Firing Employee in Front of Her Mother: A manager’s post is going viral on social media, in which he told how he had to fire a 33-year-old employee in front of her mother.
Manager Viral Post: Asking an employee to quit is not an easy task for any manager. But a meeting related to probation in an Australian company took such a turn that the matter became a topic of discussion on social media. One new manager shared his experience, saying that informing an employee of his or her termination before completion of probation became the most difficult conversation of his or her career.
The employee could not pass probation.
The manager told that a 33-year-old assistant employee of his team had been working in the company for about six months. Although he himself had become its manager only two months ago. Probation was about to end and the company decided that the employee had not passed probation. After this, a review meeting was scheduled on the advice of HR.
The employee refused even before the meeting
According to the manager, shortly after sending the meeting invitation the employee declined it. In the email she clearly wrote that she did not want to be a part of this conversation. When the manager tried to talk to her personally, the employee protested loudly and walked out of the office without talking. When the situation worsened the HR team had to intervene. After some time the employee came back, but again asked to postpone the meeting. After this the HR head tried to talk to her, but she refused to talk to him too and left the place angrily.
Finally the meeting was fixed on Monday, mother became the ‘support person’
Later, through emails and messages, both sides agreed that the meeting would be held on Monday. Meanwhile, the employee told that she would bring her mother with her as a “support person”. Upon hearing that the 33-year-old employee had brought her mother along, the manager acknowledged that this was a very unusual situation for her, especially as it was the first termination-related process in her management career. See viral post below-
What are the rules in Australian workplaces?
There were many reactions to this incident on social media. Some people raised the question whether the employee could not be terminated simply by sending an email. On this, the manager clarified that as per the policy of his company, it is necessary to hold a formal meeting before ending the probation or terminating the job. Many Australian users also reported that it is common practice there to allow an employee to bring along a “support person” during important job-related HR meetings such as termination, redundancy or show-cause notice. However, it was also said that the support person’s job is only to provide emotional support to the employee and he cannot interfere in the conversation.
People’s opinion divided on social media
After this post of the manager came out, different reactions of people were seen on social media. Some people said that in a stressful situation like being fired from a job, a person could bring along a trusted family member for emotional support. At the same time, many users believed that it is unusual to bring one’s mother along in a professional environment like this, but if the company policy allows it then there is nothing wrong with it. This case is also in the news because it has sparked new debate on issues like probation process in the workplace, employee behavior, role of HR and maintaining professional communication in difficult situations.