Termination of Employment

Termination of Employment

Termination of Employment

Introduction

Employee relations are generally involved in layoffs and involuntary and voluntary terminations. The process of deciding who will receive layoff notices begins with management, who develop layoff criteria. Sometimes employee relations works with union representatives on criteria such as seniority, job group, location, or certification level. They may then use the HRMS to create an appropriately sequenced list of employees targeted for layoff. Employee relations does not decide who will be laid off, but it may participate in the distribution of layoff notices and counseling of affected employees. Employee relations may hold group and individual meetings to discuss benefits eligibility, severance pay, and outplacement. In these meetings, employee relations uses HRMS data extensively but seldom needs to enter any new data. In cases of layoffs and furloughs, employee relations may take the responsibility for recalling employees as needed. This paper discusses termination of employment with a special focus on Hospitality industry.

Discussion

Unfortunately, staffing decisions do not simply focus on hiring employees. As organizations evolve and markets change, the demand for particular employees rises and falls. Also, some employees just do not present at a height necessary to rationalize continued employment. For these reasons, managers sometimes must make difficult decisions to terminate their employment.

Layoffs

Layoff means when there is a strike or layoff, some states require payment of earned wages, through the day the employee went on strike, to the employee within a specified period of time. In Hospitality industry, union contracts may provide for different due dates for final wages that the statutes specify.

As a result of the massive restructuring of hospitality industry brought about by mergers and acquisitions, divestiture, and increased competition, many organizations have been downsizing—laying off big figures of executive and other employees. Dismissing any employee is tough, but when a company lays off a substantial portion of its workforce, the results can rock the foundations of the organization. The victims of restructuring face all the difficulties of being let go—loss of self-esteem, demoralizing job searches, and the stigma of being out of work. To some extent, employers can help employees with these problems by offering outplacement, the procedure of helping citizens who have been dismissed from the corporation get back employment somewhere else. Even then, the impact of layoffs goes further than the employees who leave. For many of the employees who remain with the company, disenchantment, distrust, and lethargy overshadow the comfort of still having a job. In many respects, how management deals with dismissals will affect the productivity and satisfaction of those who remain. A well-thought-out dismissal process eases tensions and helps remaining employees adjust to the new work situation. Organizations with strong performance evaluation systems benefit because the survivors are less likely to believe the decision was arbitrary. In addition, if care is taken during the actual layoff process—that is, if workers are offered severance pay and help in finding a new job—remaining workers will be comforted. Companies also should avoid stringing out layoffs by ...