1. Go one-on-one
Canavan recommends notifying affected workers of the decision in private before the word is out. “They should be told in a respectful manner, behind closed doors,” he says. “Allow them to take the news and figure out what they’re going to do with it before they have to face their co-workers.”
After the companywide announcement at Summitville Tiles, the plant manager and human resources director held individual meetings with each affected employee to discuss unemployment benefits and COBRA health insurance. “We did our best to personalize something that would otherwise have been impersonal and even traumatic,” Johnson says.
2. Communicate openly
Rather than simply instructing folks to pack their things and leave, respectful employers explain the reasons behind the layoffs. At Shuqualak Lumber in Shuqualak, Miss., owner Charlie Thomas called a meeting of all employees and prepared a speech so he could remember exactly what he wanted to say. But as he began telling employees that a layoff was unavoidable due to the housing crisis, Thomas choked up and couldn’t get the words out. “I felt so guilty for having to lay them off; I felt like I had personally failed them,” he says.
After retreating to his office to regain composure, Thomas returned to finish his announcement. Sharing his decision process--and his emotions--with workers seemed to make the layoff a little more bearable. “Employees knew that I had done everything in my power to keep us from getting to the point of laying employees off,” he says.
3. Allow for goodbyes
Standard layoff policy seems to require terminated workers to leave the building immediately, but Canavan says that’s often not necessary. Keep in mind that terminated workers are recent employees, not second-class citizens. When possible, it’s even better to allow workers to transfer their responsibilities in an orderly way, perhaps training others who will take over their former jobs.
4. Ease the transition
Small businesses may not have access to job placement services available through some larger companies, but they can still ease workers’ transition to other employment. Shuqualak Lumber, for instance, worked with Mississippi’s Rapid Response team, which immediately provided resources to help laid off workers find jobs, register for unemployment benefits or return to school.
By providing outplacement services, you’re helping folks in your community and generating goodwill with the people being let go and those remaining, Canavan says.
5. Remember remaining workers
With fewer employees, it’s more important than ever to maintain productivity and keep your company going. That’s why you can’t neglect the workers who are left behind--often with high levels of anxiety about their own job security and new tasks they may be asked to undertake. After the layoff at Shuqualak Lumber, productivity quickly declined. “We all worked harder than we had ever before, but we were using employees that had to be trained to do new jobs and it took some time for them to become familiar with their new responsibilities,” Thomas says. Read full article at Entrepreneur.com
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