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August 2, 2009
For 30 years, Paul worked for a Pittsburgh-based manufacturing company and, in his last position, was a vice president and member of the team charged with terminating people during a massive corporate restructuring.
As he sat through leadership team meetings early this year while plans unfolded to lay off about 300 employees, Paul began to suspect his job in marketing would be among those slashed because of sluggish orders and the company's decision to shutter some plants.
What he didn't expect was to conduct his own exit interview on the day in March that his job was eliminated.
"My boss, unbeknownst to me, was being let go the same day," said Paul, 54, who asked that his real name not be used in this story. "I worked at a remote facility, and his office was at the headquarters. I knew I had to terminate a [younger employee] the same day that I would be laid off. But there were no human resources or senior executives at our facility to do my exit interview, and my boss had been laid off, too, so this young woman and I sat down in my office and I signed her papers and she signed mine. I asked her for her keys and she asked for mine."
While the worst economic downturn in decades has forced employers to pare their payrolls from factories on up to the executive suite, many companies have yet to develop a proper protocol for letting people go, according to experts in human resources and outplacement.
In a nutshell: Be upfront with the facts and have the right personnel on hand to deliver the news and answer questions about severance and post-layoff benefits.
Unlike Paul's case, where no one who was staying on was around to see him out the door, on the day that layoffs are scheduled, "it should be almost choreographed to have everyone in their places," said Brenda Vester, vice president of client relations for the Pittsburgh office of Lee Hecht Harrison, a firm that provides outplacement and career transition services.
Even when employees know it's going to be their last day at work, they may have questions about severance pay, pension and other benefits, and how and when to turn in their company-issued cell phone and laptop, she said.
She also advises having a supervisor or executive available to answer inquiries about who's going to handle the work the laid-off person used to do.
Ms. Vester's first exposure to widespread layoffs was as an employee in human resources at Horne's department store when the Lazarus chain bought it and closed Horne's landmark location Downtown in 1995.
"People who had worked there for 30 years were losing their jobs. You learn something from sitting across the table from someone who is devastated."
David, a former purchasing manager for General Motors at a technical center in Michigan, was stunned the day the automaker laid him off four years ago.
"I thought I would retire there," said the 53-year-old who asked that his last name not be used. "It was in one of the first rounds of executive cuts. And it wasn't handled well. ... I was called to a meeting at 10:30 a.m. with my boss and an HR person as a witness and was told my position was eliminated. I was told to leave and pack up [immediately]. They said, 'Give me your badge, your keys, your phone and your parking pass.'
"About 500 people were notified that day. There were security guards outside the meeting room in case somebody lost it, and we were escorted out so we only took what we were supposed to take.
"After I was given the news, my boss asked how I was doing. I said 'devastated,' ... and shortly after that he left the room and the personnel people told me about the severance package."
David landed two positions after leaving GM but was downsized by both companies just a year or so after being hired because of economic-related restructurings.
At his most recent layoff, his boss and the head of personnel summoned him at 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday and told him Friday would be his last day.
"They were as sympathetic and nice as you can be. They both sincerely felt bad about the circumstances," he said.
Because he thought those who delivered the news to him that time showed empathy, David said he was better able to accept the layoff than he was when GM terminated him.
That's not unusual because managers typically fall into two categories when it comes to executing a downsizing, said Albert "Punch" Murphy, a management consultant and adjunct professor at Duquesne University's John F. Donahue Graduate School of Business. Prior to starting his consulting practice, Mr. Murphy worked in organizational development for Mellon Bank from 1969 to 1987.
"On one end, there are managers who are good soldiers and pretty good followers. Characteristically, they're pretty financially oriented. They don't have a well-developed moral compass even though they may go to church every Sunday.
"They don't bring morality and ethics to the workplace. So they see layoffs as a way to get rid of dead wood. They do these downsizing waves and layoffs and don't have a big internal issue with it."
The other camp of managers includes "effective leaders who people want to work for. They are more mature and introspective ... and they care about authenticity and managing people well. They know you don't downsize into greatness.
"They know it's a time for survival, not greatness. They take the action and find it painful. They know intellectually this makes sense and has to be done, but their hearts are in conflict with it."
Chris Bryan, 43, of Robinson, was laid off in March after 14 years in marketing positions with Bruegger's, a national restaurant chain based in Burlington, Vt. Ms. Bryan picked up on clues of her pending departure well in advance of the phone call she received in January telling her she would be let go.
"At my performance evaluations, I would hear that I did a great job, but I made too much money," she said.
When her boss called her Pittsburgh office and said, "I'm sitting here with the HR person," Ms. Bryan knew exactly where the conversation would lead.
But with eight weeks' notice, a severance package, the opportunity to finish projects and an option to attend a company-wide convention in Florida before her last day, she believes Bruegger's was "humane" in how they treated her.
"A lot of people get walked out of the building. But they gave me more time than most people are used to getting," she said.
Still, it bothers her that the company didn't acknowledge that her high compensation compared with less experienced workers was a problem. "They said they were centralizing at the headquarters. But I know it was my salary."
Among Mr. Murphy's advice to managers faced with the task of downsizing is to "tell the truth whatever it is. If this is the first round of layoffs and there may be others, you say that."
In fact, those charged with the terminations should say more than they have to if possible, said Ms. Vester. "Overcommunication is OK. You cannot communicate enough. Because when the rumor mill starts, if a company can communicate what the business reason is [for layoffs], you can build a trust because you still have people working there."
Managers and human resources specialists who have had to lay off others also say it's best to do it in person and to avoid announcing the news to a roomful of workers in a town meeting scenario.
"It's best one-on-one," said Greg Brunnhuber who worked in human resources for Fortune 500 firms including Armstrong World Industries and Georgia-Pacific prior to launching his own Penn Hills-based consulting business. "It's worst when delivered to a group. People are hired one at a time; they should be laid off one at a time. The most important consideration is that there's a human being on the other side of the table."
Sandy Schubert, director of human resources at Genilogix, a South Side information technology company, has worked for a series of startups where she was responsible for laying off the work force.
"It's the absolute least favorite part of my job," she said.
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