Have You Ever Wondered How Companies Like Apple And Facebook Fire Employees?

A recent discussion on Quora focused on the layoff process at large tech companies like Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL, Apple Inc. AAPL and Facebook Inc FB. Several commenters contributed to the discussion with their personal insights into the process.

L. Mary Dagan-Foxman said a typical firing scenario at large tech companies occurs on a Friday morning. Employees will come to their desks and be unable to log into their computers. Once they report the issue, a HR staff member asks them to meet to “have a talk.”

The HR meeting typically involves a member of the legal department as well. The HR representative explains to the employees the reason(s) why they are being terminated. After the meeting, the HR staff member and/or security staff member escorts them back to their desks to collect their belongings and then out of the building.

Amy Nassisi, who was a manager at a $1 billion-plus software company, said the experience is brutally cold for the person doing the firing. Managers must stick to a script and avoid saying anything positive about the employee being fired.

“The process is designed to minimize risk,” she explained.

“The script and restrictions on saying anything positive about the employee are to minimize the legal risk for wrongful termination.”

Related Link: How Q1 Earnings Have Changed The Fundamentals Of Big Tech Stocks

One anonymous poster said that he or she had been fired from Apple, and the process was a bit different. About one month before being terminated, the employee was placed on an “improvement plan” that amounted to a menial “busywork” project. After a month of completing all the improvement plan tasks, the employee was called into the manager’s office and handed a letter to read.

“The letter stated I was being let go and that I hadn’t met his requirements…I asked him what requirement I had failed to meet and he literally said nothing; just stood there blank-faced,” the poster explained.

The employee spent the next few hours deleting Apple’s data from his computers and clearing out his desk. He or she was not allowed to interact with anyone else and was not given an opportunity to say goodbye to coworkers.

Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.