DEAR HARRIETTE: I recently had to let go of an employee, mainly due to budget cuts at my company. But if I am honest, it is also because he was not a high performer. There were often gaps in his job skillset. Even though I pointed out his shortfalls and made recommendations for how he could do his job better during the time we worked together, he really didn’t improve much. My boss thought we should let him go in the 90-day probationary window, so we did. We all have at-will contracts, so we could have let him go anyway. It was done nicely, but he wasn’t told why he was fired. I like this young man. He is early in his career. Part of me wants to reach out to him to see how he’s doing and to tell him what I think he could do better in his next job. Do you think that would be OK to do? -- Mentoring
DEAR MENTORING: As long as you do not overstep company policy by reaching out to this young man, I love this idea. Constructive feedback can be transformative for people because it allows them to see from another’s trusted perspective how they have performed. Too often people are fired from jobs and have no idea what they did wrong. I believe it is kind and beneficial to share insights about how this man performed on the job, and more, what he might do better in his next work setting.