Firing people always burns… nobody enjoys it. But providing a severance package that sets your former employee up for future success can lessen the pain for all parties involved, and even create a positive impact in the long run.

A severance package that turns termination into a blessing in disguise involves more than paying out vacation days and providing references. If you truly desire to help your ex-employees grow in their career after they leave, the key is to provide coaching.

Coaching content spans anything from career development to job searching to personal growth, all of which can have a lifelong impact on the trajectory of your ex-employee’s life. 

Consider these steps as you offer coaching within a severance package:

• Offer Coaching with Layers

  • The coaching you provide should offer opportunities for this ex-employee to gain power over their weaknesses, rather than feeling defeated by the sudden closure. Identify coaching opportunities that address their character, professional skills, and most urgent needs.
    

• Communicate the Benefits

  • This person needs to know how to access the coaching opportunity and why you think it’s important that they take the opportunity. Do not allow this opportunity to go overlooked. Guide them to take coaching as their first step in recovering from being laid off. Explain with a smile that your desire is to bless them with these opportunities, despite having to let them go. Be sure to communicate how long the coaching opportunity lasts before they lose access. Clarity is key.

• Offer Additional Supports

  • Supplement your severance package with resources that pair well with coaching. Provide specific feedback about what this person does well and what they can focus on improving, so that they can build on that feedback going forward. You can also provide quick links to job search resources, workshops, and templates they may benefit from.

Knowing that your departing employee is ushered into good hands will make peace in an uneasy situation, even distracting from the pain of being let go (or letting go). While losing their job will put them in a vulnerable position, you are providing a direction for them to be taken care of by offering coaching.

If you are searching for a coaching service, Vanderbloemen offers highly personalized coaching that provides one-on-one meetings and thorough assessments. VanderCoaching merges leadership skills with self-improvement to equip leaders to embrace their strengths and address their weaknesses. 

Visit VanderCoaching on our website to begin integrating coaching into how you care for your team.