How to manage your team’s workload after a layoff

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“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.” ― Charles Dickens

Ponder this…

The holiday rush is over, and you and your team are likely back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to come back to the office with a new challenge: a smaller team. Layoffs can occur anytime, but January and December are well-known for job losses. These downsizings are undeniably tragic for layoff victims, but they’re also terrible for everyone left behind.?

Layoff survivors often struggle with psychological hardships - including guilt, insecurity, anxiety, and depression - and remain on edge, fearfully awaiting another round of cuts. Just when trust and morale are at an all-time low, layoff survivors are expected to pick up the work their terminated colleagues left behind. In short, layoffs often force leaders to ask even more of their people at a time when they have less to give. This dynamic is a recipe for disaster when it comes to burnout, retention of key talent, and the long-term success of your team.?

You can’t undo what happened, but you can make a difference in the health and performance of your team by evaluating their capacity and taking significant steps to rebalance their workload.?

Here’s how:

Postpone what you can?

When you’re overloaded, it’s a natural stress response to put your nose to the grindstone to try and make a dent in the volume of work. But before you do, remember that your team’s time and energy isn’t unlimited. It’s critical to step back and identify where your team should invest themselves.

1. First, create a comprehensive list of all ongoing initiatives and projects with your team. Discuss what each one solves, creates, or improves.
2. Next, rank these initiatives based on their expected impact and each project’s potential benefits to the organization.
3. Finally, identify which initiatives can be postponed but easily resumed later, versus those where temporarily pausing might be consequential and difficult to reverse.

We are often reluctant to abandon a course of action that we’ve already invested in due to the sunk cost fallacy. But the truth is that many projects can be resumed easily at a later date. Acknowledge this distinction and make decisions that allow you and your team to focus only on the most critical work. As you choose projects to postpone, retain one or two future-focused projects. These projects often serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for the team.

Protect your team’s “shelf space”

Supermarkets and retail stores are naturally constrained by their shelf space, unable to add a new product unless they remove an existing one. Leaders should apply a similar principle to their team’s workload.

The next time your boss requests something from your team, ask whether the new request requires immediate attention. If it does, ask them to help you prioritize the request. You may say, “My team is also working on these three other initiatives. Are there any that can be dropped or postponed to make room for this one?” Giving them a choice is more effective than flatly pushing back.?

Remember, your boss is likely unaware of the effort and expense your team expends to fulfill their demands. Make a habit of proactively communicating resource requirements to your boss, and they may become more discerning in their inquiries, significantly reducing your team’s workload.

Utilize your team’s untapped talents

Both leaders and their teams may be unaware of the untapped skills, knowledge, and abilities within their ranks - to the detriment of productivity and performance when you need it most. Take steps to unlock your team’s potential by scheduling a discovery session. Give team members 10 minutes to reflect and write down their talents and skills. Next, ask each team member to share their list with the team. As they do so, encourage the team to add additional talents or skills they recognize in their colleague that they didn’t mention.

This simple exercise can be a profound eye-opener, revealing hidden talents and helping teams identify their go-to colleagues when they need help. I’ve facilitated this exercise with numerous teams and each time, participants have had the uplifting experience of having talents they took for granted added by others. Colleagues rarely discuss or acknowledge each other’s talents and skills in such a direct way, and this exercise can deliver a significant boost to a team’s connection and productivity.

Keep it simple

Our world is constantly bombarding us with information. In fact, Gartner data tells us that 27% of employees and 38% of managers feel overwhelmed by the ever-mounting burden of information. Add in the complication of layoffs, and things can quickly become overwhelming. Unfortunately, many leaders overlook opportunities for simplification when the workload becomes too much.?

Discuss with your team how to simplify communication and information overload. For instance, it can be helpful to agree to limit any write-ups, such as proposals or meeting pre-reads, to a one-page summary that highlights its relevance in the present context. In meetings — where opinions often overflow — encourage participants to distill their ideas to their essence. The prompt, “Can you summarize the essence of your suggestion in two sentences?” can be very helpful. Consistently challenge yourself and your team to simplify by asking, “How can we shorten or simplify this?”

Layoffs are challenging and painful for everyone involved, but you can take steps to shield your team from the damaging effects of work overload. By implementing these strategies - developed alongside my colleague and collaborator on this article, Frans van Loef - you can help your team focus on what’s critical, boost their morale, and increase their engagement.

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