[ĐẶC SAN MỒNG 7 TẾT] Tản mạn về sự tử tế và buông bỏ trong kinh doanh - Ms. Nhung Tran

Thinking about kindness

On a freezing winter day in Hanoi around 8 years ago, I was shivering, not because of the cold, but due to the fact that I was going to inform redundancy to several employees. It was my first time dealing with involuntary termination and my anxiety was hardly hidden. Embarrassment to inform the bad news made it really challenging to confront disappointed, angry, upset faces of terminated employees. I felt like I was a villain.

Recently, during and after Covid-19, the topics of “redundancy” or “termination” have been seen more frequently in newspapers, demonstrating the difficult time of many organizations. From HR perspective, I am aware that it is obviously a sign of financial troubles; unfortunately, labor is the first tie to be cut. The situation becomes lose-lose with both sides suffering. However, at present with more working experience of dealing with similar cases, I am aware that we can reduce the pain with different approaches.

Instead of an announcement by emails, documents or cold meetings, a sharing session from leaders, a talk about the company’s hard time or a consoling word from HR may soothe the intensity of the termination decision. Employees are human, not only resources. They deserve to be aware of organizations’ status, to be treated with respect and kindness at those critical points. Explanation, consolation and support after termination are essential for both. Some organizations simply issued an announcement with one or two months of compensation, not concerning employees’ reactions. Though financial support is highly needed, societal and psychological aspects are also pivotal parts of well-being that organizations should provide to staff (Hesketh and Cooper, 2019). Especially with termination decisions, empathy among humans is needed to minimize possible psychological influences. As a result, HR as a bridge between employers and employees, should care about the well-being status of our staff until their last day of employment. Employers make termination decisions while we - HR have to implement them, and we can choose a better way to do it. Loss is unavoidable but an act of kindness can support people to recover.

I wish I had known this 8 years ago, when confronting terminated employees of my previous company. I would have cared more about their emotions, calmly explaining the situation, providing them with reference letters and supporting them to find new jobs, instead of being overwhelmed with my own anxiety. Kindness has to be learned, later than never.

Ms. Nhung Tran

Associate Lecturer RMIT

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