Effective Leadership During Layoffs

I wrote a blog post about managing work stress in November and, I actually want to continue that conversation. Unless you're living under a rock you’ve probably heard the news about all of the tech layoffs that are happening. If you work in the tech industry, you might be feeling a lot of ways about it.

I recently worked with an organization that laid off ten people and the team was really rattled. They were worried about their own career security, of course, and they were worried about the future of the company. While we hear a lot the big tech companies layoffs (Amazon 18,000;Twitter 10,000; Microsoft 10,000) the number of layoffs doesn’t matter. It can be a scary situation for all involved.

In this blog, I want to speak directly to the people in leadership positions at these companies — or at any company that has recently laid off employees. You have a unique responsibility right now, and that responsibility is to manage the anxiety of the team members who are still there.

Goal #1 - Manage Emotions And Morale

Emotions will be running high during company layoffs. People are nervous about their own job security. They might be angry that their coworkers and friends lost their job. They’re probably confused as to what these layoffs mean for the big picture of the team or organization.

Encourage your employees to have courageous conversations with the leadership team, including yourself. After all, if one person is thinking it, other people are thinking it, too.

If you’re not doing any kind of team building activities, it’s time to restart those. Even if you have remote team members, there are lots of things you can do. Your team should not feel like they’re working in a silo, especially now that layoffs are happening. Rally them together and focus your energy and efforts on solidifying the team that’s still there.

Goal #2 - Ensure Workloads Are Still Reasonable

When someone leaves a team, for whatever reason, their workload needs to be absorbed by someone. If your company is going through layoffs, chances are there is also a hiring freeze, which means that work will need to be absorbed by someone else in the organization.

This is not a fun situation, and as a leader, it is very important that you stay dialed in to your team’s workloads to make sure that expectations are reasonable. Have one-on-one meetings with your team members (weekly, if possible) to talk about their individual career goals and check in on how they’re feeling about the amount of work that’s on their plate.

And, this may go without saying, but make sure you are thanking your team members for stepping up during this time. Often, people are just looking for a little recognition for the hard work they are doing. This small gesture can go a long way.

Goal #3 - Get Back On A Growth Track

Layoffs can feel like a major hiccup in the flow of an organization, but you don’t want to let it derail your progress. Your job as a leader is to help get the company back on a growth track as soon as possible. This will ensure that no more jobs are lost, and it will improve morale because people will see that changes are being made to correct the issues that led to the layoffs.

Communicate openly about how the company is moving forward. Speak to the company’s successes so the team can see where you’re headed and find ways to contribute to that growth.

If you need a little more help managing this transition period, I would be happy to consult with you and your leadership team. I offer corporate consulting services around learning and professional development for leaders. I offer both on-site and webinar-based training sessions on a range of topics, or I can customize a learning experience based on your specific needs. Just reach out to me and we can chat more about working together in this capacity!