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Ask HN: So your manager fires one of your coworkers no word why, What do you do?

• fsk 13y ago
  At my current job, the boss fired a coworker I got along very well with. After that, the environment deteriorated and it's obviously time to move on. If they fired someone and you think it's unfair and they wouldn't explain it to you, then it's time for you to move on.
• CyberFonic 13y ago
  Track down your coworker and go out for a couple of drinks and a debrief.
• usablebytes 13y ago
  Most probably they had a very valid reason. Why don't you first try to talk to your coworker who got fired? And there is no harm in talking to your manager as well about it; just act neutral, though.
  • penguinlinux 13y ago
    I did ask my manager but he couldn't give me a concrete reason as far as my coworker I don't want to reach out to him right away because I know he is probably feeling very hurt and know he probably needs a little time to process what just happened.
    • soboleiv 13y ago
      You can't know for sure about feelings of other people. I'd love to be fired - there's so much fun stuff around:) So I'd count not talking as your excuse, not his. If he can't give you a reason, he can give you a reason why he can't give you a reason ;)
      • glimcat 13y ago
        If you ever get to the point where you'd legitimately love to be fired, quit. It's scary, but often worth it.
        • soboleiv 13y ago
          Yeah, I'm quitting just now, but never connected those two thoughts together - thanks! :)
• digitalzombie 13y ago
  I got layoff and I left professionally. If you want to know why you can also ask him. I also contact everybody saying that it was nice working with them and I'd like to keep in contact professionally. In all honesty, I knew the project was going to shit. It was dead from the get go. So I started to learn as much as I can from my peers and waited until they finally fire me. It was a great opportunity to learn and pad up my resume anyway. If you're that worry you can start apply for other places. You don't have to accept the offer you can just practice your interview skills.
• soboleiv 13y ago
  Move on. Interview people around. Keep in touch with the person if I'm interested.
• wikwocket 13y ago
  Ask a manager or higher-up in private if you can discuss the firing. Even if they have a policy of not discussing why someone is let go, you can certainly voice your concerns you have about your own job security, how your coworker's departure will affect your workload and the company's bottom line, etc. Points you may want to seek clarity on: - Was the fired coworker given advance notice? - Was he given a chance to change things to avoid the firing? - Was this decision due to technical reasons or a "culture clash"? (You may not get an answer here) - Was he offered a severance package, or at least paid for his last 2 weeks and unused vacation time?
  • penguinlinux 13y ago
    Thanks for the advice. I will bring these question this friday and will ask my boss to get together and just explain that I am worried that the same thing can happen to anyone including me.
• AnimalMuppet 13y ago
  There can be reasons where the termination was "for cause". In those cases, you may not be able to get the straight story from the manager for legal reasons. You also may well not get the straight story from the former coworker. Or, the boss could just be a psychopath who likes firing people for no reason. The boss and coworker may say the very same things they said in the "for cause" scenario. Bottom line: You may not be able to get a straight answer from anyone. If you do, you may not be able to tell that it was a straight answer.
• rprospero 13y ago
  Probably not what happened here, but it reminds me of a medium-sized business owner I once encountered. A few years before I met him, he had fired one of his IT staff. The firing quickly became a debacle, as the recently fired employee had been performing herculean feats to keep the company's infrastructure running. The business owner ultimately needed to hire four new employees at more that the original fellow's rate to get everything back under control again. The owner vowed that he'd never let something like this happen again. Of course, he decided that this wasn't his fault. After all, if the employee had gotten sick or was hit by a bus, he'd be in the same situation. Instead, the problem was that the business had a single point of failure. Too much business knowledge was only available in a single place. His solution was an early form of Netflix Chaos Monkey, but applied to HR. A couple of times a year, he'd fire an employee at random. The plan was to ensure that knowledge was in the company, not in people. You didn't get used to asking Bill from Accounting how to file your expense forms, since Bill could disappear at any time. Instead, you insisted that Bill (or whoever was currently in accounting) create easily accessible documentation for the expense forms. Then, when Bill disappeared, everything was documented and the business continued smoothly. From what I've heard, the owner may now be in minimum security prison for shady financials at the company, so there could have been another reason to encourage people not to stay too long. Edit: Fixed stupid homophone
  • MattBearman 13y ago
    I'm intrigued, can you just be fired like that in the US? In England it's really hard to just fire someone without a valid reason (gross negligence, etc).
    • Someone 13y ago
      Yes/No. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment: "It is important to understand that the at-will doctrine is merely a default rule that can be overridden by an express contract or civil service statutes (in the case of government employees). As many as 34% of all U.S. employees apparently enjoy the protection of some kind of "just cause" or objectively reasonable requirement for termination that takes them out of the pure "at-will" category"