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Should You Give Your Employee a Heads-Up if HR Plans to Let Them Go Due to Budget Cuts Tomorrow?
Bill Achola
November 09, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
Today, one of my readers reached out to me with a situation.
He shared that a colleague of his is about to be let go the following day due to some mistakes made on the budget.
The reader wanted to know if he should give his colleague a heads-up about the termination.
What would you do if you were in his shoes?
Let me share my thoughts:
As you know breaking bad news is rough, especially when it involves a job loss.
If you’re wrestling with whether to give an employee a heads-up that they’ll be let go tomorrow due to budget cuts, you’re not alone.
This dilemma combines empathy, ethics, and the reality of the workplace—a complex mix for anyone in a leadership role.
What’s the right move?
Do you offer the employee one last day to prepare themselves emotionally (and maybe even start planning financially)?
Or do you follow protocol, keeping them in the dark until the official conversation?
The answer isn’t always clear-cut.
But in this article, i’ll dive into what it means to give your employee a heads-up before they’re formally informed by HR.
By the end, you’ll have a better sense of the best approach for your situation—and who knows, maybe you’ll even end up with a few comments below from people who’ve been in your shoes!
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