4 ms·

There are some valid reasons for it. It's sad the way that it happens, but I've been there on occasion where they didn't do that. One stats guy decided he was

by kemiller2002 9y ago

There are some valid reasons for it. It's sad the way that it happens, but I've been there on occasion where they didn't do that. One stats guy decided he was angry that it happened . . . . he started deleting all the loss curve data we needed off of the network. There was a hurry to stop him which resulted in the network staff having to unplug all the cables from the routers. Hours of having to put the cable back in and who know how much work was lost.

pc86 9y ago
No amount of anger justifies that kind of behavior. If that's not criminal, it should be.
- jerf 9y ago
  It is. If it ever crosses (generic-you) your mind to do that, don't. The revenge is very unlikely to be worth the very significant legal risk you are incurring. Stick to tradition and bad-mouth them with friends at a bar.
  - skocznymroczny 9y ago
    or write an angry blog post
    - EGreg 9y ago
      or start a rival company and put them out of business, by slowly taking away all their main clients and then winning a case in court overturning the noncompete agreement using legal precedents in your state. That escalated quickly, no? :)
- oblio 9y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's a criminal offense in most countries in the world. You're destroying company property, at least. It's the best way to destroy your career and really become unemployable, even if you don't go to jail.
enraged_camel 9y ago
What you need to do immediately before informing an employee that you are letting them go is revoke their access to critical systems and/or disable their accounts. That way, you can allow them to go back to their desk and say their goodbyes to their coworkers without risking them doing silly stuff like delete data.
- muninn_ 9y ago
  Or, you just ghost people. Walk in one day and your badge doesn't work. Or you somehow get in and you can't log on "sorry ma'am can't find you in the system here". Didn't Twitter do something like that recently? Although, begrudgingly I agree that it's something that should probably be done if you know somebody is being let go.
  - iaskwhy 9y ago
    This happened to me once. I was not allowed in the building so I called a colleague to bring me in as a visitor. Upon trying to login, "account has been disabled". Called IT, "you've been fired". Called my line manager, "I have no idea what you're talking about". Turns out someone forgot to extend my contract on the system.
    - Chris2048 9y ago
      If that's the case, the IT person was a dick to tell you / assume you'd been fired.
- jermaustin1 9y ago
  This leads to people who are sick finding out before they are fired, that they are fired. Happened at a client's place a couple years ago, they letting go of all the senior sysadmins, killed their credentials, then fired them. 2 of the admins were out sick, and they lost their email, and their access to the monitoring tools. When the employees came in, they were escorted by "guards" to get their stuff, and not allowed to say goodbye to anyone. That said, they were allowed in the next day as a guest with no issues. Company's assume the worst of people so they put in all these policies and procedures instead of treating adults like adults. If the adult decided to delete something. Charge them with a crime. I would go ahead and guess that no one that was laid off in that time would have done something so brazen. Last I had lunch with any of them, they were doing better in their new gigs. More money or freedom.

pc86 9y ago

No amount of anger justifies that kind of behavior. If that's not criminal, it should be.

jerf 9y ago
It is. If it ever crosses (generic-you) your mind to do that, don't. The revenge is very unlikely to be worth the very significant legal risk you are incurring. Stick to tradition and bad-mouth them with friends at a bar.
- skocznymroczny 9y ago
  or write an angry blog post
  - EGreg 9y ago
    or start a rival company and put them out of business, by slowly taking away all their main clients and then winning a case in court overturning the noncompete agreement using legal precedents in your state. That escalated quickly, no? :)
oblio 9y ago
I'm pretty sure that's a criminal offense in most countries in the world. You're destroying company property, at least. It's the best way to destroy your career and really become unemployable, even if you don't go to jail.

enraged_camel 9y ago

What you need to do immediately before informing an employee that you are letting them go is revoke their access to critical systems and/or disable their accounts. That way, you can allow them to go back to their desk and say their goodbyes to their coworkers without risking them doing silly stuff like delete data.

muninn_ 9y ago
Or, you just ghost people. Walk in one day and your badge doesn't work. Or you somehow get in and you can't log on "sorry ma'am can't find you in the system here". Didn't Twitter do something like that recently? Although, begrudgingly I agree that it's something that should probably be done if you know somebody is being let go.
- iaskwhy 9y ago
  This happened to me once. I was not allowed in the building so I called a colleague to bring me in as a visitor. Upon trying to login, "account has been disabled". Called IT, "you've been fired". Called my line manager, "I have no idea what you're talking about". Turns out someone forgot to extend my contract on the system.
  - Chris2048 9y ago
    If that's the case, the IT person was a dick to tell you / assume you'd been fired.
jermaustin1 9y ago
This leads to people who are sick finding out before they are fired, that they are fired. Happened at a client's place a couple years ago, they letting go of all the senior sysadmins, killed their credentials, then fired them. 2 of the admins were out sick, and they lost their email, and their access to the monitoring tools. When the employees came in, they were escorted by "guards" to get their stuff, and not allowed to say goodbye to anyone. That said, they were allowed in the next day as a guest with no issues. Company's assume the worst of people so they put in all these policies and procedures instead of treating adults like adults. If the adult decided to delete something. Charge them with a crime. I would go ahead and guess that no one that was laid off in that time would have done something so brazen. Last I had lunch with any of them, they were doing better in their new gigs. More money or freedom.