How to fire someone without warning
Terminating an employee out of the blue triggers intense emotional fallout and severe reactions. This sudden displacement destroys an individual's immediate livelihood and leaves them with no closure or preparation.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- It goes quiet, then comes back — 3 separate clusters since February 2026.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Ignoring or working around issues instead of confronting themDid this help you?
- 2Firing employees on the spot for behavioral or attendance issuesDid this help you?
- 3Negotiating severance packagesDid this help you?
- 4Looking out for yourself first and avoiding getting overly attached to an employerDid this help you?
- 5Refusing to give more time or effort than what is strictly expectedDid this help you?
- 6Keeping the termination brief by simply stating they aren't a good fit or the business is moving in a different direction.Did this help you?
- 7Handling all discipline over text messages to maintain a written record to fight potential unemployment claims.Did this help you?
- 8Coaching the employee out with documented sit-down conversations and write-ups to show continuous issues.Did this help you?
- 9Significantly reducing the employee's scheduled shifts to encourage them to quit.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“What I wasn’t okay with was being told, in the same conversation, that it was also my last day. No notice, minimal severance (now under negotiation), and no real closure with my colleagues.”source ↗
“President gives an all staff meeting about how we’re an organization of “love” and a “family,” a week later replaced because the new manager they hired wanted to bring in their friend from their last job.”source ↗
“Should one of them work out how do I go about terminating an employee that isn’t terrible but isn’t great? I don’t know why I am so unsure about this - maybe its because I hadnt done it immediately?”source ↗
“One of my worst mistakes when I bought a small place was letting a couple of the long term guys get away with small stuff over and over. Finally started writing peolle up and they both quit within a week of their first write up.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 16How bad is it to quit a job without notice?
- 9How to get fired from a public accounting job without legal consequences
- 7How to quickly revoke all access for a terminated employee
- 4How to deal with an unqualified employee who is impossible to fire
- 5Quitting my job before finding a new one
- 4My job offer was rescinded before my start date