How to help employees recover after their colleagues are laid off

It’s been a rough couple of years for employees’ sense of job security, with more layoffs occurring at the outset of 2023 and 2024 than any other year since 2009.

We’ve discussed plenty of times before the right ways and wrong ways to communicate to employees who are let go, but what about the people who don’t get their pink slips and instead have to continue on their roles?

In any layoff, people will remain behind to carry on both the workload — often taking on their departed colleagues’ tasks — and uphold organizational culture. With the right strategies and tactics in place, communicators can work with these employees and leadership to not only provide reassurance but to help culture thrive.

Creating a baseline with empathy and understanding

Even if they’re not the ones losing their jobs, employees who remain after a layoff still might have a tough time with the process. They’re losing trusted colleagues, members of their teams, chains of command and familiar faces at work. That’s enough to throw anyone’s workflow off.

According to communications consultant Chris Pinto, communicators need to figure out the right balance within their role — one that has dual allegiances, to both the needs of the larger organization and those of employees.

“We are the voice of the organization to the employees, and also, serve as the voice of the employees to leadership,” Pinto said. “During headcount reductions, it is critical that we keep our ears to the ground and understand how employees are feeling in that moment, convey that to leadership, and help craft communications that are reflective of what’s being discussed and felt across all levels in the organizations.”

It’s also key that comms serves as a lifeline to leaders for moments just like this. Comms can step into that critical seat at the table by tying their post-layoff culture-boosting comms to the health of the business. An informed, satisfied employee is more likely to remain in their role, and following a layoff you need as much continuity as you can get.

Pinto added that communicators need to think carefully about their tone in all employee-facing communications.

“Messaging that is tone-deaf to employee sentiment causes more discord and frustration at leadership and the actions around the layoffs,” he said.

For communicators, that means explicitly identifying the cultural precepts of the organization up front. That can mean reminders via email blasts, physical signage, town hall announcements or even one-on-one connections with employees whose teams were impacted.

“Understanding what’s important and making that part of a consistent messaging strategy for workforce reductions will help drive trust in the process,” Pinto said.

Putting culture first and leading by example

Whenever a layoff happens, people are going to look to their leaders for guidance and answers on what comes next. It’s not just the words that leaders say that will matter for those who remain after job cuts happen — it’s what those leaders do as well.

Dr. Kerry O’Grady, director of teaching excellence at the Columbia Business School, said that leaders need to walk the walk and deeply consider their actions and how they’ll be perceived by remaining employees post-layoffs.

“If you’re expecting your employees to be in the office, then it’s not the time for a leader to take a vacation immediately following a layoff,” O’Grady said. “Model behavior you want to see in your team, but don’t be fake about it.”

O’Grady went on to recount narratives she’d experienced in the past in which management and top brass would minimize the impact of the layoffs and lean on “warm and fuzzy” narratives while seemingly ignoring the elephant in the room that a large chunk of the workforce was no longer employed there.

“That’s not only a profound lack of self-awareness on the part of a leader, but a toxic environment for all involved,” she said. ‘’This is the time to appreciate and recognize efforts, as well, and not be threatened by them.” 

She instead suggested that leaders and communicators take time to look more carefully at not just what they say, but how they say it and how the audience will perceive it.

“Be even more mindful of unconscious biases, stereotyping, and microaggressions,” O’Grady said. “Look critically at rules for the sake of rules. Employees are already sensitive to bureaucracy and hierarchies, but it’s so much worse when there’s no answer to pressing questions.”

Syncing up with HR and brand considerations

While leaders must consider their tone and delivery to employees who remain in an organization after a layoff, HR should work with comms to ensure that remaining employees have their concerns heard. This is especially important considering the contrast of staid, bland messaging that usually accompanies a layoff.

Pinto said HR should aim for brevity and empathy in their comms, and detail how structures and teams might change through documentation like revised org charts. HR and comms should also consider collaborating to host live events where remaining employees can ask questions live.“Your willingness to demand excellence in that one message will help the audience understand why the move is being made and push forward,” he said.

O’Grady said that comms teams also need to consider the external reputation of the brand and the way employees will communicate about layoffs. Putting company above people, especially those left to pick up the pieces following job cuts, is a recipe for disaster.

“Handling the people who do the work in careless ways and assuming everyone is replaceable will cause irreversible damage to not only the bottom line, but the long-term career success of those mishandling the circumstances,” she said.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.