Leveraging Leadership

From Execution to Aftermath: Managing the Realities of Layoffs

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 212

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Part 2 focuses on the practical steps and real-life challenges of carrying out layoffs, like coordinating with HR and IT, preparing benefit info, and setting up conversations with those affected. Emily shares personal experiences, including handling difficult reactions and making sure Chiefs of Staff help with both the announcements and the follow-up communication to support everyone involved. The episode also covers how to manage the work left behind and how to help teams refocus after a layoff round.


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Who Am I?

If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want. 

 

Time Stamps:

00:52 Preparing for Layoffs
02:38 Coordinating with HR and IT
03:54 Conducting Layoff Conversations
06:20 Handling Reactions and Follow-ups
07:25 Logistics and Safety Considerations
09:54 Post-Layoff Communication
14:42 Final Thoughts and Support

emily-sander_2_07-25-2025_140808:

Okay. Now in our example, let's say that we've gone through the subsequent communications and gosh, we've done everything we possibly can, and now we're gonna have to a layoff round. There's no other option to keep the company afloat, to have it survive. We're gonna have to do a round of layoffs. Okay, so we've got this thing teed up. We're going with contingency plan B. Everyone's got their lists ready. Okay? So this is gonna happen. There's a whole bunch of prep and orchestration that goes on beforehand to get this thing ready. So it's basically like a well-oiled machine once this process starts. It's a well-oiled machine and you want it to run smoothly, and you want people to know their roles and the handoffs and the timing and what needs to happen, what can be said, what shouldn't be said, all these things. So this will look different for every single company and every single team, especially like larger corporations, if you've got a global situation happening, if you have thousands of people being affected, if you're a small company and you have, you know, a handful of people being affected, if it's remote, if it's in person. So all these different contingencies that you need to think about, but let's just say, um. In our example, it's, it's a medium sized company, and let's say there's, I don't know, 15 people that are being laid off. Okay? you've got the benefit pieces that need to be organized. You've got maybe the COBRA for insurance that you have to get on point with HR on. You need to verify where you're sending that information. Do we have addresses and email addresses and phone numbers to contact people and make sure we have connection with them after their work? Information gets shut off. We have to coordinate with it for access because some people, uh, respond differently to, to being in a layoff round. And some people go a little crazy and so you wanna shut off the communication. Um, I've seen that happen where someone, I don't mean to laugh, but this was actually a termination and went crazy with an all company email and it was like, okay, so lesson learned, we should shut that down sooner. And the vp, that was their first, uh, termination ever. And so she forgot and then this happened and she was mortified and it was like, that stuff happens. I'm so sorry it was on your very first one.'cause now you're like a little bit traumatized looking and you're gonna go out for a stiff drink afterward. But anyway, coordinate with it. Make sure that they are on point for, okay, this is the timing that these things are happening in and you need to shut these things off as soon as that person, gets done with that meeting or goes into that meeting or what have you. So here's where you bring, start bringing some other people into the tent, so to speak. But the big ones tend to be HR and IT in my experience. So having those people unlock, okay, here's exactly what needs to happen. Here's when this is happening. I'll slack you, I'll text you. Here's the confirmation that, that, that it went through. Here's the email template we're gonna send out. So they have all their benefit information. All this stuff needs to be boom, boom, boom. It's orchestrated in some of the layoff rounds I did, it was back to back to back individual conversations with people, which was awful. I mean, it's awful for them, but it was just like this, this is a shitty day. Uh, but that's what it was. And we had this to a T where like everyone knew when this was happening, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I would communicate with everyone on what was happening. They were on standby. And once we started that conversation, they knew the steps to take on their end. So everything worked like a well-oiled machine. Okay, so that goes through. and I would say in those conversations, the way that I've seen it done is you have either the manager, or in some cases, if the CEO wants to be involved for some of these, depending on who it is, the relationship, the situation, et cetera, uh, I've seen the CEO involved and then, like an HR person, uh, or the chief of staff or someone else in there as the second person to be in there. And let's say this example, the CEO makes the announcement, we made the decision, da dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. People kind of know what's up.'cause they've heard the context for like, yep, okay, this was a possibility. And yes, from those subsequent communications, it seemed like this was becoming a more distinct possibility. And now they're like, yep, yep. Okay. I'm part of the layoff round. Got it. Maybe the second person there is ready to go with the benefit information to walk them through, here's what's going to be sent to you, here's the, you know, Cobra option you have. Here's, if there's like a. Like a non-disclosure, something they have to sign or whatever it is, any paperwork they have to go through. And we're gonna send you an email. And I've been in situations where I'm the one confirming the physical mailing address and the email address we have on file is the most, is the most, uh, up to date. So things like that, you can kind of tag team things. And that way sometimes it's one person doing the talking and someone else is there just for the record type of thing. Whatever it needs to be in your situation. in these, I tend to be short and to the point, respectful, but not overly, like, we're gonna have a long hour, long conversation about this. Most people don't wanna have one. They like, they're, they're tend, might be embarrassed about things and they just want the conversation to be over. So it's boom, boom, boom. And it's warm but not overly effusive. It's factual, but not overly judicial. You kind of wanna hit that sweet spot of just the tone. Talk to them like a person. if they're receiving that, sometimes their, their eyes lays over and they're just like, just move through this, like, as quickly as possible, like a robot and like, get me out of here. So it just depends. But these don't tend to be long conversations in, um, in my experience. Some people again will want like reasons and how was I picked and blah, blah, blah. And you don't go into that. It's just this decision has been made type of thing. Some people know what's up and they're like, this is, this is how it goes. This is business. This is unfortunate. You're like, yeah, I'm, you know, I'm so sorry and we wish this was much different. And you have that kind of conversation with them a little bit at the end. Know where people's level of experience is at with this. And that will also help inform you, okay, who's in conversations, who can be part of the actual conversation with the person being laid off. If we're doing a tag team situation, who are the most appropriate two people to go in and have that conversation to inform individuals or to inform groups that they're being laid off. Um, so kind of get a read on who do we have in on the leadership team or whoever's gonna be involved in making these announcements to people. Um, who do we have there?'cause it might be, oh, okay, we cannot have this person involved in this part of it. They're gonna, that that's not gonna be a good situation. It might be. This is the first time this person has done this. We're gonna have someone else take point. But this is a good learning opportunity. We need this person to be in these discussions and be watching and listening to learn how to do it, and to get a rep under their belt. And so that might be something you think about. So there's all these different kind of layers and facets that go into a process like this. Other general notes I would say. If you are in the room where you're letting someone know they're being laid off, just know that humans have different reactions to this. On the whole, I've seen people be generally fine, but then there's the, the exception cases on kind of either end of the, of, of the spectrum. I have had people, I have had the full gamut. Um, usually it's a little bit different feeling and tone when it's a layoff versus a termination, but you never know. Like people got different situations, people have different lenses. They look at things through, so you never know. Some like logistical things, if you think someone is going to respond very badly and aggressively and they're big and strong, you might keep that in mind when you think about who's gonna be in the room. We have had cases, this is mostly for terminations, but just to throw it out here in case you need it for a layoff situation where we've had police outside the door where, hey, this guy is, Big and strong, and he's been aggressive before and we just wanna have someone on standby just in case. Um, I am five four if I stand up straight and I'm pretty athletic, but there's been people who I have had to lay off and some I've had to terminate where I'm like, I want someone else in the room, um, who can handle, handle something coming across the table at me if they make a move for it. So just, if you have to go to the extreme levels, I would much rather be safe than sorry for myself or for any one of my team having to be in any situation. Obviously, if it's remote, that's a different setting altogether, but, if it's in person, I would take care to situate the room and situate the location and the exits and all those things. Timing is another thing to think about. If it's, say it's. More dignified to do at the end of the day, or do it at the beginning of the day, depending on shifts or locations or where people sit or whatever. Kind of keep those things in mind as well. What else? Um, I have had people hug me after, after I've told them, which is a very, a very odd situation as well. I was like, oh, oh, we, uh, you're hugging. Okay. I'm gonna, we're hugging. Okay. Okay. And you're taking your paperwork in your folder and you're walking out. Okay. I guess you can have a hug at the end of that. Cool. So very different reactions people could have and just be prepared to hold the space, convey the information that needs to be conveyed, do it in the best possible way, and then You're not done at this point, so you're like, oh my gosh, like this has been so many conversations and so many like spreadsheets and numbers and blah, blah, blah. So as much as you would like to be done, you're not done. So as much of the front running communication that you had, you also wanna have some follow up communication. You would certainly want to let the people's managers know, so the direct managers, if they're not the ones in these conversations, at least let them know this is happening. at the soonest point you can. I would say for any work that's going to be rerouted, certainly let people know if like, Hey, now you're on point for this. You're gonna have to pick up this project. It might be the case where. The, the work went away. So you didn't have work and that was part of the problem. You didn't have the work coming in. And so when these folks go away, the work isn't needed anyway. So there's no effect on the rest of the team. If it's like, no, we're just having to cut people and the work is still there. So now this person gets two or three times the work, it would be running through those contingency plans with, okay, what are we gonna do with the work? How are we gonna reroute the work? We can't just give three times more to this person, so how are we going to augment their workload? And it might be, okay, this has happened. You're taking on this project. We know you can't do three times as much as you are doing. So this stuff you are doing now comes off your plate. I don't have to do that anymore. No, this stuff comes off your plate. We're not expecting that. We need you to take care of this over here though. Okay. Got it. It might be, Here's the new handoff process. Here is the new, uh, workaround or whatever it is that something has been adjusted for the people left over. You wanna make sure that communication is clear. It might be, Hey, if you are working with anyone in this group, um, go find this person. If you can have a single point of contact, maybe it's a manager, like these five people. If you are working with them on something, go to this person, which is their manager, and the manager can help disseminate and distribute the work type of thing. I would make sure those communications happen. It's really kind of weird and eerie and kind of, it can be creepy when layoff rounds happen. And then no announcements. No one says anything, and it's like, whoa, it's a ghost town over here. I see tumbleweeds going over dirt, uh, but no one's saying anything. So I guess they're just not there. Like people are texting their friends and people are like coming up with stories. So get the official announcement out there, address it, but don't overly indulge in it. We're not gonna talk about this for weeks and weeks and weeks and months and months and months, and have a drama fest over it. This happened, it was unfortunate. We gotta turn things around. We need people to be on point. Let's go. And hopefully we can be in a position to bring folks back in the future, but we need to be on point and we need to be focusing on the right thing. So hold space for it right after it happens. And then slowly but steadily direct people back to, here's the task at hand. This is. This is bread and butter, chief of staff wheelhouse stuff. And certainly as a CEO you should be doing this. And as other C-suite executives, you should be doing this in your own ways with your own teams. But as chief of staff, I would think be thinking through, okay, after this announcement goes down, where do I have to have conversations? What did different people need? Where are we gonna have to catch? Where are we gonna have to redirect? Who are people who are more resilient in these situations and can help lead the refocus effort? All these different types of things you can think through. Sometimes you're gonna get surprised where it's like, oh, I thought that person was gonna freak out. And they are rising to the occasion beautifully. Okay. Like, you keep going in that direction. Thank you for your help. And like this steady Eddie is like, gonna be fine. He's gonna be a stable. Oh my gosh. He's a pool of whatever on my desk. He's crying. Okay, hold on, I gotta rethink what I'm gonna do over here. So, uh, just, just be open to that. And it also like, as a, as a social experiment, as chief of staff, you learn a lot. About people. You learn a lot about people when the rubber meets the road. You learn a lot about people's true colors. And it can be surprising and at a very kind of neutral objective level, it's a good data point if you're, you can collect some really significant data points on how people respond and how people act when the chips are down. so all of that to say there's, There's a whole follow up communication cadence and follow up conversations that you, that you could have as well. I said that at the beginning. And just again, So treat people with respect and dignity. They're a human being at the baseline at the end of the day, so they deserve that. And they are your colleague and potentially your friend, or you were friendly with them So do that in the right way. Treat them like you would like to be treated. Treat them like they would wanna be treated in this situation and, and do it well, do it well. And at the same time, right at the same time, this is business. This happens. And people have to take that information and move forward on both sides. People have to receive that information and move forward with their next step in their career. And you have to convey that information and move forward with your job. All right, so as we wind down here, I hope that you will never have to use anything you learned in these episodes. I hope you'll never have to do a layoff round and never be part of that. But if you are, hopefully you have found something that's useful and helpful. To help you and the team do that Well for people, and I know that this is not a pleasant thing, but it does happen. Certain parts of the market right now are coming under stress, and I've been seeing more layoff rounds happen in certain areas. Chiefs of staff are often involved in that. so I wanted to. Just share my experience, get some information out there and hopefully it'll help you if you have to have to do a layoff round. If you have any specific questions,'cause I know this is a delicate topic and there can be lots of different situations and scenarios and nuances, then please feel free to drop something in the comments if you think it's fine for a, a larger audience in public consumption. But feel free to email me and just say, Hey Emily, here's the situation. You can email me at emily@nextlevel.coach and if you wanna drop me a note on LinkedIn, if that's easier for you, you can do that as well. All of this information will be in the show notes to reach out, but if you have a situation where you're like, I'm not quite sure what to do here, I'm not feeling great about this, or my CEO needs some help here and you want someone to soundboard with, then please just reach out. otherwise I will catch you next week on leveraging leadership.