How a Healthy Culture Manages Layoffs
In our last blog post, we suggested ways for a company to predict, manage, and prepare for business downturns without necessarily resorting to layoffs as a primary response. What we are witnessing with the COVID-19 pandemic is unavoidable layoffs--companies that are compelled to lay off workers in order to survive. In this post, we would like to focus on how a healthy company culture supports its employees when a layoff is necessary for the survival of the company.
Cloudfm Group Ltd., located in England, personifies how a healthy company culture takes care of its laid off employees. When the pandemic hit, this facilities management company was forced to furlough 70 percent of its 350+ staff when most of its customers shuttered their businesses. In England, furloughs are regulated by the government as a safety net for the loss of income and benefits. Up to 80 percent of income, to a maximum of 2,500 British pounds per month plus benefits, is covered in this program, and payment is initiated by the company, not the employee. This program is somewhat like unpaid leave, not a layoff as we know it in the US.
Let’s look at how Cloudfm CEO Jeff Dewing communicated to his leadership team, in a message he titled “6 Steps Towards Being a Great Leader during These Unprecedented Times.” We will summarize each of the six steps of Dewing’s message.
Step 1. Be open and honest. Leaders are encouraged to reach out to furloughed employees with clear, updated information while addressing any questions they may have.
Step 2. Reassure and support. Anticipate that your team may be nervous and fearful as to their future. Assure them that furloughs are unrelated to their performance but are instead caused by external market factors. Remind them that furloughs are temporary until it is safe for businesses to open.
Step 3. Keep them involved. Remind furloughed employees that they can attend virtual training, participate in team meetings such as regular check ins, and check their work emails for updated information. Remind employees of their value to your team and the importance of the strong culture that the team has created.
Step 4. Be positive, and suggest new activities. Be proactive in creating suggestions for ways to overcome boredom. Examples may be engaging in exercise, creative outlets, and learning new skills to improve their career, either through company programs or training found on the internet.
Step 5. Use your resources. Share company resources created to help with home-working, managing personal finances, wellbeing, and health and safety. Seek employee suggestions on how you can support them during the shutdown.
Step 6. Be compassionate. Be aware of employee situations; show respect and empathy, reinforce their value, and provide them with strong communication of what is going on in the company.
Dewing then offered the following additional tips to his leadership team:
· Take time to self-reflect
· Think about your own self-awareness
· Be aware of language; be empathetic, not sympathetic
· Be authentic; build trust
· Engage your team as people, not just as work colleagues. Show interest in their personal lives. Do not be afraid to ask them what they need from you and how you will try to help them.
Dewing sent out agendas to all his team leaders to reinforce and give structure to each step, including open-ended questions to ask. Every Friday at 6:00 PM, he delivered a state of the nation, business, and government video update and good news stories to all employees.
The company sent out a 26-item questionnaire to all remote and furloughed workers, asking about how they were feeling and how they were coping with their time at home. Ninety-two percent of workers responded to the survey--a sign that they remained engaged with the company.
Layoffs and furloughs can be devastating to workers on a personal and financial level. Even when the financial stresses are lessened, there is still the personal disruption and cutoff from the company. Cloudfm understood this and demonstrated true leadership by staying involved with workers during their furlough. The company assured workers that the furloughs were external and unrelated to their performance. Company managers engaged in frequent communication and offered sincere concern for the emotional wellbeing of furloughed workers. They offered virtual training and frequent updates on the status of the company. In short, they extended their healthy culture to furloughed workers by staying connected and showing compassion for the disruption in the lives of workers and their families.
Purchase Unleashing Human Energy through Culture Change, here: https://tinyurl.com/y7c53xqb.