Getting your ducks in a row: A primer on handling layoffs

The recent news that Goldman Sachs announced layoffs of over a thousand employees amid the company’s employee review process is the latest reminder that there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about conducting layoffs.

With all this uncertainty abound, it’s natural to get a little concerned about what you’d do if a layoff situation arose for you or your team members.

By having the right steps in place to handle a layoff, you can mitigate the natural anxieties that arise through the process and put yourself in a good position to move forward positively. This mindset applies whether you’re the one on the short end of the layoff stick or stuck rebuilding what remains in the wake of job cuts.

When the news of a layoff breaks, it’s often an overwhelming, emotional experience for employees and managers, whether you’ve been directly impacted or not. But getting a layoff notice doesn’t mean you can’t have a plan in place about what to do next.

These are the steps to take after members of your comms team have been laid off, or after you’ve been laid off yourself.

1 . Start from a place of reflection. For those on the receiving end of a layoff notice, losing a job can be a blessing in disguise to help recenter what we want out of our roles.

“Even though they’re hard, layoffs can help us pivot into positions that get us into the roles that are better fits or more desirable,” said Tommia Hayes, a digital communication specialist at the United States Department of Education. “Self-reflection is where that begins.”

2. Get organized with compassion at the center. Whenever layoffs do happen, prioritize compassion for those affected, including yourself. Communicating with compassion goes hand-in-hand with empathy and understanding, and that understanding can help you get organized to move forward. If you lose your job, give yourself the grace to take the time to move forward with the next steps in your career. If it’s someone on your team that’s impacted, extend a helping hand and offer yourself as a resource, a reference or a connector to someone else in your network who may be in a position to help..

“As a leader, you need to step up in moments like layoffs,” Hayes said. “Be flexible and supportive with your team, and provide them with the resources they need to keep processes moving forward.”

3. Get the lay of the land and determine where you (or your team) stand in it. Today’s tumultuous job market can be intimidating for newly laid-off employees. Consider how you will frame and position your situation in the larger context of the job market. Being real with yourself and what you’re capable of, will help you propel yourself mentally into the next great work adventure. That may mean taking a free certification course to give your resume a boost and make you more competitive.

When your team loses valued colleagues, these moments should similarly serve as a time to determine how reallocated and realigned workflows function in practice. This starts with asking your team how you can help. “People are vulnerable after layoffs,” said Hayes. “The leader needs to step up and ask what remaining employees need from them.”

Another priority should center on wellbeing. Layoffs are stressful, and both those impacted and those left remaining in their roles may feel the heat. Address concerns you or your team might have through a lens of grace and understanding with a current of wellness underneath.

4. Take advantage of resources and advocate for yourself. Layoffs might make you feel alone at times, but remember that there are networking resources out there you can take advantage of to ease the blow of the job loss. For example, impacted employees can seek out alumni networks in their old organization to forge new connections and possibly find a new role at a company that’s a fit.

Similarly, laid-off workers can aim to become boomerang employees and return to a former organization in a new role with an improved skill set.

Seeing as comms pros often function in their own spaces and need to fight to get a seat at the table with leadership, and self-advocacy for themselves and their teams in a post-layoff environment. “If comms doesn’t stand up for itself, who will?” Hayes posited.

If you or someone you know has recently been laid off, consult the Ragan Talent Hub for current comms openings.  

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