Fire When Ready--But Carefully.

• Position: Brief Article

Human resource specialists are asking a key question these days as major corporations like Lucent Technologies Inc., Dell Computer Corp. and AOL Time Warner have announced a series of layoffs. The question is, can you fire as good as you hire?

The point they're raising is that companies still need to hire, often for different kinds of positions than those they've pared. But if the company's treatment of terminated workers is shoddy, its "goodwill in the marketplace" will suffer, according to the Five O'Clock Club, a New York-based career counseling network,

"The workplace today is circular, not linear," says Richard Bayer, the FOCC's chief operating officer. "Employees don't come in and stay. They come and go and intermix with people outside. They tell dozens of people how they were treated when they were let go. What they say influences the company's image -- and ability to hire.

While employers need to prepare thoroughly for a meeting with a terminated employee, it is not enough to offer a great severance package, the FOCC says. In those cases in which former employees have sued, it was usually because they felt poorly treated during the meeting itself. Attention should be paid to the following issues:

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