Most of us have been, or are currently, faced with downsizing. One thing too many companies overlook - layoffs should be handled with the same process and efficiencies as recruiting and hiring top talent. Questions you may be faced with: How or when should it be handled? Where do we start and how many cuts do we make? Who should communicate the decision? What effect will it have on the current team? Re-organization already lends to added concern about company stability and job security. But if handled poorly, it can also erode employee and customer loyalty and perception of leadership's strength. As you work to identify your process, keep in mind this list of sometimes overlooked actions that have to be avoided. |
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The Top 5 Don'ts in a Layoff
- Don't cut with a hatchet. Use a scalpel, or you may lack the right talent to get through the recession and be understaffed for the recovery.
- Avoid "Death by a Thousand Cuts." If you do have to layoff employees, plan for it, and do it all at once. Try your best to make downsizing a one-time event rather than a series of painful cuts. Try to consolidate necessary cuts into one downsizing. Then communicate, from the top, that the cuts are over and that remaining employees are secure..
- Don't ever plan a layoff for a Friday or immediately preceding a holiday. Timing is important. Many companies that face downsizing insist that it be complete by early November, for example, rather than close to the holidays. Even the day of the week is important: Best practices reveal that a layoff should occur early in the week - never on Friday, when the employee has a weekend to brood, perhaps alone. If there is any outplacement, even an in-house resume workshop, it should be available for employees the very next day. Consider online, web-based alternatives if traditional outplacement services are too expensive. Since the recession of 2000-2001, several firms have created powerful online outplacement services offered for a fraction of the cost of traditional outplacement.
- Don't shoot from the hip. Have your justifications ready and watch the legal ramifications (discrimination of any type). Research tells us that layoffs are often hastily thought out and badly executed. When done in a rush, mistakes are made - often with legal and compliance ramifications, to say nothing of damage to the organization's reputation.
- Don't keep employees guessing; be as forthcoming and honest as possible. Communicate clearly, honestly and often. If you must downsize, create a corporate policy. If you do not have one, at a minimum you should apply procedures that provide support to the newly unemployed.
Top 5 list from "Recessionary Management: The Top DOs and DON'Ts for Managing Talent in the Current Downturn."
published by The Human Capital Institute and Taleo Corporation |
