How to lay off employees and remain an attractive work place

 


When a large number of employees' employment with an organization is ending, the term "layoff" is interchangeable with and frequently linked to ideas like reduction-in-force (RIF), downsizing, rightsizing, termination, firing, reengineering, restructuring, and voluntary separation options (VSO). Organizational layoffs are intended to increase productivity, the outlook for the economy, and general competitiveness, and they are frequently seen as the sole means of preventing bankruptcy for businesses. (Neto, 2018).

When a layoff is announced it is very hard for those who are directly involved with the layoff. for example right after thanks Giving holiday in the year 2018 General Motors announced they were going to shut down 5 manufacturing plants and it will lay off around 15000  employees .according to the company they will save 6 billion dollars due to this layoff. (Lynch & Telfor, 2018)

Due to the high labor rates in developed countries, companies tend to outsource their production to cheaper markets due to low costs and tax purposes. for example, AT&T shut down 44 call centers in the past 10 years and workers offshore paid only 2$ compare to 10$ in the US (Sainato, 2018).


                                       Figure 1 Layoff in the  oil industry (Slav, 2016).

Either firing a single employee or laying off a group of workers will be a very difficult job for a human resources manager to manage (Mujtaba, Ping, & Jieqiong, 2013; Sarwar, Khan, & Mujtaba, 2018).

 

Reasons for layoff?

 

There can be many reasons for layoff. here are some to consider as per the Indeed website.

 

1 . Company relocation

2.  Closing business operations

3 . Management's decision to reduce the cost.

4 . Mergers and acuistions

5 . Management decides to outsource the business.

6 . Financial issues

7 . Offshoring

8 . Projects cancellation

 

Tips to lay off employees with dignity

 

1 . Recognize the pain -  When there is a layoff inside the company, it is a difficult time for everyone. It is not suitable for management to act joyfully at this moment. Making such decisions could harm the feelings of those who have been laid off, and management should recognize that this is a difficult time for everyone.

 

2 . Remain objective - it is easy to personalize a layoff but it is not productive. Managers should be careful when selecting positions to eliminate. They need to be very careful when speaking to the employees about layoffs.

 

3 . Plan carefully - The layoff must be planned properly and executed well and HR should coordinate with management as to how they going to fill the gaps in the organization.

 

4 . Consensus Building - Whatever the reasons can be for the layoff but its management should come up with an agreement on who will effect by this and how they are going to continue the operations.

 

5 . Treat employees with respect - it's the management's responsibility to respect and protect the dignity of the employees who are laid off .for example every employee should have a chance to discuss their layoff.

 

6 . Support remaining employees  - if there is a layoff in the organization this will affect the productivity level of the remaining staff as well so it's important to motivate the remaining staff to get the full potential from them.

 

Conclusion

A layoff can be a difficult time for the employees and employers in the organization .organization may require layoffs for cost reduction, restructuring, and change according to the market trends. However, it can affect very negatively on business reputation. so its management responsibility is important to solve this issue with the affected employees sensitively.


References

Mujitaba, B., 2020. Layoffs and Downsizing Implications for the Leadership Role of Human Resources. Layoffs and Downsizing Implications for the Leadership Role of Human Resources, 13(2).

Rice, D., 2021. https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/. [Online]Available at: https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/hr-talent-management/articles/10-strategies-for-dealing-with-layoffs[Accessed 27 April 2023].

Keerthi, V., 2022. www.news.crunchbase.com. [Online]
Available at: https://news.crunchbase.com/startups/tech-layoffs-2022/
[Accessed 27 April 2023].

Comments

  1. Good selection of topic. Layoff is a hard decision to carry out. But once it comes as essential, the company needs to implement it for the continuity of the organization and maximization of the ROI.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Abdul , u discussed somewhat different but interesting subject, good work

    ReplyDelete
  3. 8 reasons of lay off is bit scary and risky for an employee. Anyway nice topic and well presented. I was enjoying reading. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gathered some valuable Information and contents are really useful

    ReplyDelete

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