How to Handle the Layoff Tsunami

Since the beginning of this year, we here at Perspectives have been very busy.  Unfortunately the work we have been doing revolves around layoffs or RIFs.  One would have to have no access to the outside world not to notice that companies are laying off employees in response to the current financial crisis.  Just yesterday, Black Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported Sprint, GM, Pfizer, IMG Group, Home Depot and Caterpillar teamed up to eliminate over 50,000 jobs.  And these only represent the bigger companies.  In fact, all over the country, businesses of all sizes are doing the same thing.

Obviously, if layoffs are going to occur a great deal of care and thought should go into how to do it.  In the 8 Hours and A Lunch blog, Guy Kawasaki’s article on “The Art of Laying People Off” talks about the need for leadership to take full responsibility.  Here are a few thoughts and ideas for leaders responsible for planning and executing layoffs.

• Be strategic and make sure that layoffs are necessary v. asking all employees to “share the pain” or take furloughs.
• If possible, try to do the layoffs at once so that the feeling that the “other shoe is about to drop” is minimized.
• Plan carefully and take the time necessary to make sure that you are covering all bases.  How you handle these layoffs will be watched by everyone including those who remain.  And don’t forget to involve all of your key partners; the two most helpful are the HR department and the EAP.
• Be direct and frank.  People generally get a sense that something is up before these things occur.
• If your managers or leaders will be the ones giving the news, take a lot of time in preparing them.  Remember that they need your support and many of them probably never done this before.  It is also important to provide them with information so that they operate within the law.
• Answer all questions as honestly as possible.  Give only the information you know and nothing more.  When we get anxious, we tend to over-explain.
• Be ready for a wide range of emotions from the managers or HR leaders giving the news and those recieving the news that are being laid off.
• Deliver the news in a direct but humane manner.  People should be always be treated with dignity.
• Don’t personalize.  You are the face of the organization and therefore the responses will not be about you.
• Don’t forget about the employees who remain.  They will need support and understanding.  In many cases, these individuals may suffer from “survivor guilt” in which they feel lucky to still have a position but badly that they were spared.

So, if you are faced with this decision and within the next 12 to 18 months, you very well may be, proceed with caution, honesty, respect and integrity.

Tags: layoffs, RIFs