Issue 24: A Chief of Staff's Guide to Layoffs
How can a Chief of Staff lead through layoffs empathetically & effectively?
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This issue of the newsletter touches on one of the most difficult aspects of being a Chief of Staff: navigating layoffs. In the last few years, we’ve seen hundreds of layoffs driven by economic pressure, pandemic pendulum swings, limited resources, and organizational restructuring efforts. Companies at every stage of growth have been forced to make difficult decisions to adapt and remain competitive. The most difficult decisions that executives face are those about the fate of the people and teams that report to them. Layoffs disrupt the lives of employees and can have a significant impact on company culture and morale.
As a Chief of Staff, you are often at the heart of critical organizational decisions. This includes the unenviable challenge of managing layoffs. While layoffs are never easy, they are necessary for effective resource allocation, restructuring, or shifts in business priorities.
In this week’s blog post, we'll walk through strategies for navigating layoffs with professionalism, empathy, and adherence to legal and ethical guidelines.
Special thanks to the following Chiefs of Staff for their insights and expertise into this topic:
Jillian Hufnagel, Former Chief of Staff at Duo Security and Head of Culture at Slim.AI Inc
Lee Pham, Former Chief of Staff at American Express
Jennifer Nardin, Chief of Staff at Autodesk and Former Chief of Staff at Intel Corporation
Lorena Medina, Former Chief of Staff
Natalie Hogan, Former Chief of Staff at DataRobot and Program Manager at Hasbro
Elysha Png, Head of Operations & Strategy and Former Chief of Staff at Vygo
Keegan Sard, Director and Chief of Staff at Keegan Ventures
🧱 Ahead of Any Layoffs: Understand Your Role & Prepare for Tough Decisions
The extent of a Chief of Staff’s participation around layoffs or Reductions in Force (RIFs) often depends on the organizational structure and the decision-making processes within the company. In some cases, Chiefs of Staff may play an active role in the decision-making discussions, providing valuable input and perspectives from their unique vantage point. They might collaborate closely with C-suite executives and other stakeholders to assess the business rationale, potential impact, and long-term implications of such a strategic move. On the other hand, there are instances where Chiefs of Staff may not be directly engaged in the initial discussions surrounding layoffs. Instead, their role might primarily focus on executing the plans, managing the logistics, and ensuring a smooth transition for the organization and its employees during and after the layoffs.
Once the layoff decision has been made, there are a series of checkpoints and actions a Chief of Staff should review before the announcement is made to the greater organization:
✅ Crafting a Collaborative Strategy
If you haven’t gone through a layoff process before, as a Chief of Staff or otherwise, research best practices and check for blindspots that you might have. Elysha Png, Head of Operations & Strategy at Vygo, suggests resources like listening to Lenny’s Newsletter podcast episode, “How to fire people with grace, work through fear, and nurture innovation w/ Matt Mochary.”
Similar to leading a cross functional initiative, you’ll need to bring different department managers together to create a collaborative and inclusive environment. And you’ll have to lead with the utmost discretion and tact (see below for tips on maintaining confidentiality in the process). This means engaging extensively with senior management and HR teams to initiate a comprehensive and well-rounded Reduction in Force strategy. It’s crucial that all managers conducting layoffs be aligned and on the same page.
As a part of the RIF strategy, you’ll need to help the leadership team evaluate the potential impact on various departments, focusing on fairness and transparency throughout the process to maintain trust and employee morale. You might even be called upon to help make tough decisions about position eliminations while exploring alternatives to layoffs to minimize disruption. Being impartial here may feel impossible, but it is imperative.
Depending on whether your organization has an internal communications team, drafting and delivering communications to affected employees may also fall on the Chief of Staff. Take a look at memos shared by other companies if you need help getting started. Writing something that affects people’s personal lives isn’t easy after all! Keegan Sard, Director and Chief of Staff at Keegan Ventures, suggests looking at Stripe’s lay off memo as well as Culture Amp’s announcement.
You’ll also need to think about the support framework provided to employees impacted by the RIF. Things to consider include a range of resources and assistance offered to employees as well as avenues for retraining, outplacement services, or potential internal transfers.
While discussions and decisions are being made around these topics areas, the Chief of Staff should be meticulously documenting and following up. Create an information wiki that you continue to update as the layoff discussions are happening so that leadership and managers can easily reference it and be consistent in positioning and messaging. And maintain a cadence of clear communication with the key stakeholders in your company’s layoff process: the C-Level, Human Resources, and your employment-focused legal & compliance colleagues.
✅ Ensuring Discretion & Confidentiality
Layoff discussions and decisions involve sensitive employee information. Organizations need to ensure that employee privacy is respected and that confidential information is handled appropriately throughout the process to protect from legal ramifications (more on that in the next section). And discretion is key to avoid reputational harm and maintain message discipline.
A Chief of Staff will be privy to layoffs happening well before most of the rest of the company. While you may have gotten to know other employees on a more personal level as you’ve worked closely together and would like to give them a heads up on things changing at the company, you must operate confidentially when it comes to layoffs. As a Chief of Staff, your service is first to the company and your principal and by sharing information around layoffs before the agreed upon announcements, you can open yourself and the company up to legal or reputational risk. Even if other employees have suspicions about layoffs and ask you about them, make sure you and your principal have an agreed upon strategy on how you will answer or direct the conversation to the appropriate avenues.
✅ Legal & Compliance
Lastly, make sure to collaborate with internal and external legal counsel and HR to ensure compliance with labor laws, employment regulations, and company policies. Keegan Sard, Director and Chief of Staff at Keegan Ventures, smartly pointed out that regulations like the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires employers conducting a large-scale layoff to provide 60 days notice to affected employees.
Other legal considerations to keep in mind include:
Discrimination and Retaliation
Severance Agreements and Release of Claims
Final Paychecks and Benefits
State and Local Laws
Alternative Solutions
Documentation
🧩 Execution of Reduction in Force
Once the decision of a RIF has been made and the date of announcement has been agreed upon, your role as a Chief of Staff is to make sure the process goes smoothly. Using the information that has been documented, you’ll need to equip the leadership team with the resources needed to deliver the messaging effectively and clearly. While it may feel cold and methodical to script every word of the layoff announcement and even provide a script for managers to read from, this ensures that emotions don’t come into play and cause someone to say something that later becomes grounds for a lawsuit or inconsistency in treatment of employees.
✅ The Layoff Announcement
When announcing a layoff, most companies will start with an all company meeting to let the entire company know that employees will be let go that day. The announcement should include:
Reason for the Layoffs: Clearly explain the reasons behind the layoffs. Whether it's due to economic challenges, restructuring, changes in business strategy, or other factors, providing a concise and honest explanation helps employees understand the context.
Impact and Scope: Specify the number of employees affected by the layoffs and the departments or areas where the layoffs will occur. This helps provide a clear picture of the scope of the situation.
Timing: Provide information about when the layoffs will take effect. This includes both the last working day for the affected employees and any timelines for transitioning to the new organizational structure.
Support Services: Offer details about the support services that will be available to the affected employees. This could include information about severance packages, outplacement services, career counseling, and assistance in finding new job opportunities.
Communication Channels: Inform employees about the channels they can use to ask questions, seek clarifications, and express their concerns. This could involve setting up dedicated email addresses, holding information sessions, or providing access to HR representatives.
Leadership Availability: Let employees know that company leaders, including HR representatives, executives, and yourself are available to discuss the situation and provide any necessary assistance.
Resources: Provide resources for employees to access information about unemployment benefits, continuation of health benefits, and other relevant topics.
Company Values and Culture: Reiterate the company's values and commitment to its employees. Highlight how the organization will continue to support its remaining staff, maintain its mission, and navigate through the changes.
Confidentiality: Stress the importance of respecting the privacy and confidentiality of affected employees during and after the layoff process. Encourage empathy and support among colleagues.
Future Outlook: Share the company's vision for the future and how the changes are intended to position the organization for growth and success in the long term. This can help alleviate some anxiety by providing a forward-looking perspective.
Gratitude: Express gratitude for the contributions of the employees who are leaving the organization. Acknowledge their hard work and dedication, which can help ease the emotional impact of the announcement.
Empathy and Sensitivity: Craft the announcement with empathy and sensitivity to the emotional impact of the news. Acknowledge the difficult nature of the decision and express a commitment to treating all employees with respect and dignity.
Additional Information: If there are any legal requirements or notices that need to be provided, make sure to include them as appropriate.
✅ Providing Logistical Support
As the day continues and employees who are affected are sitting in meetings with their managers, you will be tasked with providing support to both those who are affected and those who are staying on.
Creating an FAQ doc for employees to rely on can be helpful so that you don’t need to answer the same questions repeatedly. It will also give you the chance to point to a consistent and agreed upon answer. If any managers are having a hard time executing the script provided and need additional support in the room, know who you can rely on in HR to sit in the room as needed and/or provide additional support in real time.
Work with Human Resources, IT, and the respective team leaders to plan and monitor access control. As employees are being laid off, how will their devices, virtual access, and physical access be turned off or returned to company control? What notice needs to be provided partners/vendors so that the relationships there are maintained? And which remaining employees will be responsible for taking control of accounts, contacts, and passwords? These handoffs may not be the responsibility of the Chief of Staff, but in your unique role you must ensure that the respective teams’ leaders have adequately planned and involved the right stakeholders with discretion.
The day a RIF happens is going to be a reactionary day for the Chief of Staff. Clear your day and leave your calendar open to help handle anything that comes up. Your executives may need help in crafting emails and messaging to external parties or there might be press inquiries that need to be fielded. Leave yourself open to be able to react to these events in real time and be prepared to firefight.
❤️🩹 Post RIF
After the layoffs happen, the fallout of the event will linger. The employees who have not been laid off will be equally affected and company morale will take a dip. One Chief of Staff that I interviewed talked about making sure that you are spending as much time providing resources and help to the employees who are staying on.
✅ Employee Retention Strategies
After the RIF, create avenues where leadership can address the anxiety and concerns of retained employees. This could look like recurring town halls for the next few months as employees navigate the new normal of the company. Colleagues may need some time to process the changes that have happened and some challenges may not be obvious until days or weeks later after the dust has settled.
Your organization may also choose to offer support services such as counseling, employee assistance programs (EAPs), and resources for managing stress and emotional well-being. On the flip side, the company could also choose to invest in training and development programs for employees. This not only helps them acquire new skills but also demonstrates the organization's commitment to their growth, making them feel valued and invested in.
With employees’ posts empty after a layoff, staying employees will need time and help to adjust to new responsibilities, new resource allocation, and more. Take the time to realign on what is expected and what the company’s mission and goals are. Show grace to employees and reiterate communication around why the layoffs happened and what needs to happen so that another layoff isn’t on the horizon.
✅ Continuous Improvement and Iteration
As your organization moves forward from the RIF, make sure you’re continuously assessing the RIF process's effectiveness: conducting post-mortems and forward planning to minimize the likelihood of future reductions while remaining prepared.
Gather feedback from the remaining employees and present findings back to them in town halls. It might even be an opportunity to create an offsite for employees to come together in person in order to reinforce the organization's values and culture. But bear in mind that events taking place after a layoff might be perceived as corporate spending that could have been cut in order to spare some former employees. Make sure that business-as-usual activities after the layoffs take the appropriate tone.
Know that although the layoff process might be coming to an end and it’s going to feel like it’s time to get back to business as usual, your organization is coming out of the process as a new company that is different from pre-RIF. Acknowledge that certain processes will change and maybe be eliminated now that they no longer serve their original purpose. Team structures may shift and it’s important to allow employees time to adjust to their new structures. Continue to monitor for repercussions of the RIF and continue to act as a listening ear to both leadership and team members so that you can continue to best keep a 10,000 ft view and a “boots on the ground” perspective.
As a Chief of Staff, navigating the complex landscape of layoffs requires a thoughtful and comprehensive approach. While no one ever plans to need to execute a layoff or would even like to need one, external economic environment can cause a RIF to be necessary. By collaborating closely with senior leadership, HR, legal experts, and affected employees, a Chief of Staff can successfully guide your organization through this challenging period with professionalism, empathy, and ethical integrity.
Hope you found the latest issue of this newsletter helpful. We’re looking to you for future newsletter topics! If you have any questions around being a Chief of Staff, tactical takeaways that you can apply, or other curiosities about the Chief of Staff role, submit a question below and we’ll answer it in a future newsletter issue:
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Additional Chief of Staff Related Reads:
Note to Culture Amp employees from CEO, Didier Elzinga
Adapting to the new normal after company layoffs
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👋🏼 Until the next issue,
Clara
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