My company has been a remote company from day 1. Each member is located in a different part of the world, and we’ve never met in real life, beyond just video calls, Slack, and email.
I told a colleague about my intention to fire an employee by sending them an email, and he was taken aback. He said you should always fire face to face, in a video call.
Do you think it is “inhumane” to fire a remote employee via email, or is that, as I am thinking, perfectly fine?
For reference I have worked remote and employed my teams remote for over a decade, not once have I ever used text, email or slack etc to fire or reprimand someone. I always use phone calls, video chats as the primary means of human to human discussion. I may use slack or email as follow up means on a conversation but not as the first conversation of a serious topic like their employment or job performance etc.
Would you really want your employer sending you an e-mail firing you? Would you like your significant other to dump you via text after say a year long relationship? If you are in the minority and like that idea, recognize most people are not like you and you need to conform, not them (not saying that to be mean, just to help you recognize it maybe). Being an employer is a responsibility to treat people with respect, dignity and professionalism. If I heard a startup or company was letting go of employees via e-mail (outside of extreme circumstances) I'd dismiss them as unprofessional and likely never consider them a serious business.