Section Fourdecisions. Employees should be told that the termination is an
irrevocable business decision. In contrast to the advice offered
by some attorneys, employees should be told the reasons for
their termination.^83 The advice of some attorneys is that
providing the reason for the termination simply gives the
employee another rationale for initiating litigation. Nonetheless,
such advice hardly meets the standard of fairness that
managers themselves should apply, as well as the expectations
of fairness held by other employees.
Outplacement services should be provided to help the
employee make the adjustment from ending the employment
relationship to beginning the search process. This adjustment
process is sometimes equated to a grieving process in which
the employee goes through predictable steps. It has been
suggested by some observers that these steps are analogous to
the Kübler-Ross five stages of dying: denial, anger, bargaining,
depression, and acceptance.^84 Outplacement counselors may be
of assistance in helping the terminated employee work more
quickly through these stages to acceptance, at which point
constructive steps can be taken toward obtaining a new job.
Career counseling and realistic assessments of strengths and
weaknesses may also be helpful in shortening the period of
time before the employee can obtain a new job. Employees
receiving outplacement assistance feel more fairly treated by
the company.^85