Business // Communicating Layoff to Employees
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Communicating a Layoff to Employees
Layoff
Communicating a layoff to an employee is never an easy task to do for managers of an organization. A layoff can occur when a position in an organization is removed due to reorganization, lack of work, and even lack of funds. The whole process of layoff does not take overnight, but it can be done smoothly if a manager knows what to do and keeps a cool and clear head despite carrying the burden of having to inform an employee that the position that he or she is in will be eliminated.
Impacts of a Layoff to the Company
A layoff of a company can happen due to many reasons such as the reorganization, lack of work, as well as lack of financial capability of the company to stay afloat. These reasons have many impacts to the company. One of the impacts of a layoff to the company include subtle impacts to the remaining employees that can affect their work in the organization. These remaining employees may feel shock, anger, frustration and anxiety due to the recent changes (Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). They may also display a negative attitude towards their work, resistance to the changes brought about by reorganization and the layoffs, and even unintentional sabotage by resisting these organizational changes (Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). This can hurt the overall operations of the organization because its human resources are its core or energy. Without them functioning their roles as usual, the company or organization might face challenges in bringing back their operations to the normal state. If the employees are resistant, it might also be difficult for the company to relay to them the new changes to the roles and responsibilities of employees now that some positions have been dissolved and responsibilities need to be transferred to other positions that are still available in the company.
How Managers Can Cope with the Negative Emotions
A layoff is never an easy thing to hear from the perspective of an employee. It means a loss of a job and the stable income that comes with it. It may also mean that the employee was removed from a job not because of his or her performance but due to reorganization or lack of work that or she does not have any control. It is natural for employees who face a lay off to feel negative emotions that are likewise primarily common in the workplace such as anger, sadness, and fear. The one who may face the immediate effects of these negative emotions are the managers who are carrying the heavy responsibility of informing their employees that they will be facing a layoff. It can be difficult for an inexperienced manager to cope with these emotions if he or she does not know more about them first or know that they might be expecting any of it. It is then important for managers to know more about these three emotions in order for them to be more skilled at handling them, to build the confidence that he or she needs in facing them, or even to simply to cope with them.
One of the common emotions that managers may face as a result of informing an employee about the layoff is anger. This is acceptable since it must have come across as a shock or unjust in the eyes of the employee. However, it can be hurting to be faced with such backlash that can even be directed to the manager himself or herself. It can be jarring to feel the anger or be subjected to the anger of the employee, especially since the manager is the one who brings the dreadful news of unemployment. One way to cope with this is for managers to ensure that they do not get sucked in with the anger of the laid off employee (Pearson, 2017). The manager can do this by quieting down himself or herself, remaining still, listening carefully, as well as aiming to project a composed and neutral demeanor by speaking calmly and clearly, but not condescendingly (Pearson, 2017). In this way, managers do not add to the tension felt by the employee which is brought by the news of the layoff.
Another accompanying emotion during the announcement of a layoff is fear. It is natural for employees to feel fear or to be afraid due to the uncertainty that a layoff may present to them. Being afraid may take the employees’ attention from the moment while simultaneously diminishing their objectivity (Pearson, 2017). The employee who is being laid off might not fully understand the process as the manager explains it to him or her because of fear. The best way that a manager can address this is to deal with the fear head-on and show that he or she is still frank while providing reasonable and realistic assurance to the employee to show control (Pearson, 2017). Nonetheless, it can be difficult to assure employees when they are faced with the news of a lay-off, that is why managers can cope with this by ensuring that they should be emphatic with their laid off employees during these trying times.
Lastly, the third negative emotion that an employee may feel in the face of a lay-off is sadness. Naturally, like anger and fear, it is also natural to feel sadness in the face of a lay-off. It is likely that the employee is hurt due to the loss of opportunity despite the service that he or she has given to the organization. With this, a manager can offer his or her total presence to the laid off employee since this can help with the process of acceptance too (Pearson, 2017). An inexperienced manager may feel awkward in the face of a quiet reaction showed by the laid off employee due to sadness and may feel the need to fill in the silence by pushing for higher spirits or providing an advice on how an individual should cope with sadness (Pearson, 2017; Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). It would not give them the uplift that they need, and it may also sound insensitive. Likewise, managers should not tell their laid off employees that they know how the employee feels because they simply could not (Pearson, 2017; Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). Being sensitive and present are the things that a manager can offer in these difficult times so that they can properly guide their employees with the whole process.
Since managers carry the brunt of the responsibility of informing employees that they will be laid off, they themselves are susceptible to stress and its physiological effects. These managers may report various health and sleep problems and seek treatment for these (Grunberg, Moore, & Greenberg, 2006). The managers may also try to remove themselves from the highly distressing and uncertain situation and may not become fully present to the laid off employees (Grunberg, Moore, & Greenberg, 2006). They may also experience feelings of guilt and anxiety because they have to deliver the unwelcomed news to their employees (Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). This in turn is not healthy for their psychological health and wellbeing and may affect how they handle other layoff cases in the future. Organizations should be sensitive to these pressing needs of managers who carry the responsibility of informing employees about being laid off since they can only do so much. The organization and the upper management may serve as the pillar in which these managers can lean on and provide support and assistance by having support groups or discussions on how to discuss the layoff in the most humane way that is possible (Grunberg, Moore, & Greenberg, 2006).
Conducting the Dismissal Meeting
Conducting the dismissal meeting does not only involve the actual meeting itself wherein the managers inform their employees that they will face a layoff. The whole process can be broken down into four stages, mainly Stage One: Before Layoff Notification Day, Stage 2: Notification Day, Stage 3: Between Notification Date and Effective Date, and Stage 4: Post Effective Date (Agency, 2010). In order to be fully prepared on conducting the dismissal meeting, managers should be aware of their roles and responsibilities in all these stages.
During Stage One, managers should take the time to prepare for the notification day or the layoff meeting because they need to personally communicate clearly the important details about the layoff including the facts and reasons, time frame for separation, as well as the next steps (Agency, 2010). During the preparation, the manager should prepare what should be said, how it would be said, and in what sequence so that the manager appears confident and not anxious during the meeting (Agency, 2010). Lastly, the manager should ensure that he or she will select an appropriate time or place where the dismissal meeting will be held. It should be somewhere that is private, quiet, and uninterruptible, and the schedule should allow both the the employee and the manager ample time to ask and respond to questions, as well as a schedule that would allow the employee to leave easily if needed (Agency, 2010; Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009).
The Stage Two is the notification day, which is a critical day in the whole layoff process. The role of the manager is to conduct the dismissal meeting, talk with the immediate team leader or supervisor of the employee, contact the employee if absent during the notification day, and talk with them if they have not been receiving any notification letters (Agency, 2010). In Stage One, the manager should have been prepared with the following steps that will be said during the dismissal meeting: opening statement, presenting and reviewing the notification letter and layoff packet, explaining the next steps, taking time to answer questions, as well as the closing statement (Agency, 2010). This stage may prove to be the most difficult stage in the whole layoff process since it involves telling the employees that they are laid off. However, being prepared beforehand can help the manager a lot in coping with the distress that accompanies this stage.
Stage Three involves the time between the notification date and effective date of the layoff of the employee. The managers should monitor and note any alarming behaviors from the laid off employee, as well as take charge of the off-boarding process and ensure that the checklist is completed by the employee (Agency, 2010). More importantly, the manager should also prioritize his or her own self-care at this moment (Agency, 2010). Lastly, the Stage Four is the post-effective date of the layoff and employees have already been separated from the organization. The manager should focus his or her energy in adjusting the team operations, rebuilding the trust and morale of the remaining employees, being present and visible, and reinforcing the vision and mission of the organization (Agency, 2010; Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009). Managers should also try to remain positive but not invalidating of the concerns that the employees may raise due to the recent layoff (Agency, 2010; Managers Communicating Lay‐offs, 2009).
Timeline of the Disbursement of the Compensation
The employee who is laid off can be offered a severance pay by the company or organization. Employers are not usually required to pay their laid off employees the severance pay. This depends on the standard payroll procedures of the Company when it comes to severance pay. However, it is possible to estimate this by paying a month of compensation for each year that the employee is hired or has provided his or her service to the company or organization. The severance pay can be paid either as a lump sum or broken down into amounts that can be paid either monthly or weekly. An example of this is if an employee has spent 5 years in the company or organization, this laid off employee will receive a lumpsum amounting to what should be paid for 5 months of his or her service. Below is an example of the disbursement of compensation.
| Payment Date | Number of Years in the Organization | Pay per number of Years in the Organization | Amount |
| January 1, 2018 | 1 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| February 1, 2018 | 2 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| March 1, 2018 | 3 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| April 1, 2018 | 4 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
| May 1, 2018 | 5 | 2,500 | 2,500 |
The total amount of the severance pay for an employee with 5 years of service in the company is $2,500 x 5 = $12,500. The employee may receive $2,500 for five months, or a lumpsum payment of $12,500 by January 1, 2018.
Conclusion
A company or organization facing a layoff may be a difficult ordeal if the leadership group or the management is not prepared. It is important that the leaders of a company or organization ensure a strategic plan and make the necessary preparations for a layoff in the event that it happens so that everyone is not caught off guard and the whole process and transition throughout will run smoothly. It is indeed not easy, but the unanticipated costs and other related challenges of processing a layoff while being unprepared may be costlier than being unprepared.
References
Agency, E. S. (2010, May). Conducting Layoffs and Managing Change: A Guide for Managers & Supervisors. Retrieved February 1, 2018, from County of Santa Clara CEMA: https://sccema.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Guide-for-Managers-on-Layoffs-v4.pdf
Grunberg, L., Moore, S., & Greenberg, E. S. (2006). Manager’s Reactions to Implementing Layoffs: Relationship to Health Problems and Withdrawal Behaviors. Human Resource Management, 45(2), 159-178. doi:10.1002/hrm.20102
Managers Communicating Lay‐offs. (2009, April 24). Retrieved from Human Resources – University of California, Davis: http://www.hr.ucdavis.edu/ASAP/pdf_files/layoff.pdf
Pearson, C. M. (2017). The Smart Way to Respond to Negative Emotions at Work. MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(3). Retrieved February 1, 2018, from http://ilp.mit.edu/media/news_articles/smr/2017/58305.pdf
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