Are you "redundant" or are they "letting you go"?

Words matter: How to talk - and not to talk - about layoffs

We are living in a time of layoffs in tech. During a time where many sectors were desperately trying to hire, the tech industry was caught by surprise that in a post-pandemic world, people started reclaiming their lives in the real world and reduced their online activities. Oh yeah, and AI also “caught everyone by surprise”...

As companies started to blast out layoff announcements, I have been observing with disbelief the terms used in these communications. As times continued, I have been seeing impacted employees to pick up the same terminology which was even weirder to me. To put things in context: I am not a native English speaker. Many of these terms were not known to me in that context, so what might sound very familiar and non-problematic to a US or native English speaking person, sounds very different to me.

Unnecessary harshness

One of my least favorite terms is “Redundancy”. “Making a role redundant” is a term used to describe a company removing a role. It is very often used in an abbreviated form: “Making someone redundant” or “I have been made redundant”. Redundancy - the word used to describe that the position itself has been eliminated due to changes in the company's business or operations. Redundant! Synonyms are obsolete, superfluous, unnecessary, unwanted, dispensable, irrelevant.

I remember reading that term for the first time and thinking: “Who wants to feel redundant?”. Why do I perceive this term as awful? It's an impersonal term that downplays the human impact of job loss. Instead of acknowledging the personal and professional disruption that layoffs cause, the term "making redundant" frames the situation as a mere business decision, devoid of human consequence. It suggests that the employee is somehow at fault or has failed in their role. It reinforces a culture of disposability in the workplace, employees are easily replaceable and expendable.?

Another term I have seen used is “being terminated”. Of course it means that their work contract is being terminated, not the person themselves. The word "terminate" is often used in medical contexts to refer to the end of a life. It feels very harsh and impersonal when used to describe the ending of a work relationship and it doesn't accurately reflect the reality of what is happening. Employees are not actually being "terminated" in the sense of being destroyed or abolished.

Unnecessary softness

On the other end of the spectrum there are words that try to sugarcoat what is happening, by using terms that try to obfuscate the fact that people are losing their jobs.?

One example is the word “offboarding”. The term "offboarding" suggests a process of moving someone off a project or team, rather than them being laid off. It is often used in a business context to refer to the phase where an employee ramps off an effort, before moving them to a new effort, with the company helping an employee transition. But that is not what's happening during a layoff at all. If someone is being laid off, they aren’t offboarded, they are being laid off.

A similar term I have encountered is that a company is “letting go” their employees. There are multiple problems with using the terminology "letting go employees" in the context of a layoff. A layoff is not the result of employees being "let go" by their employers. Instead, it is the result of a business decision that is made by the company's executives. Letting someone go suggests that the employees have some control over the situation, which is not the case. Layoffs are involuntary, and employees have no say in whether or not they are laid off. The term "letting go" is not an appropriate or effective way to describe layoffs. It is inaccurate, insensitive, and misleading.

Just say it as it is

Why are we even using terms that are unnecessary hard or soft when we can simply use the common word “layoff”? A layoff refers to the temporary or permanent suspension of an employee or group of employees by an employer due to reasons usually outside of the employees' control. That’s it: “We decided to lay off 1000 employees”, or “Unfortunately I have been laid off”.

Words matter, choose them wisely.