Lay-off's: If You Have to Do It, Make It Less Painful!

Posted by Laddie Blaskowski on Nov 18, 2009

I’m going to talk about an unpleasant but often necessary task facing many business owners in this economy—laying people off. No one likes to talk about it, let alone do it, but laying people off is becoming a reality for many companies, professional practices, and non-profit organizations.

If you’ve analyzed your business and concluded that layoffs are necessary, I’d like to offer some suggestions to make the process less painful for you as the business owner.

1. If a layoff is necessary, accept it. This suggestion primarily has to do with your own emotional state because laying people off is unpleasant and upsetting. But if you’ve done a careful analysis of your situation and have determined that it’s necessary for the health and survival of your organization, then you need to find a way to accept that it must be done.

2. Keep your best people! This may seem obvious, but people often let their emotions get in the way when making these kinds of decisions. On a number of occasions I’ve heard business owners make statements such as, “Mary’s work is better, but I like Karen more and would prefer to keep her.” It’s great to like your employees but when your company is hurting to the point of making lay-offs, you must retain the people who are most capable of keeping your business going.

3. Get it over with. Business owners often wait too long to make the decision to lay people off, and end up costing their companies money by delaying. Again, it’s an unpleasant thing to do but don’t waste time agonizing over it. Once you’ve determined that it’s necessary, do it right away.

4. Don’t do it in stages. If you already know that you will have to lay off six people, don’t lay them off in stages. This only prolongs any distress you feel over the layoffs and delays the adjustment period. And it can have a devastating effect on staff morale since they may be wondering if they’re going to be next. It’s better to let them go all at once.

5. Have a plan to more forward. Your remaining employees will look to you for leadership. By all means, express regret that you’ve had to reduce your staff. But at the same time, show them you’re strong and optimistic about the future. Have a clear plan for moving ahead with the work that needs to be done, for marketing and sales, for great customer service, and for efficient operations.

Laying people off probably ranks as one of the most stressful events a business owner has to deal with. The better you plan for it and the more smoothly the process occurs, the easier it will be on everyone involved and the sooner you can move ahead. Remember that by letting a few people go, you are doing what’s best for your business and thereby saving jobs for the rest of your employees.