Good morning!
Handling layoffs has always been a tough yet constant reality of the HR function. People leaders are almost always at the center of the decision-making, one that’s both challenging and life-altering for employees. Suffice it to say layoffs should not be taken lightly.
Recent workforce reductions—Goldman Sachs, Alphabet, and Salesforce—have put a brighter spotlight on the practice. Companies that gave inadequate notice, unclear communication, or subpar severance packages have all been held up as examples of what not to do.
The consequences of a poor layoff strategy extend beyond fleeting bad publicity and some tearful employees. “Internal delivery, CEO wording, and severance details can burnish or taint a company’s employer brand for years,” writes my colleague Geoff Colvin. In an in-depth piece for Fortune, he outlines best practices for rightsizing a business and asks perhaps the most pressing question: Does an objectively good approach to layoffs actually exist?
The answer, unsurprisingly, is that there might be one, but it's different for every company. Still, there are some commonly agreed-upon ways to treat employees.
Here’s an excerpt from Geoff on how to layoff employees responsibly (and with heart):
“In the heat of conducting layoffs, there’s no definitive best approach to choosing who goes. Some functions, like recruiting, will invariably face deeper cuts than others. Decisions based on performance and potential are ideal, though managers must accept that their judgment may be flawed if the company doesn’t have rigorous evaluations of each employee. Even then, the company may not have time to give all employees the full consideration they deserve, or the resulting roster of to-be-laid-off employees may reflect a disparate impact on employees in legally protected classes and require adjusting…
The critical factor to bear in mind is that the decision is about more than money. It sends a message to the broader firm. Generous treatment of departing colleagues goes a long way toward quelling the intense anxieties of remaining workers.”
Read the full story here.
Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton
