It's a question on the minds of lots of employed people these days: What can I do to help my unemployed friends? Justin Jones-Fosu, leadership trainer and host of WEAA Baltimore's "Listen Up," shares advice and information for those who want to help, but are afraid of sounding condescending.
Are we ethically obliged to cover our mouths when we cough? To wash our hands after we sneeze? These questions prompted a column by our friend and New York Times Ethicist Randy Cohen, and he joins us with more.
"If the question is 'How do we get people to behave virtuously? How do you get people to do the right thing?' That's very much a community obligation. People won't do it unless you make it possible. But if you do it's amazing how well people will respond." —New York Times columnist Randy Cohen on etiquette during the swine flu outbreak
It's a sad fact of life, and particularly this economy, that people get laid off and fired from jobs. Femi Oke went out and found stories behind the statistics. She joins us with their tales of last emails and bitter adieus. So what is the etiquette of saying farewell? Do you send a mass email to your entire contact list? Or just pack up your cubicle and slip out the back door? Here to help us figure out what is the best (and worst) way to say goodbye is Sheryl Spanier a career management consultant.
"Don't say anything negative about your former boss, because there's going to be a future boss who's going to know about that. And do you think he wants you to work for him if you've spoken that way about your current employer?" —Sheryl Spanier, a career management consultant, on leaving a job gracefully
Be sure to check out our video "Parting shots: Allison Walker's goodbye email":
Contributor's Notes: Tips for making an elegant exit from your job from Sheryl Spanier
•The last thing you say and do is the first thing others will remember.
•Preserve your reputation and relationships with grace and gravitas.
•Keep the emotion out of your communications. Vent, if you must, privately and only to loved ones.
•Engender respect: Behave in exiting the way you behave in excelling at work — with dignity and self worth.
•Leaving gracefully requires courage and consideration for others' feelings. Remember, they are suffering a loss, too.
•Make your exit statement simple, short and strategic. Speak positively about your accomplishments and experience, state simply the business facts of your departure (downsizing, cutbacks, position elimination, change of direction/management). Say you are putting some thoughts/plans together about next career steps. Create opportunities for future follow up.
•Create a “Reason for Leaving" statement that your organization will support so that what you say and they say are consistent.
•Communicate your departure (and contact information).
Want to read Allison Walker's good bye email? Click here.
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