Manager debates whether to warn employee that he's getting fired after helping him get the job in the first place, gets told to stay out of it: ‘Nothing to gain’

What obligations do you have for someone you hired?

Most would say that since you got the person the job, you don't owe them anything afterwards. But if you know the person outside of work, you might feel differently.

Let's back up a little.

Imagine you work in a job you actually enjoy, with people you truly like and doing something that you really care about. Now, imagine a friend asks you to help another friend of theirs get hired at your workplace, so you do your best to help. You make the connections, you talk this person up, and you get them hired. So far, so good.

But since this person is just a friend of a friend, you might not know how they actually function in a workplace, and since you got them a job, you are about to find out. Turns out, they are not the best employee out there. They are lazy, have an issue with consistency, and often get distracted. Still, they manage to keep their job at your workplace for 4 years before their mistakes become too much for the company to deal with.

This leads you to find out that this friend of a friend, who has also been your employee for the past 4 years, is getting fired in a few days. Which leads you to question: Do you have a certain obligation to warn them beforehand, or should you just let it play out and stay away from the drama as much as possible?

While it makes sense for you to feel responsible for this worker, giving them a heads up might actually lead to more trouble, which is why most of the commenters on r/managers advised the manager to keep quiet and not warn this friend of a friend about their upcoming departure from the company.