When are virtual termination meetings appropriate?

Among the changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic was an increased normalization of virtual meetings.

I can count on one hand the number of Zoom or Teams meetings I attended before March 2020. In 2023, by contrast, virtual meetings are an almost everyday occurrence.

It is thus unsurprising to see more and more employers opt to hold employee dismissal meetings virtually, rather than in-person.

My standard advice, pre-pandemic, was that termination meetings should be held in-person whenever possible. The reasoning was simple: dismissal meetings are important events, wherein employees should be treated with dignity and respect. Taking time to meet directly helps to convey these values. The formality of an in-person meeting also fosters a level of professionalism and seriousness.

Despite this, my view on the necessity and/or preference of in-person dismissal meetings has evolved with the times.

Virtual vs. in-person termination meetings

There is no longer an obvious answer as to how termination meetings should be convened. Instead, I now advise employers to consider a variety of factors when selecting how best to communicate news of an employee’s dismissal.

These factors include (but are not limited to):

• Work arrangements: has the employee always worked on site? Were they hired virtually and been employed on an exclusively remote basis? Or does the employee’s situation fall somewhere between these two extremes?
  
  Employers should look to the nature of their employee’s work arrangements when considering the most appropriate type of termination meeting. It makes little sense to require a fully remote worker to attend in-person only to learn they are losing their job. Likewise, many employees may view it as a sign of disrespect if they have always worked on site but, suddenly, their employer cannot be bothered to meet with them face-to-face to share news of their dismissal.

• Convenience: termination meetings (when done right) tend to be quick affairs. If you know the employee in question lives a considerable distance from the workplace, and they will not already be on-site to perform their regular duties, ask whether it is fair to have them come in just to attend a single short meeting. A virtual arrangement may be more suitable in such situations.

• Privacy: as part of the dignity to be afforded to dismissed workers, they should receive the news of their job loss in a private setting. If your workplace lacks a suitably private space, a virtual meeting could provide a good alternative.

• Return of property: the logistics of returning property is an oft-overlooked part of dismissals. Where the employee has a dedicated space in the workplace, consider an in-person termination meeting. After the meeting ends, being in-person allows the employee the ability to immediately retrieve their property without requiring their employer to rummage through unfamiliar items and sort out what belongs to who.
  
  Likewise, where there are security considerations regarding employer property (such as retrieving facility access cards or critical electronic devices) an in-person meeting allows for fast recovery of these items.

• Personality: consider what you know of the employee being dismissed. You may be aware of their preferences as between in-person and virtual interaction. As the termination meeting will (likely) be the final meeting the employee has with their employer, deferring to the worker’s desired form of communication can help to convey a sense of comfort and respect at an otherwise difficult moment.

• Safety: termination meetings tend to be awkward even at the best of times. No one likes to lose their job. But in the rare circumstances where you have reason to suspect that an employee could prove violent or aggressive upon learning of their dismissal, a virtual meeting may provide a safer option than having everyone physically present in one room.

• Accessibility: does the employee have any accessibility challenges? Whether these be mobility restrictions, visual/auditory limitations, or cognitive constraints, ensuring employees are fully able to engage and participate should be front of mind when selecting an appropriate type of termination meeting. Employers should also remember that their human rights obligations, including the duty to accommodate, continue to apply even when communicating an end to the employment relationship.

• Operational consistency: consider how your organization has conducted its employee dismissals previously. For instance, if all terminations to date have happened in-person, a worker who is let go virtually may come to believe they have been unfairly singled out and disrespected. 
  
  This is not to say that employers must (or should) pick one style of termination meeting and stick to that format rigidly. But where a norm has been established as to how termination meetings are conducted, and you plan to diverge from this standard, have a reasonable answer on hand to explain the variance.

Final thoughts

Virtual meetings are here to stay, and so are virtual termination meetings. Their mere availability, however, does not mean virtual meetings will always be the most appropriate or desirable means for communicating a dismissal. Employees are more than mere cogs in a machine. Thus, when ending the employment relationship, every employer should aim to break the news in as sensible, respectful, and accessible setting as possible.

This article was originally published on December 15 2023 at First Reference Talks.

Vey Willetts LLP is an Ottawa-based employment and labour law firm that provides timely and cost-effective legal advice to help employees and employers resolve workplace issues in Ottawa and across Ontario. To speak with an employment lawyer, contact us at: 613-238-4430 or info@vwlawyers.ca.