When you suspend or fire an employee, what do you tell his co-workers?  Different human resources professionals and employment lawyers will provide different answers to this question, which means there’s room for disagreement.

Here’s my answer.  You tell them something.  If you don’t, the rumor mill will kick into high gear.  All kinds of stories will be circulated.  And you’ll lose credibility.

I’m familiar with the thinking that HR matters are confidential.  We respect our employees’ privacy.  If bad things are said about an employee who has been suspended or fired, he might sue us for defamation.  I understand that thinking.

The better thinking, in my opinion, is that if you have suspended or fired an employee and you have your ducks in a row about the reason for that action, it makes more sense to provide your employees with some type of explanation as to what has happened rather than let them stew.  You don’t have to tell them every little detail.  You shouldn’t tell them something you’re not sure about.  You should get some legal advice about what can and can’t be said.  But your employees deserve, in most cases, to hear from you.  If they don’t, a lot of scenarios will be invented.  The suspended or fired employee may be made into a monstor.  And the us-them divide will grow wider.

As I noted earlier, there are different opinions on this.  If you have an opinion different from the one I’ve given, please respond with a comment to this post.  It’ll help all of us.