Termination of Elderly Employee: A Reflection

This reflective essay details a difficult experience faced by an HR manager who had to terminate an elderly employee due to workplace complaints and performance issues. The employee revealed she struggled with a rare hormonal disease, making it challenging to fulfill her duties despite her efficiency. The situation forced the manager to weigh the company's needs against the employee's personal circumstances, leading to a decision that caused personal reflection and ethical dilemmas.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
This incident took place in last year in my office when I was the human resource manager
of the company. The company was one of the renowned companies in United States and I was
working there for more almost one year. I was happy with my job until this sorrowful incident
took place in the office. I was then recently promoted to the HR Manager and found my job
exciting and interesting as my job required me to communicate with numerous people every day.
My job was to manage human resource activities from recruitment to the employee management
and also the termination of the employee, which I did very unwillingly. However, this incident is
something that made me think of my job role as well as my ability to make decisions.
As I stated previously, I had to communicate with various people regularly as per the
requirement of my job. I was loving my job until I had to terminate an elderly lady from the
office. It was only one month that the lady joined the office, and other employee started
complaining about her. The employees complained me against the lady of ill behave and
irresponsibility. When I asked the lady about the problems she confessed that she has rare
hormonal diseases which compelled her to do so. She stated that the treatment of the disease is
too expensive and that she cannot afford it. In fact, she is unable to take minimum dosage of
medicine every day and this is why she is working. I also found out that she has her old father in
home who is bedridden. However, the lady was efficient and good at work except the medical
problem. One day because of her medical problem she failed to fulfill an order and forgot the
same. When it came to my notice, I immediately understood the matter and tried to manage the
same. However, the higher authority forced me to terminate her as the failure of the order made
huge loss of the company and the complaints of the other staffs enhanced the matter. She begged
me for not terminating her but I was helpless and had to terminate her. This, I think one of the
major bad decisions of my life, but I also had to save my job as well as company’s reputation.

2
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
However, now I suppose I could have handled the matter in different so that the lady did not
have to lose her job.