Despite your best efforts to treat employees with dignity and respect at the termination meeting, some employees, albeit a statistical minority, may react physically to being terminated. We all hear about cases of employees pulling out weapons at termination meetings or returning to work the following Monday morning to exact revenge on their supervisors and coworkers.

Bearing that in mind, let’s address some tips for avoiding violence during or after dismissal, a common ‘‘triggering event’’ of workplace violence:

Conduct termination meetings as early in the day and as early in the week as possible.

Physically seat yourself between the employee and the door. In other words, you should have access to the door and not be blocked by the employee should an emergency exit become necessary.

When necessary, employ the services of a security firm to attend the termination meeting in plainclothes, to wait outside your office door, or at least to be standing by a phone in the lobby.

Taken From : The Hiring and Firing Quention and Answer Book