The Changing Face of Layoffs Post-Pandemic
by Jennifer Campsey, Susan Nelson, and Michelle Padron
In hearing about the layoffs that have impacted technology companies in recent months, I was surprised to learn that many of them notified their employees via email. As someone who has managed my fair share of layoffs over the past 20 years, this approach was a new one to me and I questioned the humanity of it, as it felt so impersonal and counter to everything I had ever been taught about notifying employees of their job loss. In speaking with two of my colleagues who had similar concerns, we sought to better understand why a company might take this seemingly new approach.
After some reflection and discussion, what we realized is, with the pandemic shift to greater remote and hybrid work, modified approaches are needed to achieve the same tried and true principles and best practices when conducting a workforce reduction.
We know that there are likely more reductions on the horizon, so we thought we’d share some of the highlights of our conversation, including the 3 most crucial principles that we feel remain equally important today when managing layoffs in our post-pandemic, distributed working environments.
1. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
Communicate with heart, acknowledge people’s contributions and recognize that those experiencing job loss are having their (and their family’s) worlds turned upside down. Let the ‘surviving’ employees know that leadership encourages them to support their former colleagues. In the past, this is something that rarely was articulated by leadership and usually happened behind the scenes, negatively affecting the survivors. This can be accomplished via carefully crafted company-wide messaging prior to, or after, individual 1:1 meetings with directly impacted employees.
Social media shines bright lights on all company communications. A robust 360-communication plan for employees, customers, partners, investors, shareholders, and future employees helps to increase understanding of the facts and future direction.
Consistency equals trust in communications.
2. It’s always personal.
Leaders need to resist the temptation to hide; show up (literally & figuratively); take a high touch approach, be visible and accessible.
Be willing to have the hard conversations. Yes, it will be uncomfortable and tough, but employees (both impacted and survivors) will respect your ability to communicate authentically, transparently, and with great empathy.
3. Take a long-term view.
Layoffs are a quick solution to often an immediate (quarterly) challenge; take a longer term view to manage the company’s brand and reputation for future hiring and consider all other levers before reducing your workforce.
Build goodwill with employees (both past & present); re-recruit survivors and create alumni networks to stay in touch and leverage as ambassadors for your organization..
We’d love to hear from you…what has been your experience in managing layoffs in this more distributed working environment? What adjustments to your approach/process have been necessary to ensure a smooth and dignified employee experience?
Leave your comment below and take our poll here.
