Is it OK to dismiss staff by text message?

Let’s quickly answer that one: NO!

Text messaging is a great way to communicate quickly to contacts, but it is impossible and unethical to convey a difficult and delicate dismissal message in 160 characters.

What might that text message read like? It might resemble what Lord Sugar says in “The Apprentice”, “It is with regret that you are fired” [ending with a finger pointing emoticon?]

It has The HR Dept running for the hills!

We’ve also come across other shocking ways in which employees have been let go; a schoolgirl was sacked from her Saturday job via Facebook: 

"I had to tell the owner bout u losin that tenner coz obviously the till was down at the end of day. She wasn’t very pleased at all and despite me trying to persuade her otherwise she said I have to let u go. I'm really sorry”

Another case we dug up reported a store boss setting the fire alarm off to gather his staff outside only to tell them they’re out of a job! 

We haven’t spotted any Twitter dismissals yet, but we are sure it is only a matter of time. With only a 140 characters to use, it would be short and sweet. But again the advice is resist...

If you need to dismiss a member of staff for whatever reason and feel yourself reaching for Facebook or that fire alarm, reach for the phone instead and call The HR Dept!