Hey, what’s going on everyone? One of the most unpleasant tasks a business owner or manager must face is having to terminate one or more employees. No matter the cause for dismissal, telling a worker that his or her services are no longer required is a difficult statement to make. You may cushion the blow with praise, you may justify it with numbers, or you may cite the worker’s poor performance as the reason, but no matter what you say to the fired employee and no matter how you explain it, the end result can be devastating to both parties involved.

For the worker, it means the end of regular income and probably the termination of company health benefits, a 401(k) and other perks of the job. For the owner, CEO, or whoever announces the dismissal, it could mean firing a trusted, well-performing worker (or several of them) in a desperate means to cut costs. It won’t be easy, but there are best practices. What so many successful CEOs, human resources leaders and senior managers have advised when laying-off an employee is simple: be honest, be compassionate and be quick.

Wielding the “Ax”
Even if the cause for termination is based on an employee’s poor work performance, or for some reason other than a need to cut personnel, firing a human being, telling them, in effect, that you no longer value them, is a psychological and financial trauma for the person let go and can be a psychological trauma for whoever swings the ax. There are ways, however, to make it easier for all concerned. Following these well-established general criteria for whom to dismiss, how to do it, and what – if anything – to provide to the person or persons dismissed will help ease the process.

Before we discuss how to lay someone off, deciding whom to lay offis equally important. It is also important to consider the circumstances of the economy, the company doing the dismissal and the financial condition of the company in question.

Assuming the economy is good and the company is profitable, there may be several reasons to terminate an employee.

For poor performance, including lack of punctuality, absenteeism, or failure to produce desired results
For resisting change
For negativism
For insubordination
For not conforming to company values
For questionable character or ethical lapses
For criminal acts

However, in a poor economy, decisions about whom to fire and why may be decided using other criteria. The employees marked for termination may include the following:

Higher salaried employees
Newly-hired employees

The lower 10% on the work performance scale, a group Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (NYSE:GE), often terminated – in both good times and bad. (For more on this great CEO, see You Don’t Know Jack Welch.)

Employees nearing retirement and/or older employees. Employers should note that terminating older employees may present a risk of age discrimination lawsuits, either individually or as part of a class action suit, so caution must be exercised in this category. It may be advisable to obtain legal advice before terminating employees in these two categories.

Layoff Best Practices
The “three be rule” is your best guide to the termination process when it comes time to tell the employee.

Be honest: Tell the employee why he or she is being laid off, even if it’s for poor performance. You’re not doing the employee or yourself any favors by concealing the reason. You may cushion the poor performance assessment in a variety of ways, but the truth must be told. For any layoffs due to poor performance, a recent record of poor performance reviews will support your decision and justify it to the employee. It may also be used as evidence if a wrongful dismissal suit is filed against the employer.

Be compassionate: Being laid off can be painful. Show the terminated employee some compassion and understanding. If your firm has the capability, provide outplacement services or job counseling to help cushion the blow. Keep the employee’s ego in mind – it may need a hefty boost at this time, and you can provide it by praising previous accomplishments.

Be quick: A quick, surgical dismissal, while keeping the above recommendations in mind, is the most humane way to handle a layoff. You may want the employee to clean out his or her desk that day and it may be a good idea to have security escort the employee to the door. Too many terminated employees have taken out their sense of injustice or lust for revenge by sabotaging their computers or attempting to hurt their managers and colleagues. Being escorted to the door can be a humiliating experience for the terminated worker but it can prevent destructive expressions of rage. Dismissing an employee on a Friday afternoon is also an effective means of allowing the terminated worker an entire weekend to recover from the shock of dismissal.

What Not to Do
The manager doing the firing should never express anger, express too much disappointment, or threaten to imperil the fired employee’s chances. Depending on circumstances, you may want to tell terminated employees that they might work as outside consultants, as part-time employees without benefits, or that they may be hired back at a later date, when economic and financial conditions warrant it. That said, employers are urged neither to make promises of any kind, nor to make statements that can be interpreted as promises.

The Bottom Line
Laying off staff can be a painful experience for both the laid off worker and the employer who issues the pink slip. Beyond the loss of income and whatever other benefits the employer provided, the laid off worker often feels a loss of self-esteem. For the employer, the experience of laying off a worker may be equally uncomfortable, although in a different way.

Both of these painful consequences seem inevitable, but both can be reduced in intensity if the employer follows the “three be rule” cited above and determines judiciously who should be terminated. In the situation of a mass layoff, a standardized package may be offered, in which case an employer is less likely to deviate from the severance offered. But in many other cases, severance can be negotiated.

Stay tuned for more updates.

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Hey guys, what’s going on? There are many ways to make money in this world. By far the most common is working a 9 to 5 job, or some variation of it. I just can’t grasp the concept of why people would choose to make their income this way, if they didn’t have to. Trading limited hours for a set dollar amount is like the worst possible method of earning a living. Why?

You Get Taxed The Most

You are the Man’s favorite servant. Why? You are the government’s biggest income source. And there is no way for you to escape it, because the company you work for withholds taxes from your paycheck. And the more you make, the more they take, close to 30% of every dollar. Of the three entities that are subject to income tax (individuals, corporations and trusts) no other entity is taxed as highly as an individual.

You Receive The Fewest Tax Breaks

Not only are you taxed the most, but you have the fewest tax breaks available to you. While a company can write off pretty much anything that is used in the course of their business, you have to use after tax dollars to get to work, eat your lunch, buy cloths, fill the gas tank, entertain, etc. About the only real tax break available to individuals is the IRA/ 401K. And most people don’t even take advantage it!

You Only Earn When You Work

You get absolutely no residual or passive income. If you aren’t working, you’re not making any money. It’s a tough balancing act. You want to earn a living, but you also want to spend time with family and friends. It’s give and take. With a traditional job, you can’t have both. If you want more time with family, you have to work less. If you want to make more money, you have to keep working.

There Are Only 24 Hours In A Day

It doesn’t matter how much you want to work, there are only 24 hours in a day. And it’s really hard to work 24 hours a day. That alone, puts a cap on your income. Even if you’re a high power lawyer that bills out at $500 an hour, you still have to sleep. And while you’re making good money, you’re still working for your money. The instant you stop billing, the money stops.

You Are Not Invincible

Eventually a time will come when you can no longer work. If you become ill, get into an accident or are forced to retire. What happens then, depends on the decisions you made earlier in life. If you planned well, you’ll have enough to live on without having to work. However, statistics shows that the majority of Americans do not plan well.

If you work the traditional job, I would recommend you take a serious look at your situation. Look at how much the government is taking from you, and what you get in return. What will happen to you and your family if you can no longer work? Most of us don’t carry enough life insurance. We all like to think we’re invincible but we’re not.

Think about this guys, and see you seven!

Today’s post is brought to you by the Mela Team. They want to set things straight about the false rumors of the Meleleuca Scam. To learn the truth, check out their site.

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What’s going on guys? Ever get the feeling that your overdraft fees from your bank were a little too coincidental for their benefit? How the timing was always stacked in the bank’s favor? Every. Single. Time?

Sure, it was fishy, but you couldn’t prove it. Or was it that times were good back in the day, and it wasn’t worth the trouble to investigate and clear up?

Well, the banks were laughing all the way to the..er, bank. Literally. Nationwide, banks and credit unions collected almost $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008, according to the Center for Responsible Lending.

Not anymore you fat cats. Times have been tough and people aren’t letting it go anymore.

Case in point, Wells Fargo. Recently, a San Francisco judge’s scathing ruling ordering Wells Fargo to pay its customers $203 million for manipulating debit transactions to maximize overdraft fees might be just the start of troubles for the bank. Ah ha! Busted!

U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s 90-page opinion Tuesday described Wells Fargo’s motive as profiteering and said the San Francisco-based bank’s goal was to “maximize the number of overdrafts and squeeze as much as possible” out of customers.

But wait. The hefty tab represents only what the bank owes its California customers. That figure is far smaller than the potential bill from a separate suit in which Wells’ clients in other states have accused the bank of the same unfair practices.

That case, consolidated in federal court in Miami, includes similar claims against 30 other lending institutions, including Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, Union Bank and U.S. Bank.

The crux of the claims is that the banks processed debit transactions from the largest to the smallest, instead of the order in which they occurred, depleting accounts faster and boosting the number of overdrafts, which cost as much as $35 per transaction.

So, what does this mean for the case in Florida? Well, it could affect the outcome of that case, even though the judge there is not legally bound to follow it.

But the point is folks, be on the look out for your pay out from your bank soon. Don’t spend the money though, however small the eventual amount is. Save it, invest it. You’ll thank me later.

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Hey, what’s going on guys? In yesterday’s post, I showed you how to attract new customers to your business using web directories. Well, usually there is a space for your company website on most those directory forms. Who doesn’t have a website these days? If not, get one now!

So, the problem with most websites is that the information on them gets outdated quickly. When that happens, the search engines stop picking it up and no one ends up going there. Then, no new customers for your business.

My suggestion? Run a regular blog on your website along with the other pertinent information you’ve got on there. Post up news in your industry, your thoughts on the news, and maybe your solutions to current problems. This will attract new customers as well as keeping your existing ones. Better yet, get paid to do this!

Enter blog advertising. Not only do you improve your writing, but you also get paid for it. That’s like getting a grant to go to school!

In fact, blog advertising is much more effective than traditional methods. Let me ask you, what do you do during a commercial creak when you watch television? You get up and go to the bathroom, get a snack, and anything that isn’t watching the commercials!

Now, what do you do when you visit a website and a pop up come sup? You get annoyed and close it as soon as possible right? And some company has paid top dollar for those ad spaces. With blog advertising, people who are actually interested in your business is already reading your blog! Advertisers would kill for these type of advertisements! But, not only do you not have to pay for it, YOU are getting paid!

Sounds great right? Now get to it! There are plenty of great blogging for money type sites out there. Pick a few within your industry and either bid on the right to get paid for a particular article or wait for someone to buy a post from you.

Alright, see you in seven (though it seems like everyday now, doesn’t it?). Get rich and stay rich guys!

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Copyright (c) 2010 Scott Bywater
Copywriting That SELLS
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

The internet is very sexy at the moment.

——————————————————————
Scott Bywater is a direct mail copywriter and the author of
Cash-Flow Advertising. To get access to his highly prized
complimentary copy of ’7 Ways To Get More Customers” (valued at
$29.95) and to join his controversial and insighful “Copywriting
Selling Secrets” newsletter where you’ll uncover the truth about
why most ads and sales letters don’t work (and how to make yours
stand out from the rest) head on over to his web site at
http://www.copywritingthatsells.com.au/

See you guys in seven!

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