Employee Engagement: Best Practices for Layoff Communications

Plan ahead for your reduction-in-force communications.

Layoffs. It’s a word no one likes to hear. But with ongoing economic uncertainty across industries, many leaders are being forced to make difficult decisions.

As you’re thinking through your communication strategy to ensure you maintain employee engagement after layoffs, here are some suggestions:

• Decide whether to foreshadow. This depends on your company culture – if your employees are receptive to change, foreshadowing can help lessen the blow and meet the desire for higher transparency. If not, foreshadowing could just serve to increase the anxiety and frustration.

• Make layoffs part of the long-term vision. Layoffs can’t just be about cost-cutting and profitability, which sounds short-sighted and insufficient. There needs to be a bigger narrative – one that explains why this is a strategic business decision and includes a “so we can…” component, as in: “We need to reduce our costs and return to profitability so we can invest in XYZ to meet needs A, B and C of our customers and employees.” These layoffs need to be seen as required near-term changes to help achieve a long-term plan.

• Be more empathetic in every communication. Layoffs are tough no matter how necessary. Be authentic in your acknowledgment of how hard this situation is, and show that you truly care about employees –those who are leaving and those who are staying. The latter will need to understand why and how this decision was made, and feel confident in the future of the company.

• Listen to employees. Be sure to address employee fears and concerns before they become bigger issues. The last thing you want is to lose employees by their own choice. And if you're a company with a lot of non-desk workers, be mindful of their  different communication needs, preferences and challenges that may impact their engagement.

Letting people go is never easy, but the right communication strategy can make all the difference. If you’re facing difficult employee decisions and would like support communicating them, Padilla can help.

This post was updated from July 2023.