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Conducting Layoffs: 'Necessary Evils' at Work
Source
HBS Working Knowledge
Publication date
July 2009
Type
Academic Articles
Category
Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace
Discipline
Human Resources
Language
English
Free/Pay for content
Free
Key concepts of the article by Martha Lagace include:
- Most managers who conduct layoffs feel a mix of emotions that may catch them by surprise: sympathy, sadness, guilt, shame, anxiety, and perhaps anger.
- Best practice for managers includes understanding yourself and recognizing your limitations. Recognize ahead of time the emotional cocktail that you will likely experience when performing a layoff, say the researchers.
- Companies should focus not only on getting the task done and on ensuring the well-being of victims, but also on the well-being of those who perform the layoff.
- Conduct training beforehand; have pairs or teams perform the tasks together; provide a good physical environment in a nonpublic, quiet area of the organization; and later allow those who carried out the layoffs to decompress and debrief.
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