As Human Resources professionals, we are superheroes! We signed up to tackle some heavyweight tasks that impact our company and its precious human resources. We get to seek out fresh talent and develop a benefits package that encourages loyalty! We get to organize team-building events and lunchtime book clubs! But like all superhero work, it’s not always glamorous—we also get to handle grievances and performance issues, and deliver unsavory news to employees. While we don’t have a catch-all superhero script for these tough conversations, we do have some hints for bravely confronting the four most difficult types of HR conversations:

• Terminations. It may help to know, if your office has done its due diligence communicating performance feedback and potential consequences, the termination should not surprise the employee. Still, it’s not easy to look someone in the eye and tell them they need to pack up their desk. So humanize the conversation by acknowledging up front that this will be a difficult conversation. As you break the news, try to empathize as much as possible but to remain professional. And always get your ducks in a row before the termination meeting, to ensure proper procedures are followed.
• Layoffs. Layoffs can be more difficult than terminations because they may come as a surprise, and because the employees weren’t responsible for their unemployment. When it comes to layoffs, be timely, honest, and direct, and tell all affected employees in person. Follow up with formal written correspondence to ensure clear communication. If layoffs will come as the result of a pending reorganization, open a clear line of communication with employees at every step. People like to know what’s coming, especially when jobs are in jeopardy—and the rumor mill has an uncanny handle on these things.
• Investigations. No HR professional likes investigating an employee’s alleged behavior, whether it’s fraud, harassment, embezzlement, or something else—it’s all unpleasant. But before you sit down to have this difficult conversation, make sure you’re prepared. Have your legal team present for the company’s protection and for yours. Also be sure to document each and every conversation and correspondence that takes place.
• Personal habits. Can you say awkward? Body odor, bad breath, inappropriate attire, or routinely microwaving fish in the lunch room: not only are these topics embarrassing for everyone, they come with potential legal considerations, say, if a hygiene issue is caused by an underlying medical condition. So always be sincere, sensitive, and supportive during these conversations, knowing the employee might be unaware of the problem, or might be aware and unable to change it.

We are HR superheroes in a tough job that tackles the tough issues. And with these tips, we hope your super powers will grow even stronger when it comes to the four hardest HR conversations!