Ask Sanyin: What’s the Right Way to Carry Out Layoffs?

We are going through an organizational transformation, which will involve a workforce reduction. How can we do this quickly and efficiently?

It’s tempting to deal with a difficult situation by getting it over with and moving on. But leaders making decisions that have a significant impact on employees’ lives should aim to be thoughtful and compassionate. Layoffs can shatter trust and leave remaining employees feeling insecure. Tending to emotions and caring about the ramifications for those who are let go as well as those who remain is critical.

The best example of how to do this comes from a leader I know who oversaw a reorganization that eliminated several thousand jobs. This leader was deeply invested in the whole process, and the compassion she demonstrated bolstered support for her leadership. I took the following lessons from her experience.

1. Sweat the hardest question: Who is on the list? It can be easy to delegate the tough work of deciding who will go. “Here’s the number you need to hit. Figure out how you’re going to do it, and talk to me when it’s done,” say many leaders. It’s tempting to avoid the human factor because it’s messy.

The leader I’m thinking of cleared her schedule for several days and worked with the senior team to determine whom the layoffs would hit. She considered what type of work the company would need to stop doing or would be unable to take on in the absence of specific employees. She considered each worker for who they were: real people. She wanted to know the name of every person potentially affected. She also encouraged teams to roll out the plan as soon as they knew who would be affected, to mitigate the anxiety of uncertainty.

2. Prepare for the difficult conversations. The leader then considered how to support the people who were going to break the news to individuals being laid off. She made sure managers had all the tools they needed to handle these difficult conversations with respect and compassion for the people affected.

The leader made sure she was attentive and engaged in helping managers with conversation prep, and she set the tone of care and humanity. By keeping the human rather than the role at the center, she made every effort to ensure that the relationships with those being let go continued to be positive.