2 minutes to clean out your desk!!

[speedball]

The financial services company I work for has been laying off people for the last few weeks. Nothing unexpected due to the stock market. But what make me really angry is that people are only given 2 minutes to clean out their desks. I know good hard working people who has been with the company for more than 10 years who has been let go suddenly. After coming back from HR, they are told they have only 2 minutes to clean up and leave. WHY? Will they cause a scene? Will it make us feel better if they are gone in 2 minutes?

If it was up to me, I will give a departing employee 30 minutes to say good bye to everybody. At least treat people with some respect and dignity.

 

[Thousand]

HR: "They will forget everything about this in a month"

 

[WoodPeckr]

Hey that's the way it is today in the 'dog eat dog' world of finance....you weren't under the illusion your working for real human beings, were you?
Heck HR usually is stocked with the worst of the bunch anyways!

You must not have been keeping up with the 'Dilbert' comics lately for the way these weasels operate, eh.

2 minutes, eh? Some places are even calling 'Security' to escort you to the door, while they watch you clear your desk!...

 

[capncrunch]

The least respected part of any organization is HR. And it's well-deserved. A properly-run HR department has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing people on or letting them go; they're simply administrators to handle things such as benefit plans, government paperwork and so forth.

From lying about calling employment applicants back ("We'll be in touch before the end of the week to let you know one way or the other" after an interview is a common refrain. Alas, 80% of the time it's a bare-faced lie.) to situations like they're described here where good people are let go and treated like dirt, the vast majority of HR dweebs simply can't, or don't, think more than 30 seconds ahead. They forget that the person they let go with such hamfisted clumsyness, or the applicant that they lied to don't disappear. They're still out there, in the market. And when time comes that those ex-employees or prospective employees have a choice between doing business with a company that treated them like shit or another company, which one do you think they're going to choose?

A buddy of mine has a saying: There's a special place in hell for HR folk. And he's right.

Fuck those HR dweebs. Every last fucking one of them.

 

[anonemouse]

Depending on what you do in the financial sector, they may be afraid that you will take clients with you to your next job (i.e. "stealing" clients away from your now-former employer). I've seen the scenario play out a couple of times where they would rather pay severance and have you sit at home doing nothing vs. going back to your office to get your client list so you can solicit them at your next employer.

 

[The Bandit]

Depending on what you do in the financial sector, they may be afraid that you will take clients with you to your next job (i.e. "stealing" clients away from your now-former employer). I've seen the scenario play out a couple of times where they would rather pay severance and have you sit at home doing nothing vs. going back to your office to get your client list so you can solicit them at your next employer.

That's why in some businesses you sign a disclosure when you start, that says you will not do any business with your contacts for a certain period of time if you ever leave the company.

 

[Keebler Elf]

They are addressing the concern that terminated employees may remove information or items they shouldn't, damage/destroy the same, or otherwise cause a scene in the workplace.

The alternative to 2 minutes is having someone from security standing there looking over your shoulder and that results in embarrassment that can be used against the employer in a future lawsuit.

Terminations are never easy and it's best to make it as quick and painless as possible.

I remember one job I had where they put two solid doors with swipe keys between the HR office and the employees due to terminated people going on a rampage.

 

[Thousand]

Why don't HR deliver the termination news at the end of the day instead?

 

[Edifice]

That would meen the HR people would have to work late!

What's wrong with that?

Do they have to humiliate the terminated employee in front of everyone?

 

[peeler_feeler]

That would meen the HR people would have to work late!

LOL - - so fricken true

 

[WoodPeckr]

LOL - - so fricken true

If they work late, they might miss 'happy hour'....

 

[Ref]

A buddy of mine has a saying: There's a special place in hell for HR folk. And he's right.

Fuck those HR dweebs. Every last fucking one of them.

Nice, real nice - Classic shoot the messenger syndrome.

HR people DO NOT FIRE employees, the final decision is made by the employees manager/supervisor. HR ensures that the process is carried out.

My other favourite "shoot the messenger" was those assholes that would shit all over accounting people for delivering bad financial results.

Terminating people sucks. However there is a proper way of going about the process - Maintain their dignity. If you treat people with the same respect you did when they were hired, then the process is less difficult to manage.

* Never terminate on a Monday or a Friday - Mondays are just bad timing and Fridays do not allow someone to meet with a lawyer or begin the process of looking for a new job the next day.

* Try to perform the termination at a time when their co-workers are not around, generally at the end of the day is best. No one likes to do the "Walk of Shame" in front of their peers.

* Have all of the paperwork complete and accurate. You do not want to bungle the assignment.

* Make it short and simple.

Furthermore, HR will (and should) remind managers to take every step possible before proceeding with a termination (re-training, transfers, further development). Progressive organizations hire people to succeed, not fail, and make every attempt to meet those corporate objectives. When people are terminated, it is a signal that the company did not develop them as planned and each termination should include a review of that person's manager and the organization as a whole.

The role of HR is to recruit and develop the human resources required to meet the strategic planning and vision of the organization...not fire people.

 

[stinkynuts]

I've been there

I was once fired as a computer programmer (shitty job) because the manager was an imbecile. He basically didn't train me properly (it was his job).

One day he called me into his office and fired me. Then he accompanied me to my desk and told me to get my stuff and leave. I had to pack everything into my briefcase. I was not allowed to say goodbye to anyone either. He escorted me to the door and that was it.

I will never forget how cold and disrespectful it was. Once this company no longer needs you, you are nothing to them, and are literally trash to be thrown out.

Took a while to get over the shock and anger, but in retrospect it's good that I was forced to leave. I would have wasted my life away in a cubicle doing something I hated.

 

[Ref]

I was once fired as a computer programmer (shitty job) because the manager was an imbecile. He basically didn't train me properly (it was his job).

One day he called me into his office and fired me. Then he accompanied me to my desk and told me to get my stuff and leave. I had to pack everything into my briefcase. I was not allowed to say goodbye to anyone either. He escorted me to the door and that was it.

I will never forget how cold and disrespectful it was. Once this company no longer needs you, you are nothing to them, and are literally trash to be thrown out.

Took a while to get over the shock and anger, but in retrospect it's good that I was forced to leave. I would have wasted my life away in a cubicle doing something I hated.

Cold and unprofessional, but let me ask you - How would you have liked your termination to have been handled?

Would you like it if he called a staff meeting and announced that you were gone immediately in front of everyone? Would your peers stick up for you and walk off the job in protest of your termination? Did they all quit in anger at your dismissal?

Would you have preferred a going away party where your peers could acknowledge in front of their boss that you were great and he was an asshole? I doubt they would take one on your behalf.

Would you have preferred that he call you up at home and tell you to never come in again?

Would you prefer that upon showing up for work the security or receptionist inform you that you were fired and to expect the paperwork in the mail?

There is no easy way to terminate someone.

 

[fuji]

The two minute policy is stupid and misguided.

When I let people go I give them the option of either having their stuff packed up for them, or coming back after hours to pack up their things on a day of their choosing (so they don't have to pack up while everyone stares). Some choose to have a co-worker friend pick up their stuff for them.

If they choose to come back of course they are escorted to and from their desk--but it's done more or less in private as everyone else has gone home.

The delay also means that IT has lots of time to disconnect their access, change passwords, etc., by the time they get back to their desk again their computer might not even be there or if it is they have no access to it anymore.

 

[alexmst]

Where I used to work they had a security guard stand by the worker's desk while they packed up their stuff (the whole term "being sacked" I think has something to do with your personal stuff being put in the bin liner bag - the sack - and carried out by you...thus peope seeing you carrying the plastic sack know you've been sacked). I witnessed this a couple of times and both times the guard didn't time the person, they could take as many minutes as needed to pack up their personal stuff...and were given a filing box to put their stuff in by HR, so no 'sack' .

As stated, they are worried you might take sensitive info/documents with you, hence the guard. The whole gardening leave thing you sign means you can't do business with the firm's cleints you know for a certain period of time after you leave/get a new job. Obviously you'd know the clients contact info without having to take it with you - hence the legal contract you sign when hired. The guard is there more to stop disgruntled people taking company stuff or vandalizing things (taking the 'W' key off the keyboard, etc).

I remember one trader in London UK at another bank back in the early 90's who got sacked by phone and was told to drop off his company BMW the next day at work...which pissed him off. He drove it at 7am to the bank HQ, up the concrete steps in front of the main doors of the office building, parked it so that it blocked the revolving doors and prevented people getting into the building by the main entrance, set the emergency brake, and put the keys on the front seat and locked the car keys inside before walking away. Caused a bit of a delay to the work day I heard as they had to get the auto club to come open the door to get at the keys as no tow truck could have gone up the cement stairs and wedged into position to tow it. I guess they didn't want to break the window.

 

[WinterHawk]

My company had just done a great big house cleaning last month on Thanksgiving. They announced that a major project had been canceled but it wouldn't affect too many people. That was on a Friday.

Then the company put out an email saying our door access systems were going to undergo an updgrade over the weekend, so anyone who wanted in to the company that weekend whould need a managers approval and be escorted by security. No big deal.

Business was closed on Monday for Thanksgiving.

On Tuesday, our email servers, VPN access, etc. suffered a temporary "glitch", no one could sign in to our network, check their emails or instant message.

At 10am, our team managers were contacted and told to ask specific people to go to a meeting in another building, which had empty unrented floors that we make special arrangements to use for a general meetings. Those that were left were then gathered by their team managers and told that the people who were asked to go to another building were no longer with the company.

From what we can gather, over 400 people were let go that day, none of the front line managers had a clue this what coming. Some of the people who had been let go were with the company from the beginning, with 20+ years of service. Most of them had not worked on the project that was cancelled.

Our best guess is that "management" used the opportunity to trim staff because of the economic down turn, and belt tightening that our banking clients were going through. Each business unit was probably told to reduce their head count by a certain %, and some of our most knowldgeible people were terminated.

Oh, by the way they are hiring at the same time. Nice guys huh???

They were only allowed to come back to their desks to pack with security present. And from what I was told, extra security guards and the Peel Police were called in to make sure that no one got out of hand. Nice way to treat your former number one resources, your people. So now we have gaps in our business knowldge because as you know, you can never document everything. Never enough time.

 

[jackd1959]

I work in the computer industry and have been laid off twice. The first time I was given two months notice and found a job before the two months were up... I'm still loyal to that company because they treated me well even when letting me go...my last company let me go and a manager stayed with me while I packed my things after 8 years of service...I wouldn't give that company two minutes of my time to help them out and would never recommend anyone to do business with them or work for them... do they care...no... should they... maybe... I sent the current company I work for to their competator for their disaster recovery work...which was a 5 million dollar a year contract...

Sometimes things work out...

 

[brocko]

So much of work is knowledge based and I have always wondered why companies will toss out talented and creative people? Not everything that relates to how a company runs and operates is to be fouind in a manual.Successful companies know how to internally solve problems and that generally is accomplished by people who know the shortcuts and the history of past problem solving to find quick and manageable solutions. Dispatching your knowledge base in a cold and uncaring manner only serves to tell the remaining employees that their time may come and it won't be pleasant. It tells the customers that people who worked with them, solved any issues, made the case to do business with them are insignificant. There is no good way to let good people go without cause cept to pay them well with their settlement.

 

[a 1 player]

Every time I have been laid off from a company, (which has been a few since I work in automotive), and every time I have had to lay off an employee, the same procedure is followed.

A manager and security escorts me, or the employee to their work area, or locker, allows them to pack up, and escorts them out the door. It does sound harsh, and it can be, but the company also has to protect its liability.

Such is life.