Layoffs aren’t good for business. They are detrimental to employees, even those not directly affected, and I would add that they also don’t benefit customers.
The only benefit large corporations seem to get from layoffs is an increase in stock price, and that might be everything you need to know about the priorities of the C-Suite.
Then, when the labor market pendulum swings back the other way and there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill the jobs that it turns out AI can’t do, these same workplaces will come out talking about how they’ve always supported worker mental health, they even have an EAP hotline for workers!
Could you not buy it for a second? If they aren’t doing it now, they don’t care. If they don’t care, you owe them nothing more than what your wages buy them. This is what young people in the workplace understand, and many of us who have been around are starting to see as well. We owe them nothing more than what they pay for. The rest of our lives belong to us.
We also need to talk once again about the mental health of both those who were let go and those who are left behind. The shock of having your life turned upside down on the whim of an organization’s managers is overwhelming. Anyone who has been part of a layoff can tell you that. I went through it, and I know plenty of others who have also done so. It’s a traumatic experience.
I’ve also had the experience of watching people I worked closely with get let go more than once as part of a downsizing. That is also traumatic, and the impact goes much further than being sad the day it happens. You’re also likely adjusting schedules and workloads, taking on more work and stress for the same pay, and feeling guilty because you are at least still getting paid while others are not.
So, if you know someone affected by these layoffs, please reach out. Keep in touch with them as best you can and help keep them connected to a community within their industry.
If you don’t have a solid business reason for your policy, the rest of us will question your ability to make any decisions about the company going forward. Employees who have other options will take them when they don’t trust leadership.
Why give them a reason to distrust you?
For more like this, subscribe to the newsletter and get these links and more in your email.