Braun-Pollon. “We’re really here to kind of take the mystery out of H.R.-related issues which many of our business owners are, you know less than five employees, and often many of them don’t have that expertise.”

Each business should have an emergency plan in place that’s reviewed annually, she added.