A good severance package says a great
deal about the humanity of a business
manager. A manager can tailor it to the
size and financial capacity of the business
while, at the same time, create a world
of goodwill within the community.
The employee who, like Bill Bailey,
finds himself or herself thrown out the
door with nothing but a fine-tooth comb,
does not leave with the same dignity
of the employee who walks out with a
folder full of hope. An alert management
is aware that when workers must be terminated
through no fault of their own, it creates
talk among that person's family and acquaintances.
A good severance package allows that
employee to tell others what the business "did
for me" instead of what it "did
to me."
The severance package need not be elaborate
to create goodwill, but the absence of
such a program will not go unnoticed
by either the terminated employee or
those with whom he or she makes later
contact.
Finding solutions to severance package
benefits.
A severance package is not the same
as a contractual severance payment. A
package includes more items like a letter
of recommendation, help to find another
position or an option to stay on the
group health insurance program for a
limited time. There are many ways a business
can helps its former employee. Something
as simple as a certificate of appreciation
costs the business little, nothing more
than the price of stationery and copies.
Why go to all that trouble?
Management may think the final paycheck
and whatever severance pay required by
law is enough. Such thinking is short-sighted
and oblivious to the positive public
relations benefits of having a good severance
package. Besides, it goes a long way
toward ameliorating any resentments the
terminated employee might feel toward
the business.
In other words, having a good severance
package to offer a departing employee
moves HR into the realm of PR, making
the effort put into the package all the
more worthwhile. The sense the company
cares by offering such a package to departing
employees affects the ones who remain
on the payroll. The importance of this
is immeasurable. It eases tension among
employees who might otherwise get the
idea the business has no heart, and they
might begin to imagine themselves as
one day walking out the door empty-handed.
Before
firing employee, there was so much
stress. Now everyone is working
much better.
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