Good ways to deliver bad news

The best organizations do not simply get rid of people, they rethink their culture and build better relationships with employees and customers, says Aniel Mishra, a visiting professor of business at Duke University in Durham, N.C. “Companies need to focus not just on getting smaller but on getting better and more innovative.”

When High Steel Structures in Lancaster, Pa., needed to trim its staff, executives were “very upfront” about it, Mr. Mishra says. Six months later, business improved. Although everyone had found a permanent job elsewhere, they all came back, a testament to the company and the way it handled layoffs.

The best companies approach layoffs as a last resort, says Amy Lyman, director of corporate research at the Great Place to Work Institute in San Francisco. She is seeing more creative approaches to avoiding layoffs. That includes creative scheduling. Some companies are switching to a four-day week. Others are using time off without pay and furloughs.

A few larger organizations are also creating online and real-world networks for their alumni, where they can stay in touch with others who went through the layoff, says David Grossman, president of a communications company in Chicago.

One company, Astellas Pharma US, is not reducing its own staff. Yet it is launching job-search workshops for laid-off family members of its employees. The full-day workshops include job-search counseling, networking advice, and career-building guidance.

When downsizing is necessary, Ms. Lyman finds that the best firms “go what they consider the extra mile in providing benefits, extending health insurance, and making COBRA payments,” which extends healthcare coverage for the unemployed.

If businesses don’t handle layoffs properly, they risk lawsuits. Nearly 90 percent of discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission are related to employee terminations, says James Bucking, an employment lawyer in Boston.

AVOID PUBLIC SHAMING

One bad practice is to make employees feel like criminals once they are notified that their job is being eliminated, says Paul Falcone, author of “101 Tough Conversations to Have With Employees.” “Be sure to explain to the employees that their computer might not work when they get back to their desk, that it is simply standard procedure, and if there’s anything they need, it can be arranged to get that for them at a later time. More importantly, don’t have security escort the individual back to his desk and off the property, unless you’re in a high security-type of business. No public shaming is necessary.”

The best companies do just the opposite, expressing respect.

“Sometimes managers are afraid to say they’re sorry because it infers some kind of guilt or responsibility for the individual getting laid off,” says Mr. Falcone.

“But hearing ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘Thank you’ is a universal human need that allows us healthy closure on unexpected changes in our lives, including job loss. Don’t let someone walk out the door grumbling, ‘After all these years of dedication, they didn’t even say thank you or that they were sorry for letting me go.’ ”

As Kass says, “It costs so little to treat someone with respect and dignity and listen to their point of view.”

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