Up in the Air

“Up in the Air” is a 2009 American film directed by Jason Reitman based on the novel written by Walter

Kirn. Its story mainly revolves in terminating employees whose positions were found to be redundant

(corporate downsizing) during restructuring process to cut cost in the company.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) works in CTC Corporation, an HR consultancy firm, which specializes in

termination assistance on behalf of employers. As a veteran in this kind of industry, he believes in remote

firing process wherein personal appearance (face-to-face method) and careful examination of the

employee’s background are conducted to effectively handle the reaction of the fired people. To cut travel

and accommodation costs, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), a new hire in the firm, promotes a program

designed to conduct layoffs via videoconferencing which Ryan finds its process apathetic. Before video

conferencing technology is applied, Ryan and Natalie fired total strangers using the face-to-face method

with the same message that unemployment gives them the chance to reinvent themselves and all great

leaders were at one point in the same position as themselves. At the end of the story, Natalie quit her job

in CTC Corporation and looked for another job elsewhere because she can’t stomach the suicide of Karen

Barnes whom she fired during the 30-person reduction in Wichita. CTC Corporation did not push through

with videoconferencing due this incident.

While there is no right way to let someone know that they are being laid off, I believe that automation

could never replace human involvement in handling firing process. Moreover, companies should not

outsource it and let the organization’s senior person do it in an empathetic manner. It is important to

treat fired people with dignity and respect at least once before they leave.