Steps for Conducting a Respectful, Professional Downsizing

Downsizing is one of the most difficult times a company will go through. There are rumors flying, people are getting upset and uncertainty is in the air.

The most important advice I can give in this situation is to slow down.

Plan Carefully
Ensure that ample time is allowed to make sure you’re doing careful planning and a lot of thought is given to the downsizing process, because if you cut too deeply and eliminate positions you’re going to need again in the near future, that’s going to haunt you.

You shouldn’t eliminate a position that you’re going to need to rehire for in six months. I recommend there be at least a year before you rehire in that position unless you’re willing to bring back the same individual. 

Unfortunately, that happens sometimes with my clients.

They are in a hurry to “stop the bleeding,” so they just start eliminating positions and don’t involve their management team because of the risk of involving too many people and having rumors start to fly. Then they find out after they’ve cut an individual that, “Oh My Gosh! That person had intellectual capital we need going forward.” So then they wind up having to bring them back.

This should be avoided at all costs.
 

You Have to Think “Big Picture”
You should always be thinking about the future and make sure ahead of time that you’re not going to need a position before eliminating it. 

A workforce reduction should be executed because you’re eliminating positions that are no longer needed, not as an excuse to get rid of underperformers that should have been managed out before the downsizing. 

Eliminating a poor performer’s job just to get rid of the person is a mistake, especially if you’ll still need someone to get their work done. It could backfire and you may be subjecting yourself to a lawsuit for wrongful termination or discrimination because you didn’t really use the right criteria when eliminating the person. 

Senior management really needs to consult with their human resources department and employment counsel in the planning process to ensure legal liabilities are considered and strategies are formulated to ensure employees are treated respectfully and not made to feel as though they are a pariah.
 

Impact on Employees
If you don’t take time to carefully plan and consider everything in a downsizing situation, you might risk damaging your reputation with the surviving employees and they aren’t going to trust you anymore. 

Department heads should be involved in the development of the business plan to ensure positions that are key to the company’s success in the future are not included in the cut and that you don’t lose people who have critical intellectual capital. 

Here are some ways to minimize the impact on employees: 

• Provide Career Transition Assistance—If at all possible, provide assistance to both separated and surviving employees, such as career counseling.
  
  I worked with a company that was downsizing and they provided personal counseling services. They brought someone in to talk to the people who were being let go, prior to being let go.
  
  Expect that your employees are going to have ups and downs—from being angry to grieving. This is a normal part of the whole process, so if you bring in a counselor to talk to them, you’ll be giving them strategies to overcome the situation.
  
• Provide Resume-Writing Assistance—Work with the employees that you’re letting go. Offer to have them send you their resume, then look it over, critique it and give it back to them.
  
  Just this little bit of effort helps make those employees feel valued and shows you care about them. Also, if you can, give them access to office equipment, such as computers for writing their resume. Or advise them on places they can go locally to have computer and Internet access, like a public library or college library. For example, there’s an organization in Houston called Between Jobs Ministry. They offer computers to people who have been laid off.
  
• Hook Them Up With Job Listings—Tell your employees about job fairs or give them a list of all the Internet job boards that are out there.
  
  You could even go a step further and contact local employment agencies to let them know your company is going through a downsizing and some of your employees are going to need help finding new jobs. Be sure they know to keep the impending downsizing strictly confidential until after all your employees have been notified.
  
  Bring the job agents into the office and have a “termination meeting,” so employees can meet the agents in person and get started with their job search.
  
  The sooner people get another job, the less time they’ll have to sit around and think of other ways they can get money, such as bringing a lawsuit against your company.
  
• Contact Your State Workforce Commission—Some states require it anyway, but contacting these people to let them know that you’re downsizing will give them a heads up, especially if it’s a large layoff. Many of these organizations will help your terminated employees find new jobs.

Downsizing is one of the most difficult times a company will go through.