The Importance of Treating Employees With Respect During a Layoff
I’m hearing and seeing all over my LI feed (once again) that companies are laying off a portion of their employees.
My heart tugs even more so in the cases when I hear ๐๐๐ they are being separated.
The biggest pain that any employee can experience is waking up to a mass email notifying them that they are one of the people impacted or even worse they are no longer able to access their system.
They’re left feeling:
Disrespected ๐
Uncertain about their future ๐คจ
Questions about their performance (hello did I do something wrong?!) ๐๐ปโ๏ธ
Sad ๐ข
Angry ๐คฌ
Scared ๐ฑ
With no one there to talk to but an email or in some cases not even that.
Whatever it takes, please choose a different path. Meet with each employee BEFORE sending out that email, whether it’s individually OR in a group.
It doesn’t matter if you have a team of 3 HR professionals or 100 - meet with them.
Many of them have worked tirelessly to support you in achieving the organization’s goals and objectives and put their livelihoods in your hands. They deserve the respect of talking to a real person to ask questions and to be heard.
