Layoffs or redundancies are, unfortunately, a necessary process in many businesses that have been around more than a few years. Whether they’re a reaction to changes at the top or external economics, they (almost) always come as a shock to the employee culture. No HR person looks forward to announcing that people’s jobs are at risk. But there are good and bad ways to do it, and there is a shred of meaning to be derived from knowing that you’ve tried to do your best by people.
There are some case studies playing out live at Twitter and Facebook. Elon Musk’s knee-jerk, clumsy and entitled approach is shocking. People who found out they were out of a job by being locked out of their emails at 3am then got an email to their personal account signed “Thank you, Twitter”. I feel for the heartbroken comms and HR people who wrote it, powerless to the autocracy above them. Mark Zuckerberg appears to have done a slightly better job by the 11,000 people whose jobs are at risk globally (but it’s a low bar).
While I’m watching with fascination and angst as these real-time case studies play out, it’s made me reflect on my own experiences. Being part of a multinational that announced hundreds of redundancies several times, and watching close team members lose their jobs. Letting a team member who I cared for know their role was at risk. Wishing to be made redundant myself when it was definitely (past) time for me to leave. And working with clients as they announce redundancies in their teams (and do an honorable and dignified job of it).
Here are ten things I’ve learned about how to do it well. It’s not a definitive list, but I think Elon could learn a bit from it.
- Treat people with dignity at all times. Sounds obvious, but after you’ve been negotiating tensely over spreadsheets for weeks it’s easy to distance yourself from the human reality that these aren’t numbers, they’re people.
- Try to do it once and well. Repeated rounds of job uncertainty feels like death by a thousand cuts to the psychological safety of employees.
- Don’t use redundancies as a way to deal with poor performance. Aside from the fact that it’s legally very slippery (I’m no lawyer, please don’t quote me), it makes the poor performance seem incidental. Dealing with poor performance honestly but sensitively is a very useful signal to the culture about what’s expected here. Covering it up in an unnecessary ‘restructure’ just creates uncertainty and distraction for people in the team who are performing well.
- Be as transparent as possible. Give people a reason and a narrative about why it’s happening and why it’s the tough, but right, decision. If you don’t, they’ll only make up their own narrative which is likely to be far more dramatic or cynical than the truth.
- Take accountability (but spare the false humility). It doesn’t feel good to receive bad news signed off with a faceless “thank you, Twitter”. To be fair, Mark Zuckerbeg did “take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here”. But that admission of guilt is not likely to breed much goodwill or forgiveness from those plunged unexpectedly into a now flooded job market. The best CEOs own the decision, but don’t make it about them. Rather than expressing their personal anguish, they clearly communicate how they will do right by those employees affected.
- Be as generous as you can. Leavers are your alumni. If you treat them well, they’ll say good things about you when you are hiring again one day. It’s a good investment in your employer brand.
- Re-write your comms calendar. It’s not time for jazz hands right now. Be sensitive to those that are going through a process, and to those whose close colleagues are. You’ll still be working on future-focussed stuff, but do it in the background for now. It’s insensitive to talk openly about an exciting future that may only exist for a percentage of people listening.
- Plan for a dip in productivity. There’s no greater uncertainty than job cuts for employees. It will send many on your team into ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode, waiting for an axe to fall even if they’ve been reassured. Whether their role is at risk or not, this is pretty much the only thing they’ll be able to focus on right now, and it will take time and a lot of reassurance to move on.
- Expect collateral damage. This is going to shake things up. People realise that no one’s indispensable. Some will be resentful and will want to leave, with two fingers up as they do it. You won’t avoid this. But could voluntary redundancy be a helpful way to limit some of these unintended consequences?
- Plan for how you’ll pick people up, after the fact. You’ll need to give those who choose to say a reason to re-engage. But start gently and sensitively, listen, and adjust accordingly.
