Scenario: For financial reasons, your
practice has decided to implement a reduction in force, and affected employees
need to be told that they are being laid off. What do you do now?
The single most important facet of
communicating to an employee about to be laid off is consistent across the
board for all affected employees. Invariably, each employee will want to know
"Why me?" and will be suspicious of being singled out by all the other
employees who retained their jobs.
The layoff discussion is the ideal situation
for working from a script to ensure consistency. Your communication should
be short, concise, and clear, and it should include certain components:
A statement that the
employee's position has been eliminated, and no suitable alternative job is
available.
A statement
emphasizes that the reduction in force is a financial decision and is not a
reflection of the employee's performance or any other personal factors.
Decisions were made based on finances and workload coverage.
An explanation of any
benefits, vacation time accrued, severance, and date of termination.
However, in this conversation, do not do
the following:
Do not mention other
employees' situations, position, age, race, seniority.
Do not talk about the
fairness of the decision or say anything other than supportive comments, such
as "I know this is upsetting".
Do not deviate from
the script or engage in additional dialogue.
Finally, just listen.
If the employee expresses concern about discrimination, for example, pay close
attention, take notes and be sure to follow up.
Do's for the HR
Manager
- Review
relevant policies beforehand (performance expectations, workplace conduct,
discipline, termination).
- Research!
Personnel files, emails, supervisor's satellite files, comparator
information, etc.
- Stay
current on the laws.
- Seek
additional legal advice if you are unsure or if the situation is
potentially litigious; think protected categories, protected activity,
public policy.
- Enlist
a third party in potentially litigious meetings.
- Ensure
that benchmarks and behaviors are measurable.
- Ensure
that criteria are well-documented.
- Ensure
that the decision-making was fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory or retaliatory: including the impact.
- Address
employees one-on-one, in person.
- Explain
the criteria for the selection process.
- Anticipate objections.
- Listen,
and make notes of comments and questions from the employee; and
- Be
sure that new managers or managers who have never handled this situation
receive coaching and role-playing if necessary.
Do Not's for the HR
Manager
- Do
not forget the need to document, document, document.
- Do
not be ambiguous or consider termination to be a negotiation.
- Do
not neglect to understand the need to maintain composure (balance business
needs and human compassion); and
- Do
not deviate from the message.
In our next post, we will cover how to handle
the other typical type of termination: "for cause".