9 ms·
A few other items I expected to see: 1. Help each laid off employee land on their feet, whatever that means for them. This must NOT be lip service, but a legi
by edw519 16y ago
A few other items I expected to see:
1. Help each laid off employee land on their feet, whatever that means for them. This must NOT be lip service, but a legitimate effort. Hire an outsourcing firm, provide resume/career counseling, provide reference letters, or find job opportunities with vendors, customers, or industry contacts.
2. Make a clean transition. Give laid off people an opportunity to share what they were working on and debrief others. Even though they are leaving, many people value the work they have done and want to know that it's in good hands. If you don't do this, you might as well be saying, "We can figure out what you were working on without you." Nothing else you say or do will offset the damage this will do.
3. Find a way whenever possible for people to keep contributing as contractors or part-time employees.
4. Find a way for people to keep their health insurance.
5. Offer severance whenever possible.
As uncomfortable as a layoff can be, it's also an opportunity to show how well you can do the tough stuff. People will be watching and remembering; count on it.
- PonyGumbo 16y agoWell done. In my opinion, this is a much better list than the linked article.
- ghurlman 16y agoA nicer list, but not rooted in reality - a benefit the list in the article has.
- tptacek 16y ago(1) Costs practically nothing; maybe 2x 1099 months if you wanted to bring in a recruiter to mechanize the process of landing people on their feet. The letter of reference should be automatic, as would reco's on LinkedIn pages. (2) Is something every soundly-managed company already does. (3) Is actually a favor that ex-FTE's would be doing for the company; converting FTE's to contractors is the basic idea behind all outsourcing, and is something the post actually alluded to. (4) It's your call whether 10-15% of the FTE cost you're recovering in your RIF is well-invested by paying people's COBRA. You're doing the RIF to pull money back in. We're just haggling over the numbers now. (5) Not offering severance is a pretty sure-fire way to get your best players to accept their earliest palatable job offer. Where is it industry standard not to offer severance?
- ced 16y agoI don't understand the logic of (5). If I'm the best player on a team, I wouldn't expect to be fired, so why should I care about the severance package?
- loumf 16y agoThe best player that stays knows that they won't get severance in they are fired, so there is no incentive to stay if it seems like layoffs are coming again (or if they just get an offer).
- theBobMcCormick 16y agoIf you're the best player on the team, (and the team is one that just laid of several of your co-workers without severance), then I'd assume you know you're good enough to job working for people who aren't assholes?
- gaius 16y agoYou might think you're the best player on a team. Your teammates might think you're the best. Your manager might think you're the best too. But to HR you are infinitely interchangeable with anyone else with the same job title, don't kid yourself otherwise.
- Unseelie 16y agoAnd when you're laying off staff from a reasonably large company because its bankrupt, would you consider the expense of extending health care coverage, keeping them on as contractors or part time, supporting their future job search, or otherwise extending your finances to support the people you're getting rid of because you cannot afford them? In the context of the company and the article, your list looks less like a nice thing to do, and more like a way to ruin the company.
- tptacek 16y agoA well-executed layoff is the triple lutz of entrepreneurship, and your company may be ruined if your execution is short of flawless. You're going to cut some people, but you're also going to lose even more people. Companies will try to cut "dead wood", but the people who leave afterwards will tend to be A-players; they're the ones with the most mobility. Some of Ed's suggestions cost almost nothing; for instance, being ready with an immediate offer a strong letter of reference --- that's just planning. Other things do cost money. But if you're bracing yourself in anticipation of losing A-players after a layoff, consider whether saving that one extra headcount in HR or Marcom is worth what you can buy in risk mitigation with the FTE cash they'd free up.
- ajju 16y agoGreat list of additions to the post. I just wanted to add that the one mistake managers are most likely to make is not laying off your direct reports yourself. There is nothing more cowardly than handing off the task of severing a relationship with someone you have worked with for years to a random HR guy. I have been part of such a layoff and I lost all respect for the managers involved.
- nitrogen 16y agoI don't know about your case, but in general it may be possible that some "random HR guy" restricts the managers from personally informing their employees, maybe to ensure that all employees are given the same information (and not given information HR doesn't want to reveal). Maybe it's to prevent one manager from letting his/her subordinates spread the word.
- CamperBob 16y agoToo bad. A good manager knows when to buck HR.
- ajju 16y agoI manage people now. I don't care if the general counsel of my company restricts me, if I have to lay off half my team (or even one person) that worked with/for me for years, I would find a way of explaining the situation, taking blame (where due), and making sure they know I would do everything I can to help them find another job. In my case, the only contact all of us had with the manager was an email the previous night, asking us to come see him in his office. When we reached his office, he was no where to be found, instead an HR person directed us to a conference room and finished the formalities. The only time I saw the manager is when he scuttled past the conference room to his office and stayed locked in there till we left.