“You’re fired!”………..  Oops, we were just kidding/mistaken.

Stating that the terminations violated federal laws regarding probationary employees and workforce reductions, the Merit Systems Protection Board this week ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to reinstate some workers who were fired in the federal chainsaw massacre. More specifically, the Board reportedly requested a 45-day “pause” on their terminations, pending further investigation. Given the haphazard way these have been carried out, this won’t be the only such workplace regurgitation.

Let’s bear something in mind that’s seemingly been missed in this putrid affair:  While one can hire, fire, pause, and reinstate people, you can NEVER “unfire” them. Those words were spoken, and the action was carried out. For as long as those people live, they won’t forget what was said/written to them, where they were, how it happened, the person who did it, and how it made them feel.  A piece of them is gone forever. Eventually, a permanent scar will appear in its place.

On a much larger scale, the notion that we will ever regain their full and complete trust is grossly mistaken. As importantly, the rest of their workplace, the nation, indeed the whole world bears witness to it. Fine reputation you’ve got there, Uncle Sam.

This isn’t the first “misfiring” to occur in the current downsizing caper. To assume that management somehow gets penalty-free “do-overs” in the interest of slash and burn downsizing is bankrupt. This government (our government’s) 249-year-old reputation is being permanently and unnecessarily dented, daily.

Contrary to the way it may seem, this isn’t a piece about politics or government, but leadership, a difficult and at times unpleasant undertaking. Sometimes, people must be removed from the organization, for economic, work performance, or other reasons, and leaders are tasked with carrying it out.

When you are that manager, it behooves you to make sure, very sure that the reasoning is solid (it makes sense to you), you’ve determined that the right person/people, senior management is onboard, AND that the decision is carried out in a respectful, business-like manner. Barring truly life and death matters, if you can’t affirm those conditions, take a pause until you can. Not unlike firing a gun, firing a person is serious business. We must treat it that way.