Speaker 1: Layoffs are awful. As a former general counsel and head of HR, I can tell you they're terrible for everybody involved, and not just you, crying CEO. They're obviously the worst for those employees who are affected, who counted on this job continuing. All of a sudden, it's ripped out from under them, maybe with some severance, but also with a heartache and stress and trying to talk to their family and friends about their next steps and figuring out how to pay the bills. Now, the decisions behind layoffs need to be really carefully thought out, and employers need to do a lot to think of the things that you can cut before your people. But this video is about when decisions of layoffs have been made and things that employers need to think about to ensure that you're making them at least more bearable and not more terrible. The first thing to think through is optics. These are actions that will make the public or your employees wonder, hmm, was this job cut really needed? And also, are they really tone deaf? Do they understand what employees are going through? This is things like lavish parties, huge trips, private concerts for executives right before a large layoff. Now, it's often that these are well-planned, these are different buckets of money, so cutting one concert may not save many employees or any at all. But when these happen, it sends a message to employees, like my job is cut because we're trying to do more with less, but you're spending buckets of money on these entertainments. So you can do things, like cancel things. But thinking through, how is this going to appear to those employees affected? And is this going to cause a headline that makes my statement trying to look like a caring employer to those employees being let go or to the public, to my customers? Is that going to call it out in doubt? Think about these things in advance and think about whether it's better to cancel things and have a message of austerity or keeping costs low in recognition of the sacrifices that your employees are making. The second consideration is timing. Now, there's no perfect time of year, week, or day to do a layoff. It will always sting. But a lot of employers did layoffs right before the holidays, and it felt especially brutal. Now, some have done them coming back. Others have different fiscal year ends. It's important to remember that a lot of your employees are waking up every day wondering, is my job safe? So ensuring that you're not making vague promissory messages, like we have no plans of layoff, if you know one's coming up soon. Like I say, there's no perfect time of week. As an employment lawyer, I used to think Fridays were the right time for a layoff because there was less safety risk. Now, there are considerations, so it's important to be mindful. But an HR business partner had explained to me, if you do a layoff on a Friday, especially end of day, it can make it even worse for that employee. They're going home, and it can be hard to take any action. Some employees need to let it soak in. Other employees want to start right away. So applying for unemployment. Some can do that online. Other places, you may have to take steps in person. So you can't do that on the weekend as much. Or applying for a new job. Some may want to talk to a recruiter. These things aren't as possible on the weekend. And so she had explained to me, doing it during the middle of the week can often be just as good, if not better, for employees to be able to take that action if you're going to do it. So putting yourself in that employee's shoes. The other is, again, time of day. Some will do it at the very end of the day. Employees think, what? You made me wait a whole workday and get the work done? Others do it early in the morning, and do it by locking employees out of the system. Now, I understand that with different time zones, it can be difficult. But that can feel so cold. And so thinking if you're doing it first thing in the morning, and employees are going to get some automated message or not being able to log in, that can feel hollow as well. A third consideration is logistics. Now, it's really hard to say best practice in the worst type of situation an employee will go through. But if you're making these cuts, doing it in a more humane way. So the best practice is to have a human conversation, and ideally with the manager of that employee, someone that they know and they work with. One-on-one is ideal. That may not be possible for a broad scale layoff, or someone may have a ton of direct reports, and you may have employee number 19 that's just waiting there. So if you're doing a group call, as awful as that can feel, and then offering one-on-one support after that can be helpful. But having that as a conversation can often be better. At times, organizations will do it as that lockout system I mentioned. Like employees are just locked out, they may get an auto response, they may not be able to lock out, but employees are often scrambling and wondering. I've heard from so many employees now who literally are out and have their roommate, spouse, whoever try to log into their system to see if they've lost their job. That just feels so cold. Sometimes organizations will send all sorts of communications and have FAQ websites, but they're all to the employee's corporate email address or on the intranet, which those laid-off employees may not have access to. So putting yourself in the shoes of that employee. How is that experience going to be for them? If it's already going to be difficult, emotional, making it as easy for them to get the information, both the fact of whether they're still working or they've lost their job, and if they've lost their job, next steps about benefits. Providing them that information, not making someone wonder or ask. Other logistics to think about are somewhat tied to optics, like social media posts. You may have pre-scheduled social media posts to go out. Making sure that those, again, aren't tone deaf, talking about celebrating our employees, what a great place we are to work. That may be automatically scheduled to go out the day or in the days after a layoff. Thinking wholesale about those communications. And also, as you talk about business continuity, ensuring that for those employees that are laid off, that you have out-of-office messages, giving contacts for who that individual should go to. So if you're sending someone that's laid off, someone reaches out, a customer, that it's identified who that person should reach out to. That's a necessary step, often with IT, with a big spreadsheet. But also making sure that those communications are vetted by your comms teams, so that they don't just read coldly, I'm no longer here, contact this person. Again, it's hard to fluff up any type of message about out-of-office, and you don't need to say, this person has been laid off. But ensuring that you have those business continuity as well, and it's done in a way that someone getting that email isn't going to think worse about your organization. These are some of the logistics to think through well in advance of doing that layoff. The fourth consideration is certain decisions about things like severance. What are you going to offer someone in exchange for a release? Some of the tech type organizations may have months of severance. Others may be giving really short periods of time, a week, two weeks, three weeks. Recognize that that can be incredibly shocking to employees who count paycheck to paycheck on these amounts to come into their bills. So thinking about what you can provide, recognizing if you're doing a layoff, you likely have budget considerations, but ensuring that you're setting employees up as best as you can, which is incredibly important where the optics come in. Because if you're just giving someone a couple weeks of severance, but you're having large scale events, that can make employees feel even worse, and likely make someone not as inclined to sign your small severance agreement. So thinking about what you can provide, and ensuring that you have that information in advance of the layoff. Because having the answers to those questions, things like severance, things like if there are broad scale things about how employees are chosen. Again, so that there aren't these questions of why is it me? Providing the information that you can as much as possible. This is where legal and HR will come into play. But don't let it just ring hollow. Other things, again, thinking about what employees will think through from the benefits perspective. Many employees have no idea who Cobra works. So if your organization has benefits go through the end of the month, for example, many times they do. So as long as you're employed on the first of the month, your benefits are active through the end of the month. So this can go to timing. Making a layoff effective on the first of the month can be much better than at the very end of the month. Because for example, if your benefits run through the 30th, 31st of the month, if you do a layoff on the 28th of January or any other month, then the 31st, maybe when their active benefits end. So employees would have to enroll in Cobra and some employers will pay a Cobra. Other times it's just left on that employee. Again, employees don't know how that works. And so if you're doing a layoff towards the end of the month, thinking about making it effective on the first of the month, even if access ends the day of the layoff or things like that, at least having that pay and active employment continue till the first can help. So that employee may have active benefits through the end of the next month. So they can take care of their own medical appointments, their spouse, dependents, and think through those. Those are logistics that a lot of employees are going to want to know. So providing that information that they can know them. Again, for Cobra, that paperwork is often sent to their home address. It's rarely immediately available. Employers don't always explain this to employees. So having really one sheets that employees can have to have the information, benefits, where it's going to go, how important it is for them to confirm their home address, for tax documents, for benefits, or any other paperwork. So thinking through these logistics and having these in ready FAQ documents so that employees don't have to try to memorize everything on the call when they're trying to absorb this information. Fifth consideration is managers. As I've said, ideally managers should be having these conversations because when employees hear difficult news, they generally don't want to hear it from HR. There's a reason HR has such a bad rap because often they're brought in to lead these conversations because of the idea of managers don't know what to say. So it's important, whatever the manager's role is, ideally leading that conversation, but at the least bit being that support person for the employee. So for your managers, it's important that they know who on their team is affected. So often managers have no idea until after the layoff is done. So they are scrambling. Other times, managers leading those conversations have never done it before, or rarely, thankfully. But preparing managers, a lot of times HR and legal may work together to give that script, but there's a few key considerations. When a manager is delivering it, make sure that they read that beforehand so they're not just looking down and reading like this to employees as they're going through because they're likely going to feel uncomfortable. But do you know how that can affect employees when they're being told a message by someone that's not even looking them in the eye? So walking managers through how important that is. Having HR there. I say HR should generally be a resource, not a witness. You hear people say that, shouldn't I have a witness? Having an HR contact included in that conversation as a resource, explaining some of the things that ideally employees will have on a sheet. Things about benefits, things about what happens, things like employers may have non-competes for certain employees. After a layoff, and it can vary state by state how enforceable they are. But from a heart perspective, ideally employers aren't laying off an employee and then trying to hold them to a non-compete. And if you're not, and you're giving employees the opportunity to go and find whatever next job they can, having HR be able to explain that, or having some sort of resource to explain that, so employees know exactly what their opportunities are. All of those questions employees will have. What does this mean? When is my active employment? How can I get my files? What happens with my benefits? What happens with my non-compete? If I need to verify employment, who do I go through? Spelling all of these things out, and having HR touch on these things, and be the resource to remind employees that this is incredibly difficult, providing that human voice. As I say, a layoff conversation shouldn't be short enough to fit into a recorded TikTok. Have it be an opportunity for employees. Some of them may need to sit there, process it, and reach out after the fact. But proactively providing information treats people like humans in the instances when they can feel least like one. So training your managers on all the basics, things to say, talking them through it. If they feel like they're going to cry on the conversation, I've said before, I'd rather someone cry as a manager than not have the conversation or sit silently. But remember, it's about the employees affected. It's not about your comfort or discomfort. It's about making them feel human, and having HR be there as a resource rather than as a witness. Different practices that can make people feel more human. The sixth and final consideration is for employers to provide very clear information for any employee to reach out to if they have questions, and getting back to those employees. HR teams are notoriously lean-staffed in organizations. So if they're getting a ton of emails in, it's just not practical for them always to be able to get back to people right away, just practically. So having, again, those FAQ documents can head things off, but providing those responses and going out of your way to work with those employees affected can make those employees feel in a situation more bearable than feel more terrible. Again, I encourage every organization to rethink everything that they can do to avoid those layoffs. Because as you have other positions, those employees you're laying off, that's a talent pool. There may be opportunities in your organization that they could slot into different roles. Thinking about that beforehand. But this point is that so many organizations have already made the decision to do layoffs and aren't thinking about some of these basic steps that can make people feel more human. So that's the point of this video today.