I agree with @steven2012's feedback. To add a few things:

1) I'd recommend you work with your attorneys to draft up a termination agreement that includes a severance package. I'd also recommend you cut a check and include it with the letter. When you sit them down to talk them through the agreement (individually), you can present check to them and ask them to sign it and take the check. You don't want to force them into signing anything, but you also do want to try to get it done cleanly and completely for the sake of the business moving forward. If they hesitate or say they want to review the terms later, or with an attorney, don't push it. But do make the check large enough that it'll be easy for them to sign on the spot if at all possible -- you want to treat them fairly and not have to deal with loose ends later if you can help it.

2) It's extremely important to take the "one and done" deeper cut approach. There's nothing worse than everyone wondering when the other shoe is going to drop. I'd recommend you take the remaining team out to lunch and make sure they know that they are safe -- and you all have to rally together to make the company a success.

As an aside -- the only regret I've ever had is waiting to fire people that I knew had to go. Learning to be more aggressive about moving under-performers out faster has been one silver lining from the whole process, over time.

Good luck. It's a terrible foreboding feeling going into it, but you'll fee a big sense of relief afterwards, and if the employees you're letting go are unhappy in their jobs, they may end up thanking you later for helping them move on to find something they loved more.

As for getting them to sign the same day, don't drag anything out. Just get it over with so both parties can move on. It's a terrible experience on both sides (unless one side is an asshole or doesn't care about the company.)

In contract law, the general term for that concept (i.e. each party being required to "give" something for the contract to bind) is consideration, and it derives from common law.

For example, if I contract you to build my company a web app, my consideration is the agreed payment, and your consideration is delivery of the web app as agreed.

This is also presumably why those tech CEOs who work for a "$1" annual salary aren't just doing it for $0 instead. Because, traditionally, for an employment contract to be valid, there must be consideration from both parties (the employee gives their labour, the company pays the salary).

The exact rules depend upon the jurisdiction, and nature of the specific situation. Some legal systems don't even require it at all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration

It is true that you should get them to sign an agreement that contains, among other things, a "general release" that basically says that they promise not to sue you for any reason. It is also true that to be enforceable, you must give something of value (i.e., "legal consideration"), and the severance pay is usually the principal consideration for such an agreement.

I would be extremely cautious, however, about getting someone to sign quickly. It seems to make sense on the face of it (get them to sign away their right to sue before they contemplate getting an attorney). But there is a flip side that no one is mentioning. If you shock someone by calling them into your office and telling that they're losing their job, put a legal document in front of them that they probably won't completely understand (it's going to have a laundry-list of statutory provisions that they need to expressly waive), put a check in front of them and say "here, sign this now!" you're going to unnecessarily jeopardize the enforceability of the release. The ex-employee's lawyer will argue that it was signed under duress and without sufficient knowledge, understanding and consent to constitute a valid waiver of the right to pursue certain claims.

Also, depending on the worker's age, there might be additional complications. The Older Worker's Benefit Protection Act applies to employees over 40, and requires the terminated employee be given 21 days to consider the release and 7 days afterward to change their mind. (The 21 days increases to 45 if there are two or more employees being terminated.) Although this particular statutory requirement doesn't apply to those under 40, it underscores the notion that allowing someone to consider a severance agreement for some amount of time and have the opportunity to discuss it with their own attorney if desired are both good things when it comes to enforcing the agreement. How long you give them is a matter of balancing numerous statutory and common law considerations (both state and federal) with the goal of getting them to sign quickly, and there are avenues, regardless of age, for their attorney to attack the validity of the release if they sign it without properly understanding and consenting to its terms.

I should also point out that severance agreements should always be prepared by an attorney. There are numerous considerations that vary state-to-state; there are specific waivers that need to be contained in them; there are different rules depending on the number of employees; possible notice requirements (in which case the severance might be designated as compensation in lieu thereof); rules about timing of final payments; whether or not benefits are paid out; etc.

I'm not sure exactly what accounts you have in mind, but general I would lock them all, no matter what. You may trust them to not retaliate, but do you trust them to have chosen a password that they didn't use anywhere else and didn't get keylogged and didn't give to phishers, and that their account will not be compromised in any other way?

Maybe email is tricky, since they could potentially have some personal stuff they want to retrieve. Perhaps the helpdesk can assist them in that case; or give them 5 days or so where they can still access email.

(If it matters, I have zero experience in this, just an interest in security.)

Edit: I now see you probably meant just giving something like the rest of the day on the lock, if you trust them.

You would obviously close off all credentials once they're out the door.

My current company just had layoffs and most people found out when HR left the firing lists sitting face up on top of the copier to go to the restroom. I survived and I'm still trying to figure out if I want to bail too. I was pretty upset that as recently as 3 weeks ago we were asked to help recruit friends for a senior java architect position, and one of the laid-off engineers had only been at the company 7 weeks. It's just not right to fuck with people like that.

Layoffs come in rounds. Just because you survived one round means no guarantees on the second or third rounds.

In reality, it causes few problems - people likely to do something malicious probably already did it behind your back anyway.

(That was a fun day...)

I'd rather leave a company knowing that my accounts were locked, than not. If it's locked, I have more confidence that I wouldn't be accused of doing something seedy when packing up.

I'm not sure if I agree with you on the saying the good byes. Linkedin is a bit better than that. The worst thing you can do is send them back to their desk to backup and make the announcement while they're packing.

They OP may not have the ability to nullify employment agreements. They may have the ability to not enforce them post layoff.

That means nothing to the person being laid off. By not removing that restriction you're still putting the threat on the individual.

No one forced them to sign the employment agreement in the first place.

2nd, it's protection for the company. Outside of backdoor collusion between large silicon valley companies, and key hires, how often do you see non compete agreements enforced?

For your rank and file, rarely ever. Companies don't have infinite resources to sink into litigation, especially if they have to have layoffs to reduce costs.

TLDR Talk to a lawyer. They know their shit.

Not trying to be heartless here, just trying to point out that there are two sides to all stories, including tragic ones.

> You don't want to force them into signing anything,

Actually, you do. The more you give the employee a chance to mull over the whole thing, the more likely they are to lawyer up and hit you with a wrongful termination lawsuit. As the employer, I'd go one step further and if the CFO has allowed for a severance package of n dollars, I would initially offer them 90% of n if they sign right away and if they don't, give them the full n. Anything to get things settled right here, right now, in the room.

Most important is probably knowing the company and the individual you are dealing with. It's easy for people to misconstrue aggression as anger, which may or may not help your case.

This is really important advice. Telling them how you feel trivializes their loss and pain. It is also extremely selfish, because it has nothing to do with making their situation better it has to do with you trying to selfishly overcome your own guilt. Only a jerk would do that when someone just got fired.

It's fine to express how you feel about them and working together, but not how you feel about firing them.

Hopefully you have a corporate policy regarding this. Ours is to lock access to accounts within 30 minutes of notification. It's just the best policy to have a uniform approach that is applied evenly.

For emails, have it autoforward to an IT monitored, or your own account. Occasionally you may have an employee who needs access to something via an account that is tied to their work email.

As much as it sucks, you have to do this asap. While most people will behave most of the time, getting laid off is one of those times where everything goes a little out of focus and people make dumb decisions without thinking things through. They may do it in a way that only reflects on them but quite often it can reflect on the company and sow more doubt and fear in the organization.

I think the most important part for going forward is the first meeting post-layoffs. Rumors will be forming, tensions will be high, and some people will still be texting with the friend you just fired. This will be the best - and potentially only - time to kill some of those wild ideas before they become rumors.