Electronically Signing Employee Termination Checklist Made Easy

Electronically signing employee termination checklist

terminating an employee is not a pleasant task but with proper planning it can be a smooth transition for your company my name is Nina and I'm about to get in your business no matter how much you need to terminate an employee no matter how much better your company would be without that person terminating an employee is still an unpleasant task I've terminated over 30 employees between 2004 and 2016 and the only solace that I take is that the actual termination process for me is completed in a brief time with proper planning I am able to complete a termination in under ten minutes meaning from the time the employee sits down in the pre-designated area to the time he has been escorted off the property that time takes me ten minutes or less long ago I created a termination checklist that I still use today of course I've updated it over the years but I'm going to share some of that with you right now is there an incident that happened within your company where the employee can argue that there was wrongdoing on your part what can you do to limit your company's exposure prior to any termination prior to any termination if you can think of anything where an employee could possibly bring litigation against you please please I advise you to consult with an employment attorney because it'll be cheaper for you to consult with the employment attorney before of litigation then after gather all your documents related to the reasons why you are going to terminate this employee this includes written warnings dates of verbal warnings disciplinary documents employee policies that were violated throughout the employee's tenure counseling sessions emails from management or other employees related to that reason why that employee is going to be terminated ensure that the employee once they were hired submitted all of your new hire document and I'm hoping that you do have things like non-competes and non-disclosure agreements and things like that plan who's going to perform the terminated employees duties once they are gone if you have a smooth transition between termination and the forward momentum of your company it will make the employees who are remaining feel less threatened online access to accounts and I'm not just talking about your company account I'm talking about your clients accounts as well on average I've seen businesses have at least 20 to 25 online accounts I personally for my business Nina Roth's business consulting I have at least 35 accounts that are managed online office Depot web domains Microsoft rent social media accounts if this employee that is about to be terminated manages all of those accounts what you need to do actually what you should have always do regardless is to have a list of the username password pin number and also and this is most important make sure that you the business owner is listed as the owner of that account either the business owner one of the partners owners or your company name listed this is incredibly important because again I speak based on experience and if you do not own the account no matter that your credit card is the one paying for the services on the account you can't control the account and that includes your clients account as well remote-access nowadays we all work remotely to some degree this is one of the areas where you should start working on limiting that employees access to your servers your computers your customers accounts your corporate accounts company property includes credit cards office keys laptops cell phones uniforms anything that this employee uses on a daily basis that your company supplied these are things you will want to make sure you have a list of so when you have terminated this employee you're sure that you're getting everything back notifying key customers and clients and again this is just my recommendation is a big deal and the reason why is that a lot of customers and a lot of clients do get attached to employees and if you are the person who's telling them and explaining to them why this person was terminated it would sound better coming from you versus once you have terminated this employee they go to the client and they give their side of the story and then you've got a client who probably will be upset wondering why their favorite person is no longer with the company passcodes depending on what your company has set up alarm codes online accounts gate codes prepare your termination documents I don't know how your business is set up but if you were my client there would be termination certificates and termination documents that employees would sign off on in addition if your employment attorney get your severance agreement and any other types of documents along those lines those will be part of the termination documents as well let's talk about severance pay will you be paying a severance TWC does not require you pay an employee any type of severance pay upon termination so you have to decide if that's something you're going to do if you are you need to prepare that final paycheck you have to calculate the final paycheck up through the day of termination I recommend that employees are paid a final paycheck in a tangible check not electronically well why because I have heard I've not experienced this nor have I ever had a client that did this but I did hear of a company that kept a terminated employee on their direct deposit so this person I think for two or three paychecks still received a paycheck post termination the best way to deal with that is to take them off of direct deposit make sure they get a final paycheck paper PTO if your company pays out unused PTO this is also another financial that you will need to resolve through termination these payments and contributions to 401ks flex accounts and things like that let's talk about security I did have an employee that I refused to let in the building I terminated him away from the office because he did pose a security threat everything turned out fine with that he did not come back in to destroy the office like he had threatened so you have to make those types of determinations on your own if you have someone who is a security threat I would recommend you not terminate them inside your office and if they are there I would recommend calling police letting the note of the situation and requesting that they be on standby in case there is some type of issue if your building has security you would always notify the security and let them know that you terminate an employee and let them know why and if possible let them see a picture of that person that way if the if the person comes into the building post termination they can be stopped by security establish a termination date when is this actually going to happen I recommend that you do not terminate an employee on anniversaries their birthdays and holidays personal holidays such as that there will you terminate I recommend terminating an employee in a neutral place not in a closed-in office where everyone is feeling trapped conference rooms typically work work best for me insurance benefits you would have to get with your insurance agent and you can schedule when that person is no longer going to be with the company I typically will call the insurance agent and then I will say I am going to terminate blah blah blah person and please terminate their insurance at the end of the month or whenever that payment cycle is about to end and this is something that can be scheduled and make sure you get that termination certification and writing from the insurance agent and that's includes health insurance dental any other types of insurances you have life insurance short term long term disability in Texas we have to notify Texas new-hire with the Attorney General and you have to let the Attorney General know that the employee is no longer with the company you just submit the termination date finally wage garnishments you must notify the entity that you are paying these wage garnishments to that one the person is no longer with the company effective bla bla bla date and two you must let them know we don't know where the person is going once they leave your employment this is not an all-inclusive list of things that you would have on your termination checklist this video was meant to get you started on your termination checklist each company has its own set of guidelines its own set of rules there are other things that I'm sure your company would have to do that would be different from this other person's company use the information in this video to tailor and fit it within your own company I hope this video was helpful for you please if you liked the video please click the thumbs up or thumbs down button YouTube looks at it all the same as engagement and also leave me some comments tell me some of the things that you need to do prior to terminating an employee I'm always adding to my list as well thank you for watching [Music]