Discussion
Whenever we talk about layoffs the conversation gets fairly emotional. This is completely understandable as layoffs impact a person's financial livelihood and can be very personally disrupted. I do know if there is a "good" way for a business to manage this process but I do know that there are certain ways a company should not do it. I feel strongly that a company should not drag out the process as it becomes very stressful for both the employees being laid off as well as the remaining employees.
When I worked at my second company we went through a series of layoffs that impacted almost ten percent of the home office. I was put in a position of having to walk out more than a half a dozen associates and managers that I had hired within the last year. I was an extremely unpleasant experience for all people involved. One facet of the layoff process that was done poorly was that the date of the layoffs was leaked to associates causing significant stress and the process was dragged out over a period of a few weeks.
QUESTION:
How would you recommend a company communicate a layoff if it could not be avoided?