The Karma of Firing: How to Leave and Be Let Go with Dignity

The karma of firing runs through every career — regardless of which side of the process we find ourselves on. Termination is a moment of maximum vulnerability and maximum honesty. It strips away the professional masks we normally wear: fears, values, character all become visible. That is why how a person fires someone — or how they receive being fired — reveals more about them than years of competent performance.

Firing: Crisis or Opportunity

Psychologists have long established that job loss ranks among the five most stressful life events, second only to the death of a loved one, divorce, serious illness, and imprisonment. This is not hyperbole. Work is not only money. It is identity, daily structure, social connection, a sense of competence and belonging.

When all of this collapses simultaneously, the reaction often resembles grief. William Bridges, who studied life transitions, described three phases of any serious ending: the ending itself (loss of the old), the neutral zone (disorientation and search), and the new beginning. The problem is that most people try to leap over the neutral zone — directly into the new beginning. And this is precisely why old patterns repeat in the new situation.

The karmic dimension is obvious: if you were fired because you consistently avoided accountability — and you do not examine this pattern — your next job will recreate the same situation. If you fired someone cruelly and unfairly — and you do not examine this — you will do it again, until you encounter it from the other side.

The opportunity within firing is real — but it opens only for those willing to look directly at what happened. Take the karma test to honestly assess your work patterns right now — before circumstances force you to.

The Karma of the One Who Fires: How to Do It Ethically

The position of the person who makes the termination decision is one of the most karmically loaded in professional life. This is where power meets responsibility, and where the most consequential mistakes are made — mistakes whose effects are felt for years by both the person fired and the person doing the firing.

Research in organizational psychology shows: the primary determinant of the long-term psychological consequences of termination is not the fact of being fired — but how it happened. People fired with respect, with explanation, with adequate notice and honest communication recover significantly faster. Those fired humiliatingly, suddenly, or deceptively carry that experience for years, and it changes their basic trust in people and institutions.

Ethical principles of termination from a karmic perspective:

• Honesty about reasons. The person deserves to know why they are being let go. «Restructuring» as cover for personal dislike is a lie that destroys trust and creates karmic debt.
• Adequate notice. If the person was unaware of problems, firing without warning is ethically indefensible. There should have been feedback, warnings, and opportunity to improve.
• Privacy and dignity. Firing in front of colleagues, public criticism, humiliation — this is not just cruelty; it comes back. Organizations that fire people «demonstratively» see a sharp drop in loyalty among those who remain.
• Supporting the transition. A reference letter, severance, time allowed to search — this is not weakness; it is ethical standard.

Research by Joel Brockner at Columbia University showed: employees who remained after a round of layoffs demonstrated significantly higher loyalty and engagement when the firings were conducted ethically. Those who «survived» watch how the people who were let go are treated — and draw conclusions about the company.

The Karma of the Fired Person: Anger, Loss, Reframing

When you are fired, the first response is rarely calm. Anger, confusion, shame, hurt — these are normal reactions to an abnormal situation. The problem begins when these reactions freeze and become a permanent state.

The karma of the fired person is shaped not at the moment of termination — but in what the person does with the experience over the following months.

The first path: revenge and blame. The person focuses on how they were treated unjustly, tells everyone about the bad employer, sues, destroys their reputation through professional networks. This path is understandable — and karmically destructive. Not because «you reap what you sow» in a literal sense, but because a person stuck in grievance cannot move forward. Their energy flows backward.

The second path: capitulation and self-blame. «It's my fault,» «I'm not good enough,» «I'll never find work like that again.» This is also a trap — an emotional one leading to depression and self-sabotage in the next job search.

The third path: reflection and movement. Ask yourself honest questions: What could I have done differently? What does this experience teach me? What did this situation reveal about what I actually want from work? This path takes time and often requires support. But it is the one that leads to genuine growth. Ask the Oracle if you are searching for direction right now.

How Not to Burn Bridges When You Leave

The karma of voluntary resignation is a separate story. Here you have a choice: how to leave. And that choice has long-term consequences that many people underestimate.

The professional world is smaller than it appears. According to LinkedIn data, the average professional over a 20-year career encounters the same people again an average of 3-5 times in different contexts. The colleague you let down when leaving may be your client, partner, or employer five years later. This is not a threat — it is a reality worth accounting for.

«Not burning bridges» does not mean staying in a toxic situation for appearances. It means leaving honestly and professionally, regardless of how you were treated.

Practical steps for leaving with dignity:

• Give adequate notice — at minimum two weeks, and for key positions, a month.
• Write a genuine offboarding document: task status, unfinished work, recommendations for your successor.
• Do not discuss the reasons for leaving with colleagues in detail before the official announcement.
• Write personal thank-you notes to those who genuinely contributed to your professional growth.
• Do not take what is not yours — client data, internal documents, contacts.

There are situations where rapid departure is necessary — sexual harassment, psychological abuse, threats to safety. These are exceptions that do not require the usual farewell ethics.

What Firing Reveals About Company Culture

Termination is a symptom. It speaks not only to the individual or situation but to the system within which it occurred. Learning to «read» firings from this perspective is a useful skill for understanding organizational health.

High staff turnover is one of the most reliable indicators of toxic culture. When people leave frequently, this is not «bad luck» or «insufficient effort.» It is a signal that something is systemically wrong: poor management, value misalignment, unfair compensation, absence of growth, or psychological unsafety.

A 2022 MIT Sloan Management Review study found: toxic corporate culture is a 10.4 times stronger predictor of turnover than salary level. People leave not from money — they leave from people and atmosphere.

Karmically, a company where unfair firings occur systematically creates organizational debt: it loses its best people, retains those with nowhere else to go, and eventually degrades from within. Glassdoor, LinkedIn, word of mouth — these operate as collective reputational karma.

If you are a manager or founder, ask yourself: how does your company say goodbye to people? This is a more accurate indicator of culture than any corporate values posted on the wall. More on career choices in the article on career compromises.

Practice: Accepting Firing as a Lesson

Whether you were fired or did the firing, termination is a point that requires reflection. Here is a practice for working with this experience.

Step 1: Give yourself time to grieve. Do not rush into «action mode.» Allow yourself several days to simply live what you feel. Denial, anger, bargaining, sadness — these are normal stages. You cannot accelerate them, but you can get stuck in them.

Step 2: Timeline of events. Write out the story of your relationship with that job — from entry to exit. When was it good? When did things start going wrong? What signals did you ignore? This is not for self-blame — it is for understanding the pattern.

Step 3: Three questions of honest analysis. What in this situation was outside your control? What was in your zone of responsibility? What do you want to carry into the next experience, and what do you want to change?

Step 4: A letter (not for sending). Write a letter to the employer, colleagues, or situation — everything you wanted to say but didn't. This is psychologically liberating and helps close an unfinished conversation inside yourself.

Step 5: Formulating the lesson. In one sentence: «This experience taught me that...» It should be honest, concrete, and future-oriented. Not «that people are bad» — but something you can actually use.

The karma of firing is not a verdict and not a coincidence. It is a mirror showing both ourselves and our organizations something important. Those who can look into this mirror without fear emerge from termination more themselves than they were before it. Read also about karma at work and professional burnout. And if you are at a crossroads right now — ask the Oracle.