OMG YR FIRED ;(

I recently heard through my network of a text-message employee termination, which was brief and in the neighborhood of the following:

Pls don't report to work tmrw; not working out; will pay out yr notice.

I shared the story with my husband, Joel.  "The employer could have just tied the termination note to a rock and thrown it through the employee's car window," he replied in disbelief.  "That really happened?"  I nodded sadly.  "Really, really cheesy." Joel said sadly. "That goes beyond cheesy.  It's like 'Hi, I'm breaking up with you; and oh, by the way, I have herpes.'"

Sometimes I fear that popular media examples of poor people management practices, like firing NPR Correspondent Juan Williams via the phone without due process and/or a progressive corrective action program, unduly influences some harried and hapless employers to hear what they like and leave the rest (E.g., the reputational flak that results from such attention:  could it be true that there's no such thing as bad P.R.?  Best to ask NPR's former CEO, who eventually lost her job as a result.)

Or could it be that some employers believe they have the ultimate power in an employer-employee relationship, giving them carte blanche to freestyle employee hiring, firing and relations?

There are three barriers to such freestyle misconceptions on the part of misguided employers:  legal compliance, reputation and customers.

Failure to observe legal compliance in employee relations exposes employers to legal, financial and reputational risk.  A roll of the employer-freestyling dice here can spell the end of a business.  Can you say "lawsuit judgment?"  Courtesy of a former employee or government regulatory entity, or both?

Reputation can make or break the recruitment and retention of both customers and employees, particularly in a local economy like SmAlbany.  A colleague and I were chatting discreetly about the vagaries of a local small business whose name we did not mention during our conversation in a remote Starbucks a year ago, when one of their former sales managers serendipitously walked in the door of the shop. The colleague waved to the sales manager and remarked to me in a whisper: "Seriously, the owner is a nut:  he continuously hires sales managers only to let them go in about 6 months.  That poor guy is the owner's latest victim, and everyone in the business community knows it."

And finally, and most importantly, customers.  It has been my observation and experience, and recently documented in Guy Kawasaki's Enchantment, that there is absolutely a direct connection on how well (or poorly) you treat your employees and how well (or poorly) in turn your employees will treat your customers.  And how well (or poorly) your customers patronize you as a vendor long-term as a result of mistreatment by your employees; mistreatment by you as the owner; or hearing about your mistreatment of your employees.  In other words:  treat your employees like hammered cow pies, and run the risk of your customers being treated like hammered cow pies, too:  and having both consequently conduct business with one of your competitors.

Bottom-line advice:  reserve text-messaging and other remote media for good news.  For both good news and the tough messages:  nothing beats face-to-face communications, supported with SME (subject-matter expertise) advice and compliant documentation, to drive authentic, accountable and courageous relationships, which in turn will only reinforce reputation and retention with both internal (employees) and external customers.

;)