High Risk Terminations…Taking Control
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High-risk employee terminations require careful planning, clear communication, and appropriate safety measures. While layoffs and terminations are never easy, failing to properly prepare for a high-risk termination can increase the potential for emotional escalation, workplace disruption, and security concerns. Organizations must take proactive steps to protect employees, maintain workplace safety, and minimize the risk of retaliation.
This webinar will provide practical, actionable strategies to help HR professionals, managers, business leaders, and workplace safety teams effectively manage high-risk terminations before, during, and after the separation process. Participants will learn how to assess potential threats, implement essential safety protocols, and develop a structured termination plan designed to reduce risk and support a professional, secure outcome for everyone involved. Through expert guidance, attendees will gain the confidence and tools needed to navigate difficult termination situations while prioritizing workplace security and employee well-being.
Your Benefits For Attending:- Learn five best practices to lessen the impact of a termination and reduce emotional escalation.
- Discover how to rationally evaluate risk by identifying warning signs and assessing potential threat levels.
- Understand the essential safety protocols that must be followed to protect employees and the organization.
- Review three critical follow-up steps that can help prevent workplace violence and support ongoing workplace security.
- Develop a step-by-step termination plan designed to proactively reduce the risk of violence from disgruntled employees.
Attending this webinar will help you strengthen your ability to manage difficult termination situations with professionalism, confidence, and care. You'll leave with practical tools and strategies that can help protect your workforce, reduce organizational risk, and create a safer workplace environment.
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Carol Cambridge
Carol Cambridge is the Founder of The Stay Safe Project, an international conference speaker & workplace violence expert. Highly profiled for her expertise, she is often sought by the media for comments when tragedies occur. Carol has been interviewed by: ABC, NBC, USA Today, CBC & as far [...]
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Frequently Asked Questions
A termination is considered high risk when the employee being let go exhibits behaviors or circumstances that elevate the potential for a volatile, threatening, or violent response. Warning signs include a history of aggressive outbursts, explicit or veiled threats, prior workplace conflicts, financial desperation, or a pattern of blaming others for professional setbacks. HR professionals and managers should also watch for increased erratic behavior, sudden social withdrawal, or statements that hint at hopelessness in the days leading up to a termination. Conducting a structured threat assessment before the meeting—evaluating the employee's personality, the reasons for termination, and access to workplace facilities—allows organizations to calibrate their safety response appropriately. Early identification of risk factors is the most effective prevention strategy available.
Safety protocols for high-risk terminations should be established well before the actual meeting takes place. Essential measures include selecting a private meeting location with easy exit access, ensuring a security liaison is on standby or present, removing the employee's access to company systems and facilities simultaneously with the meeting, and having a second HR witness present throughout. The meeting itself should be conducted in a calm, respectful, and scripted manner to minimize emotional escalation—keeping the conversation brief, factual, and free of personal criticism. Personal property should ideally be collected and returned separately rather than requiring the individual to re-enter the workspace. Organizations should also notify relevant staff discreetly afterward to ensure awareness without creating panic. Following these protocols significantly reduces the likelihood of a dangerous incident.
Reducing emotional escalation during a high-risk termination begins with thorough preparation. HR managers should script the meeting in advance, keeping language neutral, non-accusatory, and compassionate. Opening with acknowledgment of the individual's contributions—where genuine—can lower defensiveness before delivering the decision. The message should be delivered clearly and without ambiguity, as vague communication often creates space for argument or false hope. Avoiding lengthy justifications that can feel like attacks, maintaining calm body language, and not reacting to emotional outbursts with reciprocal tension are all critical. Active listening—without endorsing or engaging arguments—allows the employee to feel heard, which reduces agitation. Having a clear, respectful offboarding path communicated immediately also shifts the employee's focus from the decision itself to the practical next steps.
Post-termination follow-up is as critical as the termination meeting itself when managing high-risk separations. Immediately after the meeting, all system access, key cards, and physical access credentials should be confirmed revoked. HR should conduct a brief check-in with department managers to communicate appropriate awareness without triggering alarm. Any threats made during the meeting—explicit or implied—should be documented and reviewed by legal and security teams. Monitoring for unusual communication attempts (emails, calls, or in-person visits) in the weeks following is also advisable. Providing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) resources to the terminated individual, where appropriate, can reduce hostility by demonstrating good faith. Organizations should also debrief internally to evaluate whether warning signs were missed earlier, using the experience to strengthen their overall termination and threat response protocols.
A structured termination plan for high-risk situations should be developed collaboratively between HR, legal, and security before the termination date is set. The plan should include: a pre-meeting threat assessment, selection of the appropriate time and location, coordination of simultaneous access revocation, assignment of roles (who delivers the message, who witnesses, who manages security), a scripted conversation outline, and a logistics plan for collecting company property. Communications to remaining staff should be prepared in advance, and legal review of the separation agreement is essential to avoid creating additional grievances. Debriefing after every high-risk termination—regardless of outcome—allows organizations to refine their approach. Having this plan in place before a high-risk scenario arises, rather than improvising under pressure, is the single most effective way to ensure both employee safety and organizational protection.