How to Prevent Layoffs From Traumatizing Your Employees
Helping your remaining team heal is critical for your company’s future
More than 22 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past month. In recent days, we’ve seen poor decisions made by executives who have laid people off via text message, conference call, (or, even worse, if that’s possible, via a two-minute Zoom call).
The way you handle layoffs — and equally important, how you tend to employees who are staying — says a lot about the emotional intelligence of the executive team. If you truly can’t avoid layoffs, empathy may be the most important tool in your toolkit as you determine a layoff strategy, including which employees not to lay off. On this critical decision, Andreessen Horowitz partner David Ulevitch makes a key point: “It’s not a person by person decision, it’s a role by role decision.” (Emphasis mine.)
When planning for a reduced head count, see which roles are essential to your company’s immediate survival and to day-to-day operations. You’re taking the wrong approach if you or your managers are suggesting people who could go based on speculation (“I know she wants to go back to school” or “he’s moving to Chicago, anyway”) or reputation (I’ve heard she’s difficult”).
