How Much Should a Boss Reveal To Others About a Staffer’s Firing?

Early in my career, I knew a manager who had a particularly cold-blooded way of firing employees. He never
told them directly. Instead, he would wait until they had left the office for lunch and then leave a note on their
desk, telling them that their performance was inadequate and that they should pack up their belongings by the
end of the day.

By CAROL HYMOWITZ Wall St. Journal

The notes were surreptitiously read by other employees, who usually knew a particular colleague was about to
be axed before he or she did. Each firing was public, and each served as a warning to others that if they didn’t
meet the boss’s standards they, too, would be fired.

Most companies today likely would chastise a manager who fired employees this way, whatever the cause of
the dismissal. The chief reason: Many fear that in the current litigious environment, employees who feel their
reputations have been unfairly damaged may file suit and seek damages. They also worry that the employees,
angered and humiliated, may become violent.

So managers are warned that if they do fire someone for inadequate performance or unethical behavior, they
must confer first with their companies’ human-resources and legal experts, and handle the matter as quietly as
possible. The employee typically gets a warning.

Managers are advised not to discuss or even to acknowledge the firing to other employees, customers, clients
and shareholders — or to another company. "To try to avoid the threat of liability, managers are cautioned never
to badmouth a dismissed employee to other employees and to be very tight-lipped about offering any
information in a reference check," says Chad Struer, chief executive of USA Diligence, a Salinas, Calif.,
consulting firm providing employment screening services.

But as recent events at Conseco, the Carmel, Ind., insurer demonstrate, the effort to smooth over a firing,
especially of a top executive, can cause other headaches. On March 6, Conseco announced that Charles B.
Chokel, the company’s chief financial officer for about a year, had left "to pursue other interests."

That explanation stirred concern among shareholders already worried about Conseco’s financial performance
and its ability to meet its 2002 debt obligations. Some speculated that Mr. Chokel had no confidence in
Conseco’s financial strategy, and had therefore left in the middle of the company’s audit. Investors began
dumping the stock. By the end of the day, the company’s shares had fallen 15% in trading.

The next day, Conseco CEO Gary Wendt announced in a memo to investors that the 48-year-old Mr. Chokel
didn’t resign but was fired. "I let him go because I did not believe he was up to the job," Mr. Wendt wrote in his
memo (See article).

In a separate message to Conseco employees, Mr. Wendt tried to explain his actions further. "Chuck Chokel
is a very bright and decent fellow — and I like him a great deal," he said. ""But none of us has the luxury of
letting our affection for colleagues inhibit our performance."

Adds Mark Lubbers, executive vice president of corporate affairs: "It wasn’t legal issues that caused us to
announce Chuck’s departure the way we did. Gary liked Chuck and he didn’t want to embarrass him. These
are hard decisions at that level."

Mr. Chokel couldn’t be reached for comment.

Lack of frankness about dismissals may confuse employees and hurt morale as much as blunt action. When
a marketing executive, who didn’t want to be identified, once told a subordinate that he was failing in his job
and would have to leave, the executive then tried to lighten the blow by telling the employee he could stay on
until he found another position elsewhere.

The employee, of course, felt angry and mistreated — and soon began criticizing the executive, his colleagues
and work at the company in general. Even after he found another job, he continued to call old colleagues to
denigrate his former boss. "He told them I was running things terribly and he was glad he had quit and found a
better job, which made some employees feel badly, especially those who felt they were doing a good job and
were more committed than he’d ever been," says the executive. "In retrospect I’m sorry I let him stay around
and tried so hard to be nice."

Managers must seek a middle ground between publicly humiliating an employee who has been dismissed and
concealing what actually happened. Mr. Struer believes managers shouldn’t advertise every firing. "But if
someone has broken the corporate code of ethics or if his departure is potentially going to shake employee
and investor confidence in the company, the company shouldn’t distort the reasons," he adds.

Employees usually know exactly which colleagues have been fired and which have quit. Speculation about
why a firing has occurred can divert employees’ attention from their work and undermine corporate loyalty. The
truth will always surface; it’s up to the boss to let the facts be known in a dignified and straightforward way.

******************

Carol Hymowitz writes about
leadership challenges and conflicts
three Tuesdays a month in In The
Lead. Carol conceived the column
partly out of her experiences as a
manager at the Journal, as bureau
chief in Pittsburgh and now as a
senior editor in New York, where she
supervises a group of reporters in
several cities. In her 20 years with the
Journal as a reporter and editor, she
has covered many industries —
including steel, retail, banking, and
manufacturing — as well as
management and workplace issues.

"Given the technological and global
complexity of business today,
managers must make decisions at an
ever faster pace while motivating
others in new ways," she says. "Yet
management and leadership remain
an art rather than a science,
dependent as ever on relationships
among people. I try to illustrate that
through the experiences of myself and
others."

Carol says she sees the column as a
conversation with readers. To
contribute your perceptions and
opinions, e-mail Carol at
[email protected]. To see other
recent columns, go to
CareerJournal.com.

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