How to behave when your company is downsizing? [A People Aspect]

I will admit, this is a tough one. Restructuring or/and downsizing. Never been easy. 

The whole exercise drains one out emotionally. And as I write about it, I find myself overwhelmed with emotions and stories I have been a part of. It’s as if they all are coming back to me, all at once.

With this article, I will try to stay away from the operations of this exercise, and focus on the behavioral aspect. Unfortunately, no-one talks about it. And that’s why we are so unprepared to handle it all when we are going through business re-design that includes employee termination.

What do you do when your best friend at work has been asked to leave? 

What do you do when you know your team will be pared down? 

How does the downsizing start? 

As an HR advisor in the industry for more than 15 years, I have played critical roles in business restructuring for many companies that sometimes have involved downsizing. 

But before I share how I approach it, I would like to share a story inspired by true events. I have changed names to maintain anonymity of the individuals.

So, this is from about 3 years ago when the IT industry was severely hit. Ayush’s company was struggling to sustain. They decided to cut down on the headcount in a desperate move to save the organization.

As an HR practitioner, Ayush was a critical part of all discussions, strategies, and operations.

A special team was put together to institute downsizing. This team deliberated on several factors that could lead them to ethically and practically decide on who to retain and who to let go. This included tenure, skills mapped to the company’s redefined vision and goals, future capabilities, and competencies.

Ayush still remembers that cabin where all the exit conversations happened. He refers to it as the ‘Ghost den’.

Here is the process that they followed -

• The employee who was being laid off was called in that cabin
• 2-3 team members would be present in the room, one of whom would do most of the talking. They would tell the employee that they were being let go. This was made as simple as possible, to prevent misinterpretation from any side. 
• The employee was escorted to their desk with the admin representative. This admin representative would assist the employee with all formalities
• The employee was not allowed to talk to anyone during this ordeal
• The employee was asked to leave the premises as soon as the formalities were completed

Ayush was never comfortable with this tactic and he was sure that he was not alone in feeling that way.

But this was how it was supposed to be. This was the clinical way of handling lay-offs and it was his and his team’s job to ensure it was done as smoothly as possible.

The objective of the process was to -

• give this employee as less space to create a disturbance on the floor as possible
• ensure that others on the floor, many of whom were expected to continue with the company, did not get uncomfortable or scared with what was going on

Horrible story. But unfortunately not a fictional one. Many companies follow this procedure of instituting downsizing.

Similar to the ways as depicted in the flick ‘Up in the air’ that featured Anna Kendrick and George Cloony. In the movie, the protagonist is a corporate downsizer who is constantly flying around the country firing people. If you haven’t watched it yet, add it to your list.

But here was my concern - All that commotion and fear was unavoidable. It happened anyway. 

Can we make the experience a little less painful? 

These employees were not given time to say goodbye to their friends and colleagues and managers so as to prevent any conversation that could provoke fear and anxiety. Their friends and managers, not sure about how to face them, could not look them in the eye. 

I can tell you it was awful. So, what could we have done to make it better for all? 

Before we jump into the next section, I would like to call out a couple of things - 

1. No one (textbook or classroom) teaches you how to handle this aspect of restructuring. You only learn by diving into the pool and from your own experiences.
2. Having handled large restructuring exercises in the last decade and half, I have had my own share of learnings; both from decisions that went well and more importantly decisions that went horribly wrong. 

Therefore, what follows next is my take on how you handle this aspect of the business in a humane way, while balancing it with business needs.

Lessons learned from all those mistakes

1. Be human. No organization is above people. I understand business and the difficult decisions that we must take to keep going. But no business tells us to be any less human. Do not fear indulging in emotional conversations as long as they are relevant to the situation. In those closed-door conversations, nothing out of ordinary was happening. It was a tough call always. All we could have done is just be more human and let the employee vent. I would always add a legit psychologist in those conversations. 
2. Let people talk. No matter how much we tried keeping it hush-hush, people would know. And the lack of clarity and communication would only exacerbate situations. Every phone ring would alarm employees who feared if they were next. So, let people talk. We are in a world that allows numerous ways to connect with one another – calls, social media, messages, emails, etc. Trying to let people not share their sentiments is like trying to hold a storm in control, which will happen anyway. With that said, we should always be prepared for unpredictable outbursts [that’s why the psychologist]. 
3. Give it time. The least we can do in such situations is give people time to absorb and feel that that they were being let go. Give them the time to prepare their dependants and family members of this news. Give them time to say goodbye to people they have worked with. Most of all, give them time to leave with respect. 
4. Facilitate authentic communication. Tell the truth in the way that it reaches your audience in the most genuine way possible. Shery Sandberg, COO of Facebook, says that authentic communication occurs when a leader’s statements provide room in which others feel free to communicate their thoughts and feelings honestly and authentically. Communication is important but more important is integrity & authenticity in your communication at all levels (org / department / team / individual).
5. Encourage employees to ask questions. We spoke mostly for people who are terminated in the process, but what about their friends and colleagues; their managers and subordinates. It is quite obvious that they will have questions regarding those who were let go, they will have apprehensions regarding their career and such. It is rather predictable for them to indulge in gossip. But gossip and rumours do not help anyone, be it the employee or the employer. Encourage your employees to ask, when in doubt. But you cannot expect this to happen unless there is transparency and authenticity in communication (refer to the previous point here).

When it comes to people, science plays a very small role. It’s all about being human. Nothing can better lead us to handle situations involving people.