Top 10 Tips on How to Layoff Employee's Easily
How to Handle Layoffs - Top 10 Tips to Make Employee Layoffs Less Painful
Being an employer is hard enough, but having to lay off a percentage of your employees can be tough. Luckily for you, there are ways that will help to soften the blow just a little bit. As long as you have a bit of empathy, you will do just fine. Make sure that you try to act as professionally as possible, even when things do get a little bit dicey. Emotions will flare, so keep your cool.
10 Ways to Layoff Employees Easily
1. Communicate at all times communication is key when it comes to possible layoffs within a company. Employees can adapt an almost herd mentality, and rumors of layoffs will incite a panic. Sit down and have a meeting, and answer as many questions as possible. Don't leave an information void that invites speculation.
2. Keep your employees informed It is important to make sure that you are in touch with your employees, giving them the information as you receive it. Some employees might start rumors or misrepresent information, and you need to make sure that you address this as quickly as possible.
3. Do not leave all the work in HR's hands While Human Resources does help to deal with employees in a round of layoffs, if you are the employer, then it is your job to speak to your employees about why this is happening. People will get emotional, and it is not fair to pass all of this off to the HR reps.
4. The process must be done personally While doing everything through emails or texts is the easy way out, you need to ensure that you do this all face-to-face. When done in a personal manner, the employee will also feel like you do care and are concerned for their overall well being.
5. Try to provide extra resources. Give employees information on filing for unemployment, or offer references and letters of recommendation to employees.
6. Do not give out false hope, try not to say anything about a re-hire, especially if you are not 100% sure that one will occur. False hope may help to calm someone down, but it can create an issue later on when the promise is not followed through.
7. Be respectful at all times This can be a very delicate situation that people will react to in a variety of ways. Make sure that when things do get heated that you remain calm and respectful. Understand that the person is probably going through a hard time already, and things just got a lot tougher for them.
8. Do not linger once you have explained the situation, make sure to address the appropriate questions and make your exit. Do not stand around and talk about other issues. Get to the point and explain everything. Once all questions are asked and taken care of, then you can move forward.
9. Practice your lines the morning before the sit down for the actual layoff, take a look in the mirror and do a little bit of practice first. This will help to get you settled and comfortable with what you are faced with doing in a few short hours. Practice a few words, and get on with your day!
10. Sensitivity at its finest! Be sensitive and courteous, and if need-be you may even be able to offer a shoulder to cry on. Remember that you are a person first and foremost, and the entire layoff experience is hard for both parties involved.
For more great ideas to raise morale or advice on layoffs please visit the Human Resources section on GKBusiness.
