Twitter’s messy layoffs show how not to communicate firings
Twitter’s messy layoffs show how not to communicate firings
Twitter offices were closed on Friday. Employees were sent a detailed memo about how layoffs would unfold. They were told to stay home and wait for an email that would tell them their fate with the company. If you get one via your work address: You’re safe. If you get one via your personal address: You’re being laid off.
Well … that’s one way to tell roughly half your company they’re out of work. Layoffs are one of those things that feel so terrible that there’s no good way to do them. But there are definitely bad ways and better ways.
Giving employees a written heads-up that layoffs are coming is common, said Jason Winmill at Argopoint, a management consulting firm.
“It should communicate, ‘Here’s the process, here’s some of the milestones,'” he said. “And that can be helpful in letting some people know about things.”
It gives employees time to mentally prepare and it clarifies any rumors circling the office. In the meantime, a team of people — mostly executives, HR and legal — are busy planning how the layoffs will be communicated.
The biggest point of discussion is exactly what will be said, per Michael Sturman, a professor of human resources management at Rutgers University.
“Sometimes down to the point of where a script needs to be made ahead of time,” he said.
It’s important to keep the message short but empathetic, Sturman added. And the details should be specific: Communicate what resources employees are entitled to and the reasons people are being laid off. For instance, maybe the company is making a big strategy shift that affects a certain department.
The next decision is how the news will be delivered. And — big surprise — Sturman said it probably shouldn’t happen over email. “It’s like breaking up in a relationship by text,” he said.
Instead, he said companies should take the time for one-on-one meetings in person or over Zoom — even if that means doing thousands of them. It creates space for conversation and questions, a two-way street.
Plus, the way all layoffs are communicated sends a strong message to the employees who are sticking around.
“So if they feel this whole layoff process is fair, they feel more safe,” said Kaifeng Jiang, a professor of management at The Ohio State University.
And if the remaining employees feel safe, that may help with morale. If those aren’t enough reasons for companies to show employees they care, Jiang said there are always the business reasons — like how consumers and shareholders might react.
In Musk’s case, he’s now facing a class-action lawsuit for allegedly failing to give laid off employees the proper notice required by law.
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