This is the first time I've ever had to let anyone go so I'm looking for advice on the best way to terminate employees without burning bridges. TIA.
Some background – I came into a management position for a small organization about two years ago. I'm fairly new at managing employees and I feel like I've done pretty well so far. I've worked for really awful companies and management before and I vowed never to be that person – which I've held to well. I've advocated for all of the employees I manage, fought for their to be increased and delivered within a week after they asked (increased their hourly rate by 20%) , paid them for opportunities outside of their scope of work which they normally wouldn't have been paid for because I thought they were good growing opportunities for them, always took into consideration their concerns or requests, etc. I value each and every one of them and I tell them this routinely. They all do great work. However, certain things have come up where a handful of them have been extremely difficult, complain about everything (and I mean EVERYTHING), take advantage of our organization, talk about how our organization should do things differently and nothing we do is ever good enough for them. An incident more recently was the cherry on top where my Director told me this is it – I need to let them go. I do agree with her decision and I can't argue any of it. So that's what I'm going to do.