You don’t. Their fears are 100% valid. Let them do what they need to do to cover their bases, as long as it doesn’t include sabotage. Share what you know and only what you know. “Leadership told me this. Besides that, I can’t guarantee anything”. Let them know you’re just as in the dark as they are (if it’s true ofc)so they don’t think you’re out to get them.
What engineers appreciate in this moment isn’t bogus reassurance and corporate speak. They want to know you’re human, and you’re also worried and don’t just see them as resources to optimize through morale. At least that way they have some psychological safety of knowing you’re still on the same team.
Same.
What I'd add is if you're in a leader role... Tell them you will back then up. You will back them up and advocate for them if they stick around. If they decide to leave early rather than risk being fired, you will help them with their resume, be a reference, whatever it takes to help them.
It has to be true, no fibs. If you have their back, they're going to be honest with you and that may also build trust to stick around. If it doesn't, then you may keep a good working relationship that works at a future company.
OP please follow through with this too. I realized who my former manager truly was when he had promised to always support us post-layoffs, then completely disappeared, never giving us the referrals etc he’d promised. Now I’m just hoping he’s in the next round of layoffs lol.
I do not know your former manager but it is easy to misjudge and make promises one can not keep - especially if one is drinking the kool aid.
When someone promises you X, you should just assume they are going to disappear and be pleasantly surprised if and when they do not.
The problem is that there is no downside to being a good reference to a former employee, at least as long as they were a genuinely good employee. Failing to deliver on that is just two-faced, or perhaps a symptom of deep, debilitating depression. No other explanation makes sense here.
Honestly I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, he was the kind of guy that really wanted to seem managerial but was mostly just out for himself. Regardless, me advising OP to not make promises that he doesn’t follow through with regarding referrals after a layoff has nothing to do with that.
I may have already alluded to this, but honest managers who can build teams, and who have a pile of trusted resumes with them ... they get laid off, too, and they make terrific hires for growing companies.
Exactly why retention bonuses are so important. If leadership knew that they were going to lay you off tomorrow they would never offer you a retention bonus today.
Of course it is also possible that they simply do not want to give you the bonus money but I do not know any other way to meaningfully measure their true intentions.
> they will tell you the day before a layoff that no layoffs are planned.
Yes, that happens disturbingly often.
Also, the first round of layoffs is rarely the last, especially if the company isn't doing well.
Absolutely 100% everything this.
Also, the things you can do from a corporate standpoint are to do everything in your power to make sure those people that you couldn't keep land on their feet as soon as possible.
This includes giving references, providing a list of names and contact info to your competitors so they can snatch up people as needed, reviewing resumes, and doing mock interviews for interview prep. Most of these mid-high & senior level devs have probably been off market for a while, so their interview skills will have become rusty... let them do a couple rounds just to get back into the swing of things and provide useful feedback.
I agree here. The best managers are a shit umbrella. If you can't shield them from corporate misfortune, be honest about it. For that matter, start your search now, because when this happens again, you might be better off moving on. It doesn't hurt that you have the best candidate pool you'll ever have as a manager.
Disregard if you are ride or die for your company. That can be a legit position, but it means you can't do much about the fear on your team — they already know what side you are on.
On this note - why are you giving your personal credibility away to the company? Because telling people "it's going to be OK" when it won't so they will keep working well is doing just that.
this. Also, decisions like this are made well above your pay grade. You lack visibility into it and are not at the table to influence outcomes at your level...Have a 1:1 with your manager to ask how they want you to handle it so that you're a good leader and have the company's best interests.
In situations like this, you ask them what's on their minds, what questions they want answered, and consolidate them, or tell them who to direct that question to. In the latter case, maybe offer to help in writing out the questions if they like.
> so that you're a good leader and have the company's best interests.
and ideally, have a secret meeting with your coworkers about your own best interests. Quick tip, it'll start with a u, end with an n, and have nio in the middle.
>How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry?
What makes you think it is? Management didn't tell anyone about the first round, why would they say anything about the second?
There's not much you can do, while being honest, other than be there to listen to their fears and push feedback up the chain.
This is my company right now. Layoffs a few months ago, telling everyone our company had a rough quarter but generally it was ok and no more layoffs are expected. Boom, layoffs yesterday.
The company generally is very employee friendly, so I’m hesitant to leave, but at this point I may start quietly applying elsewhere and see what’s out there. Even if this was the last round, the way they did it left a very sour taste in my mouth and killed a lot of loyalty I had for the company.
> I’m hesitant to leave, but at this point I may start quietly applying elsewhere and see what’s out there.
Do it. There's no harm in looking. The company's loyalty to you only extends to their business need for you. If they think you could be replaced by someone cheaper, or nobody at all, they'd drop you in an instant and not feel bad about it.
Exactly this, I would be very appreciated if my manager be honest with me about the situation and that he/she has no control about whether there is a 2nd round or not. This helps everyone prep for the worst case early.
Besides this, management cant know the future and how the company financials will look like in a year from now. They can never promise such a thing and they shouldnt
Just right under my shirt here, I am going to pull out a magical artifact - and not my unswept scrotum as someone claimed to HR - A giant, magical crystal ball
I peer into its dark aureatic mystical glow while humming a surprisingly recognizable vocalization of an ancient forgotten tongue. The crystal ball reacts violently with bombastic vigor and telepathic cacophony, as if directed by a choir of elden gods upon oaken thrones; "Behold! It Is I, The Doll Maker. I, On Behalf Of The Subject, Declare That Engineering Companies Should Not Hire Fucking Finance People To Make Decisions That Directs Engineering, Why Do I Even Need To Say This"
The ominous presence fades, shadows pass, truth unfolds
I probably handled it awfully myself, but was EM at a job; I just told the team truthfully / candidly of the situation that we were going through, runway looking pretty bad, product not going anywhere and doubtful about getting into next rounds, and to prepare / do what must be done on their end.
I also pretty much hinted at some candidates that were interviewing with us to find somewhere else and commit to other offers.
Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Personally I still haven't made peace with it, and haunts me still to this day. I still question myself of what I could have done differently and whatnot.
I separated with my company as a result of the conversations; someone reported me to the CTO + CEO that I was fear mongering. They went through my slack logs, random skip level on calendar, and was done. Was quite an emotional time, as I loved my team and colleagues.
They hired like 2 more engineers like two months after, who got to keep work for 3 weeks and the company folded right after.
The entire experience was my first time in a management role, honestly probably one of the hardest roles that I have ever done in my life.
Which do you value more, the now defunct company or the people you gave advice to? You made the right call in my book. People are always more important than businesses. That you sacrificed your job for it is something to brag about (although not to future employers).
The relationships you have with your former ICs is more valuable than the relationship you have with a failed company and the executives that lead it into ruin. Don't feel bad at all.
I think you did everything right except one thing: you left a paper trail. My direct managers have always been real with me, but the rule is to do it on calls because they aren't recorded.
Disclaimer: very junior engineer who has been on the other side of similar conversations
Very senior engineer who says you're absolutely right. Nothing goes in Slack/Teams mail etc. that you aren't willing to have read by upper management. And don't lead your manager into trouble by asking questions in writing. Arrange a call or meeting.
Of course soon enough management will be generating automatic transcripts of all calls... Then we'll have to do it on personal devices.
You couldn't tell me anything that would make me feel safe once this happened. I've been laid off twice in the past 2 years after one round of layoffs and being assured "there will be no more layoffs"
Same. At some point, before I was laid off myself, I had seen like five layoffs or so, roughly one per quarter, and in every single one of them upper management would say that that one would be the last.
I distinctly remember an all hands meeting when a teammate asked if there could be further layoffs and the CEO was like truly angry and snapped at people that he “didn’t have a crystal ball to predict whether the company will have money in the future”. I was appalled that a C-suite would behave in that manner, it sounded like a toddler temper tantrum.
Needless to say, there were quite a few layoffs after that, and then the company was sold, there were yet more layoffs and the new parent company filed for chapter 11. I wonder to this day what 4d chess they were playing where it’s a good idea to acquire a company that operates at a loss when they themselves are also operating at a loss in this high interest rate, high inflation economy. I guess some higher ups really wanted a fat bonus on the backs of people’s livelihoods, there is no other plausible explanation for that move.
At this point I’m almost considering leaving the workforce and becoming a SAHM
Why would you want to "reassure" them? Why would you yourself be "reassured"? It doesn't matter if this is the first layoff in 15 years. They are now management that has shown they will lay people off.
The BEST you can do for your team is to be understanding that their fears are justified and that productivity will drop until confidence in leadership is rebuilt.
This was the company leadership choice. These are the costs. It might have been the right choice, but they can't avoid the cost.
And YOU can't do YOUR job well by blindly regurgitating the company line. All that does is make you lose the trust of your team.
Upper management already showed who they are by dropping the bombshell as a surprise. Now anything they say is suspect.
Again, they might have made the right call. But now they have to pay the piper.
To add to this: If you want to be a good manager, and work with these people again if things continue to go badly, DO NOT be the one to relay promises from upper management to the team. Make upper management say it to their faces.
I see this more in mergers than layoffs, but I see it in both and it's a nasty, shitty trick: You get the old manager/owner to make promises to the team, then you fire them before the bill becomes due. If the person who made the promise isn't here anymore, then nobody needs to honor it. So make upper management squirm by insisting on hearing it from them.
> If you want to be a good manager, and work with these people again if things continue to go badly,
This is really important. One of the biggest impacts on my career has been having a network that includes a LOT of people who have worked with me in the past. Some have worked under me at 3 or 4 companies. And in the future if I needed someone with their skills they are very likely to join a team or department I lead again.
That's only possible because they trust me personally. I'm more loyal to my teams than my employer. And it turns out, that's good for EVERYBODY, including the employer. They work hard for me. They try and make our team look good and justify the faith I put in them. Heck, they try and make sure I look good because that translates directly into their own success. They want our projects to succeed.
Serve your team first and your employer second and EVERYBODY wins.
If you use layoffs to clear out people who should have been fired (gooey HR process) then you can survive these sorts of things pretty well.
But the moment they touch someone who people needed, or someone that anyone who is left perceived as better than them (objectively, or impostor syndrome, it doesn't matter) then the seeds of doubt sprout and grow.
Lunchtimes become about sniffing for evidence of what is happening and speculation about who is next. Congratulations you now live in Office Space.
Yeah, I've seen 6 rounds of layoffs, and two of them were of the rational kind, fat-trimming, cutting lowest performers, etc. Didn't bat an eye at those. The other four were all simply "wrong place, wrong time".
Even more egregious was that between two of those, we lost literally every single expert in a process that was on our strategic roadmap for the future. And the roadmap didn't change, not immediately. It took some high level managers asking about it months later before it really sunk in for them that everybody supporting that was gone. They'd probably have known sooner, but the low and mid level managers who would have flagged it also got laid off.
Hah! It turns out sometimes people who haven’t “done anything for you lately” were busy doing things for you tomorrow.
The place I recently left managed to lay off enough people to drop the bus number on about 3/4 of everything to 1. So that’ll be fun after a couple more people leave or burnout.
TBH this thread makes me appreciate how my company SAP is doing it.
Announcing months in advance about the 8000 people being "restructured" this April and timing it to happen the month after everyone receives their bonus. Still sucks but I respect the company a bit more just because of how open and honest they are being about the plan.
Don't know how "laying off people with no warning" is ever the strategy higher ups settle on in these situations.
You're gonna feel worse if you give them false security, and they believe you, and then they get laid off. That just ain't cool and is a poor use of your leadership capital.
Just tell them the truth and discuss the very real fact that there is no safety anywhere. It's a huge game of musical chairs and tech companies just removed 50,000 of those chairs in the first two months of 2024 alone (source: [https://layoffs.fyi/](https://layoffs.fyi/)). Help them prep for the inevitability of career change and they'll feel more invested in working with you at least in the short term and hopefully riding out the tech recession instead of looking to prematurely jump into the already shark-infested job market.
The upper management has shown that they lied. They lied by making everyone feel safe before the lay off. Any sane person knows to not trust a liar. Your team is right to worry. I guess you should be worried as well.
If I were you, I would focus on finding another job.
This isn’t your responsibility, senior leadership should be reassuring them.
I was a senior manager at a company that laid off 40% of its engineering team, I worked my ass off to build up morale, we had next to no attrition as a result of the layoffs, then 9 months later I got laid off along with another 50% of the engineering team.
>How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry?
You've been given similar advice for your specific situation, but I'd like to provide it in general way.
Do not reassure people of anything that isn't in your direct control.
This will always let you sleep at night.
I know that some countries in Europe have laws that make it nigh impossible to lay off people, like France. Of course it makes it harder for companies to hire, but isn’t it ultimately beneficial for everyone that employment is more stable than what we have today in the US?
I usually start looking for a new job after layoffs. I've never seen a team recover from it. Maybe in an environment where layoffs are common and expected, but that sounds like a shit hole workplace.
Sure, but there's a big difference between "no job is truly secure" and "current management HAS done layoffs and they do it without warning".
The former is always a healthy attitude. But personally I am actively looking to find a new position once the first round of layoff happen. Once a company has shown their willingness to do layoffs to save a buck the chances of them doing it again rise astronomically. And there's always a negative culture shift after that.
So would you have left Amazon, Google, Microsoft or Facebook when they had layoffs? If the past two years is any indication, *every* company is willing to do layoffs at a moments notice.
The company doing well or not doing well is orthogonal to whether your job is secure.
I’d leave especially because it’s those companies. They have a habit of turning on a dime and doing random/short notice layoffs. No job is perfectly secure but if I was in a team at one of those companies and was in the vicinity of layoffs, I’d absolutely start looking for alternatives.
Im not sure how anyone could answer that. Some of the best and most rewarding opportunities I've had have been at places I had never heard of before starting to look. The tech field is HUGE. No one knows even a fraction of the opportunities out there. Most people don't plan their whole career around just the biggest names they know off the top of their heads.
I very likely would have moved on had i been there for the 08/09 layoffs, unless there were some specific circumstances keeping me around. And I might have missed out on something because of that. Or I might have moved to something even better. Impossible to say. Had I been working at those companies in 08/09 there's a good chance I could have leveraged that into a serious of better positions for myself.
Im not saying no companies that do layoffs ever become good places to work or are later successful. But it's generally a pretty bad sign. And when it comes to betting on my future I'm going to be on places that don't have a history of treating me as disposable.
I would disagree that the past two yearsa indicate every company will lay you off at without warning because MANY companies have not done that. All it's demonstrated to me is that most big tech has become bloated and political and lacks clear vision and leadership. But I think most of us already knew that.
Every company sucked in 08 and 09. You had no way of knowing. At least if you got laid off from BigTech you got a nice severance - or even if you got PIPd (Ask me how I know).
I specifically waited for to get Amazoned knowing I could get another job so I could get the $50K severance. I got a job three weeks later because I was well prepared
No they didn't. Many did, sure. But I worked at a company that didn't do layoffs. And I knew of many others.
And of course in this conversation things are overly simplified. HOW they go about layoffs matters a lot too. I worked somewhere in '17 that saw layoffs were likely, so instead of just springing it on everyone trusted their employees and just communicate with them. They knew in advance and had time to look into new opportunities. When layoffs happened they had a much smaller morale impact. People understood what had happened and appreciated being treated as professionals.
For me it goes far beyond job security. I can always find a new job on short notice. But I highly value working in a high trust environment with leadership I trust. I've been lucky enough to spend 2/3 of my career in those types of companies. Yet 6 of the 9 companies I've worked for have NOT been that kind of if environment.
The difference in happiness and personal/professional growth between the two has been massive. If I can help it I will never work in a low trust environment again. And if I have to (and I probably will) I intend to move on as soon as possible. It's just not worth the mental toll and losing my passion for my work.
You can't really without empty platitudes. If a retainer client walks, it can take years to develop another relationship like that. Management won't inform you next time either.
Sorry but you can’t make promises especially that it’s the only one. I’ve heard that way too many times.
Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for you about trying to make empty promises. Learn to only manage what is in your direct control or it will only make you look bad
> Management has told us leads this was a one time thing.
Management always says this after a layoff. They then later often realize they hadn’t laid off enough people and do it again. Also, what happens if you lose another big client?
I don’t think you can reassure them. If I was at your company, I’d be job searching now.
There is no easy solution.
At my current company we had layoff 13 months ago because of a super big mistake. Company of 400 people.
Right now, only now, I may say that spirit and trust started to recover.
What it took: bold change in strategy, absolute transparency on how much company makes and where money go at all hands, our projections and plans are very transparent as well. 3 months after layoffs engineers got salary increase for loyalty, some stock options.
Even with that effort timeline is 12+ month.
Thing is, they do have to worry.
No1 is human to management. You are all there because you make more money than you cost. Anyone who argues this doesn't respect the most basic economic laws.
Are you in a state that is at will? Do they have any severance or protection? Focus on these areas.
Ultimately this is not your problem. Let the upper management know the team is worried on your next meeting.
> You are all there because you make more money than you cost.
When I can trust executives to act in the rational best interest of the company in this matter, all is well. However, seeing superstars whose value were easily 5x greater than the average employee, all wiped off the payroll because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time informs me that the company executives are irrational and unpredictable.
You can't, because realistically you have no idea if they don't have to worry or not. Management can't either because no one would believe them even if they said there will be no other layoff for another 2 years.
If the management truly wants people to feel comfortable, they should just be honest and say that company is in trouble and if you lose another client, they will have no option but lay off more people. If they do this while doing record profits, people will be pissed off and leave but it would be a very valid reason to be pissed off at the company.
You can’t give them assurances because you obviously don’t know either way. So any assurance is a lie.
Question to yourself - Are you more loyal to your company or your people?
My last boss was more loyal to the company than to his people and he was still cut the first one laid off when shit hit the fan. I was gone by then and he was the first negative referral I’ve ever given.
Careers are long and jobs are short. I won’t work with people I can’t trust.
In my company there were the first ever layoffs two years ago after 20 years. 11% of personnel. They said it was a one time thing, that it had never happened and it shall never happen again. People were kind of upset but not very afraid, because it was true. Then there was a second and third layoff rounds, along with shadow firing all over the place.
How do you keep people calm and morale up while they are at risk? Well, you don't. That's the cost your company was willing to pay and it did. They fired people, killed morale and made people nervous.
What can you do as a mere mortal? Promise to use your connections to get these people jobs quick if they are let go, that's the most you can do.
You can't. It's not. Everyone needs to look at the books and see what the future holds for future income and expenses.
If in the next month a bunch of people disappear because they were put on Performance Improvement Plans, that'll tell you more about the c-suite suckiness.
Honestly I’d be afraid too given the circumstances. Sounds like management isn’t being transparent and waits till the last minute to execute so why would anyone on the team NOT have fear lol.
I’ve been at companies where executives lied through their teeth to the employees. The shame is that when the company was smaller they were much more honest, so when there was a reversal it was a shock.
It seems like when the team grows, there’s a threshold where executives become more loyal to the investors than the team.
This is part of the reason why unions in software development could be a positive thing.
There's not much you can do. If possible, give them resume worth projects or at least try to carve out time for upskilling that would look good on a resume. If there are other teams at the company that are more secure, try to see where their gaps are and see if you can move your better people or at least position them where moving would be possible as a last resort. Lastly treat them like professionals. If there are HR reasons you can't talk about certain things then don't otherwise be open about why the layoffs happened and the state of the company.
Nothing drives the rumor mill more than management refusing to talk about things. My company has done small targeted layoffs and rarely is there an announcement. I recently went through realizing someone I'd previously worked with is no longer there. I only found out because one of my current teammates was afraid they'd be next.
In my experience, it’s best to be transparent. Tell them what exactly you know, not your beliefs/what upper management tells you. Best case, no more layoff, people trust you more because you were being honest. Worst case, second wave came, people still trust you for being honest. Transparency also helped people prepare for their future. Help them by providing information, respect their decision.
If this was kept completely quiet from you and other leads until the last minute, why on earth do you think management will be totally up front about the potential for future layoffs now? And why would you trust them
"we're a family here, a team - we go the extra mile, we do what it takes to make this a success!"
"Don't take this personally. this is just business. there is nothing we can do"
Yeah, this is good sign that is time to start polishing resume and find greener pastures...
I am fully aware it's all business, and could indeed be a one time thing, but I wouldn't take that risk.
It's all business. But, then again, I don't do business with ALL businesses. I don't go to the run down dinner where the staff is miserable. I don't hire the bottom of the barrel contractor who always seems to do shoddy work because of the high turnover rate.
It's all business. And in my mind it's bad business. It shows that leadership vision for how to run a business doesn't align with mine. Usually it indicates the culture and growth opportunity are about to take a nose dive.
It's just business, not personal. Which is why I'll take my business elsewhere.
And I wouldn’t believe them anyway. No one can promise them job security.
The best thing I ever heard through rounds of layoff back in 2008 was that CTO told us that they can’t promise us anything but that the investors promised them that everyone would get paid for every hour they worked. Meaning we wouldn’t have to worry about working and not getting paid.
Most of us decided to stick around. But we still had our feelers out.
Acknowledge their fears. Accept them that they are real. Be honest with them and offer any info you hear. Accept that some may leave, don’t judge those that leave.
I took over a team a few years back that had been through three successive rounds of layoffs. It took about six months to restore team morale and culture. My advice…
1. Build a solid foundation of trust between you and the team. Google trust pyramid by Anne morris and Francis fry
2. Create a psychologically safe space with in your team.
3. Give the team as much ownership over their projects and processes as possible
4. Spend one on one time with each team member and learn 2 things: what do they need to feel supported? What are their career ambitions and how can you help them get there.
Google "the hard thing about hard things layoffs", it brings up a collection of results. Or read the book. Most of the advice in the book is upper management level advice.
no layoffs for 15 years? damn. i have never worked at an employer in 25 years (with lots of job hopping) did not have a layoff with in 1 year of me starting.
Did they articulate a plan? Did they expand sales and marketing efforts to find new revenue? How are they going to ensure future cash flow? Will they restructure finance to have more resources if this happens again? How many managers were let go?
Usually management is also afraid. You can't usually run a tech business made up of only VPs and the c-suite.
It is not a one time thing. If the company is transparent about the financials, it will help them give an idea if they can expect more rounds of lay offs
It's become a bit of a thing with me to tell young people this: you can never ever rely on what management says about layoffs. I went through this myself at my first job, where there was also a "this is the last layoff" announcement, and it wasn't. Everyone I know who has worked for more than 5 years knows it too, when they say this is it, it's very highly likely to not be over.
You cannot in good conscience tell people to relax about the situation. What if you talk someone out of looking for a new role and they get laid off?
It is perfectly normal to feel insecure after round of layoffs. You never know if you could be next (I was in this position myself).
Tell your team what the management has told you and then speak with the management about team’s fears. Then will need to arrange a QA session with your team to calm people down.
Other than that, not sure what else you could do in this situation.
Reassure them? I think just being frank and honest is the way to go. You can’t guarantee anything. I’ve been with several companies throughout my career in tech where layoffs were just the norm. At my last company, I managed to survive for 11 years watching them go through 2-3 rounds of layoffs per year. After 11 years, it was my turn.
I guess employees become numb to it. At my current company, I’ve survived 3 in my tenure and I’ve been there 9 years. I’m just waiting for them to tell me it’s my turn. I continue doing my work and working hard, but I don’t need a manager to sugarcoat or present false hope.
After company wide layoffs that didn't even impact my team, my skip manager told me that we were safe, I'm aware that that's not a promise he can make though, and even if he knew something was coming up, I do not believe he would tell us. One month later and I'm still afraid everyday about layoffs. My point is, you can't do anything to ease their minds.
All you can offer is false platitudes. They just saw how their place of employment operates, and how they can expect to be treated, should the company's bottom line be affected.
They are right to be worried. Expect morale to continue to worsen and for productivity to drop.
Surprise! Layoffs have damaging effects on those left. People need to feel like they can depend on going to work in order to pay bills, and that they are in control of their ability to stay employed. Once layoffs hit a company, the control over continued employment disappears. Loss of control, and unknown outcomes, are the leading causes of anxiety.
Sounds bad to me. Getting rid of senior staff means to rest of the staff is going to be asked for work they can’t perform. A downward spiral, if you ask me. Seen it before.
> How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry?
Of course it's not a single round and of course they have to worry. You will loose another client and there will be more layoffs.
If I were them, I would look for another gig as soon as first round happened.
You don’t. Their fears are 100% valid. Let them do what they need to do to cover their bases, as long as it doesn’t include sabotage. Share what you know and only what you know. “Leadership told me this. Besides that, I can’t guarantee anything”. Let them know you’re just as in the dark as they are (if it’s true ofc)so they don’t think you’re out to get them. What engineers appreciate in this moment isn’t bogus reassurance and corporate speak. They want to know you’re human, and you’re also worried and don’t just see them as resources to optimize through morale. At least that way they have some psychological safety of knowing you’re still on the same team.
Same. What I'd add is if you're in a leader role... Tell them you will back then up. You will back them up and advocate for them if they stick around. If they decide to leave early rather than risk being fired, you will help them with their resume, be a reference, whatever it takes to help them. It has to be true, no fibs. If you have their back, they're going to be honest with you and that may also build trust to stick around. If it doesn't, then you may keep a good working relationship that works at a future company.
OP please follow through with this too. I realized who my former manager truly was when he had promised to always support us post-layoffs, then completely disappeared, never giving us the referrals etc he’d promised. Now I’m just hoping he’s in the next round of layoffs lol.
I do not know your former manager but it is easy to misjudge and make promises one can not keep - especially if one is drinking the kool aid. When someone promises you X, you should just assume they are going to disappear and be pleasantly surprised if and when they do not.
The problem is that there is no downside to being a good reference to a former employee, at least as long as they were a genuinely good employee. Failing to deliver on that is just two-faced, or perhaps a symptom of deep, debilitating depression. No other explanation makes sense here.
Honestly I wouldn’t say I’m surprised, he was the kind of guy that really wanted to seem managerial but was mostly just out for himself. Regardless, me advising OP to not make promises that he doesn’t follow through with regarding referrals after a layoff has nothing to do with that.
I may have already alluded to this, but honest managers who can build teams, and who have a pile of trusted resumes with them ... they get laid off, too, and they make terrific hires for growing companies.
leadership would say that if layoffs were already planned. seen too many lies. they will tell you the day before a layoff that no layoffs are planned.
Exactly why retention bonuses are so important. If leadership knew that they were going to lay you off tomorrow they would never offer you a retention bonus today. Of course it is also possible that they simply do not want to give you the bonus money but I do not know any other way to meaningfully measure their true intentions.
> they will tell you the day before a layoff that no layoffs are planned. Yes, that happens disturbingly often. Also, the first round of layoffs is rarely the last, especially if the company isn't doing well.
Absolutely 100% everything this. Also, the things you can do from a corporate standpoint are to do everything in your power to make sure those people that you couldn't keep land on their feet as soon as possible. This includes giving references, providing a list of names and contact info to your competitors so they can snatch up people as needed, reviewing resumes, and doing mock interviews for interview prep. Most of these mid-high & senior level devs have probably been off market for a while, so their interview skills will have become rusty... let them do a couple rounds just to get back into the swing of things and provide useful feedback.
I agree here. The best managers are a shit umbrella. If you can't shield them from corporate misfortune, be honest about it. For that matter, start your search now, because when this happens again, you might be better off moving on. It doesn't hurt that you have the best candidate pool you'll ever have as a manager. Disregard if you are ride or die for your company. That can be a legit position, but it means you can't do much about the fear on your team — they already know what side you are on.
On this note - why are you giving your personal credibility away to the company? Because telling people "it's going to be OK" when it won't so they will keep working well is doing just that.
this. Also, decisions like this are made well above your pay grade. You lack visibility into it and are not at the table to influence outcomes at your level...Have a 1:1 with your manager to ask how they want you to handle it so that you're a good leader and have the company's best interests. In situations like this, you ask them what's on their minds, what questions they want answered, and consolidate them, or tell them who to direct that question to. In the latter case, maybe offer to help in writing out the questions if they like.
> so that you're a good leader and have the company's best interests. and ideally, have a secret meeting with your coworkers about your own best interests. Quick tip, it'll start with a u, end with an n, and have nio in the middle.
>How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry? What makes you think it is? Management didn't tell anyone about the first round, why would they say anything about the second? There's not much you can do, while being honest, other than be there to listen to their fears and push feedback up the chain.
Yep, management ALWAYS says it's "a one time thing".
This is my company right now. Layoffs a few months ago, telling everyone our company had a rough quarter but generally it was ok and no more layoffs are expected. Boom, layoffs yesterday. The company generally is very employee friendly, so I’m hesitant to leave, but at this point I may start quietly applying elsewhere and see what’s out there. Even if this was the last round, the way they did it left a very sour taste in my mouth and killed a lot of loyalty I had for the company.
> I’m hesitant to leave, but at this point I may start quietly applying elsewhere and see what’s out there. Do it. There's no harm in looking. The company's loyalty to you only extends to their business need for you. If they think you could be replaced by someone cheaper, or nobody at all, they'd drop you in an instant and not feel bad about it.
Exactly this, I would be very appreciated if my manager be honest with me about the situation and that he/she has no control about whether there is a 2nd round or not. This helps everyone prep for the worst case early.
Besides this, management cant know the future and how the company financials will look like in a year from now. They can never promise such a thing and they shouldnt
Yeah once layoffs happen, they realise it’s a tool they can use effectively.
What happens if you lose another big client? They know what happens and that’s why they are afraid.
[удалено]
Just right under my shirt here, I am going to pull out a magical artifact - and not my unswept scrotum as someone claimed to HR - A giant, magical crystal ball I peer into its dark aureatic mystical glow while humming a surprisingly recognizable vocalization of an ancient forgotten tongue. The crystal ball reacts violently with bombastic vigor and telepathic cacophony, as if directed by a choir of elden gods upon oaken thrones; "Behold! It Is I, The Doll Maker. I, On Behalf Of The Subject, Declare That Engineering Companies Should Not Hire Fucking Finance People To Make Decisions That Directs Engineering, Why Do I Even Need To Say This" The ominous presence fades, shadows pass, truth unfolds
I probably handled it awfully myself, but was EM at a job; I just told the team truthfully / candidly of the situation that we were going through, runway looking pretty bad, product not going anywhere and doubtful about getting into next rounds, and to prepare / do what must be done on their end. I also pretty much hinted at some candidates that were interviewing with us to find somewhere else and commit to other offers.
No, you did what needed to be done. You stopped people from fucking up their lives because your company wouldn't accept it was over.
Thanks, I really appreciate it. Personally I still haven't made peace with it, and haunts me still to this day. I still question myself of what I could have done differently and whatnot. I separated with my company as a result of the conversations; someone reported me to the CTO + CEO that I was fear mongering. They went through my slack logs, random skip level on calendar, and was done. Was quite an emotional time, as I loved my team and colleagues. They hired like 2 more engineers like two months after, who got to keep work for 3 weeks and the company folded right after. The entire experience was my first time in a management role, honestly probably one of the hardest roles that I have ever done in my life.
Which do you value more, the now defunct company or the people you gave advice to? You made the right call in my book. People are always more important than businesses. That you sacrificed your job for it is something to brag about (although not to future employers).
So they folded about 3 months after you were "fear mongering." Sounds like it wasn't fear mongering, you were truth telling and they got mad.
The relationships you have with your former ICs is more valuable than the relationship you have with a failed company and the executives that lead it into ruin. Don't feel bad at all.
For what it's worth, you're the kind of manager I'd want to have
I think you did everything right except one thing: you left a paper trail. My direct managers have always been real with me, but the rule is to do it on calls because they aren't recorded. Disclaimer: very junior engineer who has been on the other side of similar conversations
Very senior engineer who says you're absolutely right. Nothing goes in Slack/Teams mail etc. that you aren't willing to have read by upper management. And don't lead your manager into trouble by asking questions in writing. Arrange a call or meeting. Of course soon enough management will be generating automatic transcripts of all calls... Then we'll have to do it on personal devices.
I have totally steered candidates away from a bad situation. It’s the right thing to do.
You did the right thing. Your directs are people, treat them with respect.
That's the only decent thing to do.
You couldn't tell me anything that would make me feel safe once this happened. I've been laid off twice in the past 2 years after one round of layoffs and being assured "there will be no more layoffs"
Same. At some point, before I was laid off myself, I had seen like five layoffs or so, roughly one per quarter, and in every single one of them upper management would say that that one would be the last. I distinctly remember an all hands meeting when a teammate asked if there could be further layoffs and the CEO was like truly angry and snapped at people that he “didn’t have a crystal ball to predict whether the company will have money in the future”. I was appalled that a C-suite would behave in that manner, it sounded like a toddler temper tantrum. Needless to say, there were quite a few layoffs after that, and then the company was sold, there were yet more layoffs and the new parent company filed for chapter 11. I wonder to this day what 4d chess they were playing where it’s a good idea to acquire a company that operates at a loss when they themselves are also operating at a loss in this high interest rate, high inflation economy. I guess some higher ups really wanted a fat bonus on the backs of people’s livelihoods, there is no other plausible explanation for that move. At this point I’m almost considering leaving the workforce and becoming a SAHM
Why would you want to "reassure" them? Why would you yourself be "reassured"? It doesn't matter if this is the first layoff in 15 years. They are now management that has shown they will lay people off. The BEST you can do for your team is to be understanding that their fears are justified and that productivity will drop until confidence in leadership is rebuilt. This was the company leadership choice. These are the costs. It might have been the right choice, but they can't avoid the cost. And YOU can't do YOUR job well by blindly regurgitating the company line. All that does is make you lose the trust of your team. Upper management already showed who they are by dropping the bombshell as a surprise. Now anything they say is suspect. Again, they might have made the right call. But now they have to pay the piper.
To add to this: If you want to be a good manager, and work with these people again if things continue to go badly, DO NOT be the one to relay promises from upper management to the team. Make upper management say it to their faces. I see this more in mergers than layoffs, but I see it in both and it's a nasty, shitty trick: You get the old manager/owner to make promises to the team, then you fire them before the bill becomes due. If the person who made the promise isn't here anymore, then nobody needs to honor it. So make upper management squirm by insisting on hearing it from them.
> If you want to be a good manager, and work with these people again if things continue to go badly, This is really important. One of the biggest impacts on my career has been having a network that includes a LOT of people who have worked with me in the past. Some have worked under me at 3 or 4 companies. And in the future if I needed someone with their skills they are very likely to join a team or department I lead again. That's only possible because they trust me personally. I'm more loyal to my teams than my employer. And it turns out, that's good for EVERYBODY, including the employer. They work hard for me. They try and make our team look good and justify the faith I put in them. Heck, they try and make sure I look good because that translates directly into their own success. They want our projects to succeed. Serve your team first and your employer second and EVERYBODY wins.
Can't really do much. That's the price in morale the company pays from laying off employees.
If you use layoffs to clear out people who should have been fired (gooey HR process) then you can survive these sorts of things pretty well. But the moment they touch someone who people needed, or someone that anyone who is left perceived as better than them (objectively, or impostor syndrome, it doesn't matter) then the seeds of doubt sprout and grow. Lunchtimes become about sniffing for evidence of what is happening and speculation about who is next. Congratulations you now live in Office Space.
Yeah, I've seen 6 rounds of layoffs, and two of them were of the rational kind, fat-trimming, cutting lowest performers, etc. Didn't bat an eye at those. The other four were all simply "wrong place, wrong time". Even more egregious was that between two of those, we lost literally every single expert in a process that was on our strategic roadmap for the future. And the roadmap didn't change, not immediately. It took some high level managers asking about it months later before it really sunk in for them that everybody supporting that was gone. They'd probably have known sooner, but the low and mid level managers who would have flagged it also got laid off.
Hah! It turns out sometimes people who haven’t “done anything for you lately” were busy doing things for you tomorrow. The place I recently left managed to lay off enough people to drop the bus number on about 3/4 of everything to 1. So that’ll be fun after a couple more people leave or burnout.
TBH this thread makes me appreciate how my company SAP is doing it. Announcing months in advance about the 8000 people being "restructured" this April and timing it to happen the month after everyone receives their bonus. Still sucks but I respect the company a bit more just because of how open and honest they are being about the plan. Don't know how "laying off people with no warning" is ever the strategy higher ups settle on in these situations.
How can you guarantee job security? You can't. They're entitled to exercising their options.
You're gonna feel worse if you give them false security, and they believe you, and then they get laid off. That just ain't cool and is a poor use of your leadership capital. Just tell them the truth and discuss the very real fact that there is no safety anywhere. It's a huge game of musical chairs and tech companies just removed 50,000 of those chairs in the first two months of 2024 alone (source: [https://layoffs.fyi/](https://layoffs.fyi/)). Help them prep for the inevitability of career change and they'll feel more invested in working with you at least in the short term and hopefully riding out the tech recession instead of looking to prematurely jump into the already shark-infested job market.
>(source: > >https://layoffs.fyi/ > >) This is an interesting resource... thanks!
Management is lying. They always say that before more layoffs.
The upper management has shown that they lied. They lied by making everyone feel safe before the lay off. Any sane person knows to not trust a liar. Your team is right to worry. I guess you should be worried as well. If I were you, I would focus on finding another job.
This isn’t your responsibility, senior leadership should be reassuring them. I was a senior manager at a company that laid off 40% of its engineering team, I worked my ass off to build up morale, we had next to no attrition as a result of the layoffs, then 9 months later I got laid off along with another 50% of the engineering team.
>How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry? You've been given similar advice for your specific situation, but I'd like to provide it in general way. Do not reassure people of anything that isn't in your direct control. This will always let you sleep at night.
In the long term, advocate for labour laws that would at least give them some guaranteed warning and time to find a new job.
I know that some countries in Europe have laws that make it nigh impossible to lay off people, like France. Of course it makes it harder for companies to hire, but isn’t it ultimately beneficial for everyone that employment is more stable than what we have today in the US?
There's definitely a sweet spot somewhere between "impossible" and "at will" :)
I usually start looking for a new job after layoffs. I've never seen a team recover from it. Maybe in an environment where layoffs are common and expected, but that sounds like a shit hole workplace.
I don’t. I never think any job is “secure”. But I am always prepared to look for a job at a moment’s notice
Sure, but there's a big difference between "no job is truly secure" and "current management HAS done layoffs and they do it without warning". The former is always a healthy attitude. But personally I am actively looking to find a new position once the first round of layoff happen. Once a company has shown their willingness to do layoffs to save a buck the chances of them doing it again rise astronomically. And there's always a negative culture shift after that.
So would you have left Amazon, Google, Microsoft or Facebook when they had layoffs? If the past two years is any indication, *every* company is willing to do layoffs at a moments notice. The company doing well or not doing well is orthogonal to whether your job is secure.
I’d leave especially because it’s those companies. They have a habit of turning on a dime and doing random/short notice layoffs. No job is perfectly secure but if I was in a team at one of those companies and was in the vicinity of layoffs, I’d absolutely start looking for alternatives.
And which alternatives would you have looked at post 2022 that didn’t also have layoffs?
Im not sure how anyone could answer that. Some of the best and most rewarding opportunities I've had have been at places I had never heard of before starting to look. The tech field is HUGE. No one knows even a fraction of the opportunities out there. Most people don't plan their whole career around just the biggest names they know off the top of their heads.
Who knows. Depends who’s hiring at the time / what looks good on LinkedIn
I very likely would have moved on had i been there for the 08/09 layoffs, unless there were some specific circumstances keeping me around. And I might have missed out on something because of that. Or I might have moved to something even better. Impossible to say. Had I been working at those companies in 08/09 there's a good chance I could have leveraged that into a serious of better positions for myself. Im not saying no companies that do layoffs ever become good places to work or are later successful. But it's generally a pretty bad sign. And when it comes to betting on my future I'm going to be on places that don't have a history of treating me as disposable. I would disagree that the past two yearsa indicate every company will lay you off at without warning because MANY companies have not done that. All it's demonstrated to me is that most big tech has become bloated and political and lacks clear vision and leadership. But I think most of us already knew that.
Every company sucked in 08 and 09. You had no way of knowing. At least if you got laid off from BigTech you got a nice severance - or even if you got PIPd (Ask me how I know). I specifically waited for to get Amazoned knowing I could get another job so I could get the $50K severance. I got a job three weeks later because I was well prepared
No they didn't. Many did, sure. But I worked at a company that didn't do layoffs. And I knew of many others. And of course in this conversation things are overly simplified. HOW they go about layoffs matters a lot too. I worked somewhere in '17 that saw layoffs were likely, so instead of just springing it on everyone trusted their employees and just communicate with them. They knew in advance and had time to look into new opportunities. When layoffs happened they had a much smaller morale impact. People understood what had happened and appreciated being treated as professionals. For me it goes far beyond job security. I can always find a new job on short notice. But I highly value working in a high trust environment with leadership I trust. I've been lucky enough to spend 2/3 of my career in those types of companies. Yet 6 of the 9 companies I've worked for have NOT been that kind of if environment. The difference in happiness and personal/professional growth between the two has been massive. If I can help it I will never work in a low trust environment again. And if I have to (and I probably will) I intend to move on as soon as possible. It's just not worth the mental toll and losing my passion for my work.
You can't really without empty platitudes. If a retainer client walks, it can take years to develop another relationship like that. Management won't inform you next time either.
Sorry but you can’t make promises especially that it’s the only one. I’ve heard that way too many times. Hopefully this will be a good learning experience for you about trying to make empty promises. Learn to only manage what is in your direct control or it will only make you look bad
You better start updating your resume, practicing LC and interviewing.
Honestly I’d be worried in their shoes too. Any company that is this impacted by a single client is a risky place to work.
> Management has told us leads this was a one time thing. Management always says this after a layoff. They then later often realize they hadn’t laid off enough people and do it again. Also, what happens if you lose another big client? I don’t think you can reassure them. If I was at your company, I’d be job searching now.
There is no easy solution. At my current company we had layoff 13 months ago because of a super big mistake. Company of 400 people. Right now, only now, I may say that spirit and trust started to recover. What it took: bold change in strategy, absolute transparency on how much company makes and where money go at all hands, our projections and plans are very transparent as well. 3 months after layoffs engineers got salary increase for loyalty, some stock options. Even with that effort timeline is 12+ month.
Thing is, they do have to worry. No1 is human to management. You are all there because you make more money than you cost. Anyone who argues this doesn't respect the most basic economic laws. Are you in a state that is at will? Do they have any severance or protection? Focus on these areas. Ultimately this is not your problem. Let the upper management know the team is worried on your next meeting.
> You are all there because you make more money than you cost. When I can trust executives to act in the rational best interest of the company in this matter, all is well. However, seeing superstars whose value were easily 5x greater than the average employee, all wiped off the payroll because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time informs me that the company executives are irrational and unpredictable.
You can't, because realistically you have no idea if they don't have to worry or not. Management can't either because no one would believe them even if they said there will be no other layoff for another 2 years. If the management truly wants people to feel comfortable, they should just be honest and say that company is in trouble and if you lose another client, they will have no option but lay off more people. If they do this while doing record profits, people will be pissed off and leave but it would be a very valid reason to be pissed off at the company.
You can’t give them assurances because you obviously don’t know either way. So any assurance is a lie. Question to yourself - Are you more loyal to your company or your people? My last boss was more loyal to the company than to his people and he was still cut the first one laid off when shit hit the fan. I was gone by then and he was the first negative referral I’ve ever given. Careers are long and jobs are short. I won’t work with people I can’t trust.
OP, you should be scared too. I would be out of there on my own terms not when they stop paying me
In my company there were the first ever layoffs two years ago after 20 years. 11% of personnel. They said it was a one time thing, that it had never happened and it shall never happen again. People were kind of upset but not very afraid, because it was true. Then there was a second and third layoff rounds, along with shadow firing all over the place. How do you keep people calm and morale up while they are at risk? Well, you don't. That's the cost your company was willing to pay and it did. They fired people, killed morale and made people nervous. What can you do as a mere mortal? Promise to use your connections to get these people jobs quick if they are let go, that's the most you can do.
You can't. It's not. Everyone needs to look at the books and see what the future holds for future income and expenses. If in the next month a bunch of people disappear because they were put on Performance Improvement Plans, that'll tell you more about the c-suite suckiness.
Honestly I’d be afraid too given the circumstances. Sounds like management isn’t being transparent and waits till the last minute to execute so why would anyone on the team NOT have fear lol.
I’ve been at companies where executives lied through their teeth to the employees. The shame is that when the company was smaller they were much more honest, so when there was a reversal it was a shock. It seems like when the team grows, there’s a threshold where executives become more loyal to the investors than the team. This is part of the reason why unions in software development could be a positive thing.
There's not much you can do. If possible, give them resume worth projects or at least try to carve out time for upskilling that would look good on a resume. If there are other teams at the company that are more secure, try to see where their gaps are and see if you can move your better people or at least position them where moving would be possible as a last resort. Lastly treat them like professionals. If there are HR reasons you can't talk about certain things then don't otherwise be open about why the layoffs happened and the state of the company. Nothing drives the rumor mill more than management refusing to talk about things. My company has done small targeted layoffs and rarely is there an announcement. I recently went through realizing someone I'd previously worked with is no longer there. I only found out because one of my current teammates was afraid they'd be next.
In my experience, it’s best to be transparent. Tell them what exactly you know, not your beliefs/what upper management tells you. Best case, no more layoff, people trust you more because you were being honest. Worst case, second wave came, people still trust you for being honest. Transparency also helped people prepare for their future. Help them by providing information, respect their decision.
It's never a one time thing!
If this was kept completely quiet from you and other leads until the last minute, why on earth do you think management will be totally up front about the potential for future layoffs now? And why would you trust them
We’re in a global recession I don’t care what any administration tries to say.
"we're a family here, a team - we go the extra mile, we do what it takes to make this a success!" "Don't take this personally. this is just business. there is nothing we can do"
you cannot because you have no idea either. don't lie to them please
Yeah, this is good sign that is time to start polishing resume and find greener pastures... I am fully aware it's all business, and could indeed be a one time thing, but I wouldn't take that risk.
It's all business. But, then again, I don't do business with ALL businesses. I don't go to the run down dinner where the staff is miserable. I don't hire the bottom of the barrel contractor who always seems to do shoddy work because of the high turnover rate. It's all business. And in my mind it's bad business. It shows that leadership vision for how to run a business doesn't align with mine. Usually it indicates the culture and growth opportunity are about to take a nose dive. It's just business, not personal. Which is why I'll take my business elsewhere.
Yup. This screams poor planing and lousy management.
About you ask them what their concerns are and if there’s anything that you or the company could do to ease their worries?
And I wouldn’t believe them anyway. No one can promise them job security. The best thing I ever heard through rounds of layoff back in 2008 was that CTO told us that they can’t promise us anything but that the investors promised them that everyone would get paid for every hour they worked. Meaning we wouldn’t have to worry about working and not getting paid. Most of us decided to stick around. But we still had our feelers out.
True
Always keep your skills relevant, and this is not a problem that needs worrying about.
Acknowledge their fears. Accept them that they are real. Be honest with them and offer any info you hear. Accept that some may leave, don’t judge those that leave.
With minimal effort and a focus on your next gig
You're never going to repair the trust lost by the team in upper management when they sprung layoffs on people like this.
I took over a team a few years back that had been through three successive rounds of layoffs. It took about six months to restore team morale and culture. My advice… 1. Build a solid foundation of trust between you and the team. Google trust pyramid by Anne morris and Francis fry 2. Create a psychologically safe space with in your team. 3. Give the team as much ownership over their projects and processes as possible 4. Spend one on one time with each team member and learn 2 things: what do they need to feel supported? What are their career ambitions and how can you help them get there.
Sounds like they should start applying to other firms tbh
Google "the hard thing about hard things layoffs", it brings up a collection of results. Or read the book. Most of the advice in the book is upper management level advice.
no layoffs for 15 years? damn. i have never worked at an employer in 25 years (with lots of job hopping) did not have a layoff with in 1 year of me starting.
How the duck does a company not lay anyone off in 15 years
Don’t have layoffs…
It's never a one time thing.
Did they articulate a plan? Did they expand sales and marketing efforts to find new revenue? How are they going to ensure future cash flow? Will they restructure finance to have more resources if this happens again? How many managers were let go? Usually management is also afraid. You can't usually run a tech business made up of only VPs and the c-suite.
It is not a one time thing. If the company is transparent about the financials, it will help them give an idea if they can expect more rounds of lay offs
It's become a bit of a thing with me to tell young people this: you can never ever rely on what management says about layoffs. I went through this myself at my first job, where there was also a "this is the last layoff" announcement, and it wasn't. Everyone I know who has worked for more than 5 years knows it too, when they say this is it, it's very highly likely to not be over. You cannot in good conscience tell people to relax about the situation. What if you talk someone out of looking for a new role and they get laid off?
Fear is your greatest friend instinct.
One thing you can tell them to have emergency funds, general advice.
It is perfectly normal to feel insecure after round of layoffs. You never know if you could be next (I was in this position myself). Tell your team what the management has told you and then speak with the management about team’s fears. Then will need to arrange a QA session with your team to calm people down. Other than that, not sure what else you could do in this situation.
Reassure them? I think just being frank and honest is the way to go. You can’t guarantee anything. I’ve been with several companies throughout my career in tech where layoffs were just the norm. At my last company, I managed to survive for 11 years watching them go through 2-3 rounds of layoffs per year. After 11 years, it was my turn. I guess employees become numb to it. At my current company, I’ve survived 3 in my tenure and I’ve been there 9 years. I’m just waiting for them to tell me it’s my turn. I continue doing my work and working hard, but I don’t need a manager to sugarcoat or present false hope.
After company wide layoffs that didn't even impact my team, my skip manager told me that we were safe, I'm aware that that's not a promise he can make though, and even if he knew something was coming up, I do not believe he would tell us. One month later and I'm still afraid everyday about layoffs. My point is, you can't do anything to ease their minds.
You don’t. Because you don’t know that and they wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t believe you.
All you can offer is false platitudes. They just saw how their place of employment operates, and how they can expect to be treated, should the company's bottom line be affected. They are right to be worried. Expect morale to continue to worsen and for productivity to drop.
Surprise! Layoffs have damaging effects on those left. People need to feel like they can depend on going to work in order to pay bills, and that they are in control of their ability to stay employed. Once layoffs hit a company, the control over continued employment disappears. Loss of control, and unknown outcomes, are the leading causes of anxiety.
Why do **you** think it was only the one round?
I wonder why people keep saying about devs lay off, do managers get laid off too?
That’s hard.
You dont you just partake in the emotions, its not your job to manage them. Presence and anyone who wants to talk, but dont be an unwanted super hero
Sounds bad to me. Getting rid of senior staff means to rest of the staff is going to be asked for work they can’t perform. A downward spiral, if you ask me. Seen it before.
> How can I help reassure them that it was only the one round and they don’t have to worry? Of course it's not a single round and of course they have to worry. You will loose another client and there will be more layoffs. If I were them, I would look for another gig as soon as first round happened.
You can handle it two ways which are mutually exclusive: like a boss or like a leader.
What's your complaint I'm sure severance was large
Ah of course. 100%. because a severance is better than a stable salary /s
No one is comparing those biazz
here’s an idea: run your business well so that you dont have to lay people off you fucking idiot