In the past year, the who’s who of tech companies hit send to lay off tens of thousands.
Someone in Security or HR must have determined this to be the safest approach. Or Operations optimized the process with so many working from home. And when you lay off thousands of people, logistics are important.
But easy and safe means they’ve prioritized managers’ convenience over the people affected. They’ve taken a risk-mitigation approach to a situation screaming for human decency. It’s the wrong answer. It’s the wrong answer as human beings, and it’s the wrong answer as a business. The people who didn’t get laid off watch how the company treats the employees who have been let go. Lose trust, and you lose your culture’s connective tissue.
Laying people off sucks. You feel like you’ve failed them. No matter your business rationale, you understand the impact to someone’s life– their hopes and dreams, their ability to pay the rent, the inevitable blow to their self-esteem. You feel terrible, but you also know that it’s not about you. Whatever you feel pales in comparison to the person on the other side of the table. Or in this case, the receive side of the email.
I don’t care if a person has been in your company for twenty years or twenty minutes, they deserve to have a human being look them in the eye, acknowledge how sorry they are, and deliver the message with care and compassion. Someone to answer questions, explain benefits, and offer support in seeking a next opportunity. Those conversations are tough. Sometimes they don’t go well. All the more reason to have them.
I’m sure there are follow up calls and comprehensive benefits explanations. Severances have been generous, and many managers market their affected team members to their network. There’s probably even a rationalization that people can absorb the news in private, collect themselves and have better conversations. Maybe that’s true for some.
But as a policy? I don’t buy it. If you’ve made what should be a gut-wrenching decision to eliminate positions or reduce your force or right-size the organization (whatever you call it), have the courage to deal with the consequences face-to-face.
As Gandhi said, “Action expresses priorities.” We’re prioritizing pain avoidance and risk mitigation over doing right by people.
I used to think that values are not what you say; they’re what you do. That’s not right. Your values are not what you do during boom times. It’s easy to treat people well when you’re growing 20%, the bonus pool is fully funded, and you’re serving craft IPAs to engineers playing Pac Man in the break room. Your values are what you do, how you treat people, how you show up, during the difficult times.
Self-anointed or not, Silicon Valley has become the standard-setter in leading in the digital age. They get a lot right, but they’ve gotten this one wrong. It’s time to be less digital and more human. People deserve better.
