Ensuring Digital Signature Legality for Leave of Absence Agreement in Australia

How to eSign a document: digital signature legality for Leave of Absence Agreement in Australia

(morse code) It's important to look people in the eye when you're having this conversation. It's a hard conversation for them to have, and it's probably important to acknowledge. Do acknowledge that this is a difficult conversation to have for them. Don't emphasise that it's a difficult conversation to have for you. Even if it is a really difficult conversation to have for you, they don't need to be your counsellor when you're letting them go. Unfortunately, I've seen that happen. Speak confidently about your decision but with compassion, obviously, but be confident. Don't waver in it. Don't suggest that you might go back on it. Be ready to be confident, state your reasons and not react to however they might react. Remember, you've had time to prepare for this, and they have not. So, you just need to let them react the way you need to. And then just all the other kind of common standards around good behaviour imply. This is not your time to take vengeance on someone. It's not your time to tell them everything that they've ever done that's bothered you. It's not your time to insult them in any way, shape or form. You should be graceful and you should be considerate, and if you're firing them, this is going to be a hard day for them. So, make sure that you're caring about it. You should also offer them a taxi. If they are on their way home and they are distraught and they get into a car accident, that could be, you could be liable for that. So, you should make sure that they've got transportation home. You should, in some cases, make sure they've got outplacement resources if necessary. You should follow up to make sure they made it home safely. You should acknowledge that this is a tough time for them, and you should try to protect them as a result of that. Probably very important to have consulted a lawyer before you terminate someone. It's important to know what your legal obligations likely are in terms of severance. My suggestion is to usually offer slightly more in exchange for a full release. It's not something you can force them to sign on the spot, nor should you. They should have time to consider it and whether it's worth it for them to accept the additional severance in exchange for a release. This is something that is worth spending, especially in tricky situations where you may anticipate difficulty. Make sure that you're speaking with a lawyer and getting advice from them on that as well. Do make sure that you've recorded your thoughts before and after the meeting. Ideally you've recorded your thoughts throughout a progressive disciplinary process up until that point so that you have a good record. If there are issues later on, very often you'll forget exactly what happened. The most important thing to do is just to stay calm, stay collected. Allow them to react the way they are going to react, but don't get pulled into an argument, don't get pulled into a justification for your decision. Just stick to the facts of why you made the decision in a brief way. Reiterate that you've made this decision and then focus them on what their next steps are. Rather than dwelling on the past. The general rule of thumb is never terminate an employee on a Friday. The reason for that is you want to have days in the week left for the person to seek support if they want to seek support. If you terminate somebody on a Friday, it's the weekend and they might not be able to access outplacement services or counselling services that they really want to get. (electronic music)