The Manager’s Pocket Guide® to Downsizing with Confidence Richard S. Deems, Ph.D. Terri A. Deems, Ph.D.
HRD Press, Inc. • Amherst • Massachusetts
Copyright © 2007 by HRD Press, Inc.
All rights reserved under the Pan American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.
Published by: HRD Press, Inc. 22 Amherst Road Amherst, Massachusetts 01002 1-800-822-2801 (U.S. and Canada) 1-413-253-3488 1-413-253-3490 (fax) http://www.hrdpress.com
ISBN: 978-1-59996-061-6
Production services by Anctil Virtual Office Cover design by Eileen Klockars Editorial services by Sally M. Farnham
The Manager’s Pocket Guide® to Downsizing with Confidence is a practical guide to planning and conducting a downsizing. It is written for leaders and managers who are involved in any way with planning, reviewing, or conducting a downsizing. The advice is based on over 20 years of research and experience with downsizings. The authors have designed, reviewed plans for, and coordinated large and small downsizings. And they have been on-site to meet with those people who were just told their jobs have been eliminated. The suggestions and recommendations in this book can be applied to downsizings of all sizes, whether 10 or 1,000 people are involved. The Manager’s Pocket Guide® to Downsizing with Confidence has been prepared so that your organization will maintain, if not enhance, its standing in the marketplace because of the way you handled this task. To achieve that goal, however, you must do more than read. You must act. The Manager’s Pocket Guide® to Downsizing with Confidence is not intended as legal advice. There are often local, state, and federal laws that may apply to your situation. To ensure that you comply with all local, state, and federal laws, consult a specialist in employee law.
Table of Contents Introduction................................................
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Question 1:
Why should we worry? ..........
1
Question 2:
What are our real needs? ......
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Question 3:
How much planning time do we really need? ................
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Question 4:
How do we select who goes? ..
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Question 5:
What can we do to show that we’ve been fair? ....................
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How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? ........
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How do we tell the people who will remain?....................
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Do we do it all at once or in phases? ................................
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What about the media?..........
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Question 6: Question 7: Question 8: Question 9:
Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? .................. 91 Question 11: What if we need some of these people in nine months?.......... 107 Question 12: Now what? ............................ 113 Who are these authors? ............................ 117
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Introduction Nobody wanted it to happen, but it has. A downsizing has become necessary and, as a designated leader, it’s up to you to make it happen—with as few unintended consequences as possible. But you have heard the horror stories from others who have downsized (or maybe you have some of your own) and want to do things right. If you’re like other leaders who have worked with WorkLife Design (the authors’ company that helps organizations deal with change management), most of your questions begin with “How?” How to avoid lawsuits? How to keep morale high? How to maintain your reputation in the marketplace? How to keep from being a nasty headline in the morning paper or the lead story on the evening news? Downsizings don’t need to leave the exiting person devastated, the remaining people angry, the decision makers stressed, and the company open to litigation or lost business. Do it the right way and people—all the people involved—can come out ahead! The organization can realize its financial and performance goals. People who remain can be motivated and proud of the way their employer handled everything. And perhaps most important, the people who must exit can leave with a high regard for their employer—they’ll leave with the positive energy needed for a
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence successful work transition and be quickly re-engaged in work that has meaning and value to them. But it takes commitment and thoughtful action from the top, and it takes time: time to think through the issues and potential consequences, time to make good decisions, and time to make certain that everyone involved is well prepared. These each demand thorough planning, and that’s what this book is about: How to plan and conduct a downsizing. We’ve taken the most-often-asked questions and provided straightforward answers. Where the issues are complex, we’ve tried to touch on all the factors involved to help you approach your actions in an intentional way. There’s no simple formula for implementing a downsizing, and a lot of times, there are no easy answers. In this book, we’ve shared what’s worked in other organizations so that you can thoughtfully explore what will work best in your organization. You can read the book from start to finish. Or you can check out the questions that are the most urgent for you right now. We urge you, though, to read the entire book before you finalize your downsizing plans. We want you to still be in business five years from now, and following these guidelines will help.
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Introduction Here are the questions we’re most often asked, and around which this book is organized: • • • • • • • • • • • •
Why should we worry? What are our real needs? How much planning time do we really need? How do we select who goes? What can we do to show that we’ve been fair? How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? How do we tell the people who will remain? Do we do it all at once or in phases? What about the media? Is career transition assistance really necessary? What if we need some of these people in nine months? Now what?
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Question
1
Why should we worry? We’ve been asked this question many times. Why take all this time to think about a painful action? Let’s just do it quick and get it over with. It’s a business decision. Why should we worry about it? It is tempting to do things quickly, like tearing a band-aid off in one fast motion so as not to draw out the pain. And while we advocate taking action in a swift and decisive way, that doesn’t mean you can simply make the decision to downsize one day and hand out pink slips the next. Downsizing without thoughtful planning can lead to failure to achieve the results you need and other undesirable outcomes—outcomes such as litigation, low performance and morale of remaining employees, burnt-out decision makers, and a marked decline in marketplace reputation and future recruiting status. Each one of these outcomes can do you in. Here are the reasons you need to worry.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Litigation and Effects on Exiting Employees It’s pretty easy to brush a downsizing off as “just a business decision—nothing personal.” But if you’ve ever been “downsized,” you know it can be one of the most personal things an employee ever goes through. It can impact a person’s finances, their sense of self, their relationships with family and friends, and much more. To those directly affected, it is indeed very personal! Our own research suggests that how a downsizing is conducted can have a tremendous impact on the person who must exit. Done well, with real respect for exiting employees, people leave with positive energy to devote to their job search, strong self-esteem, a sense of resilience, and a higher regard for the organization. Typically their job search time is shorter and less stressful. But when a downsizing is done poorly, people leave angry, confused, even shamed. Self-esteem can crumble, trust is eroded, and energy is often directed to “hitting back” at the organization or decision makers rather than toward moving forward in their careers. Oftentimes, people attempt to hit back by contacting a lawyer. Most litigation as a result of downsizing involves the claim that a person, or a group of people,
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Question 1: Why should we worry? was discriminated against—that decisions were made unfairly. Perceptions of discrimination could be based on age, sex, or ethnic origin, or other characteristics. For example, if Carmen thinks her position was eliminated because of her ethnic origin, she might have a case based on discrimination of a worker's ethnicity. If Todd thinks his position was eliminated because he’s 57, he might have a case based on discrimination of older workers. There’s another aspect of litigation: The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, dubbed WARN, requires employers to notify employees and the government well before a large layoff or shutdown. The law applies only to organizations with more than 100 employees, and layoffs of only a few employees don’t fall under the bill’s regulations. To fall under the law, companies must be shutting down an office with 50 or more people, or terminating at least 500 workers at one location, or 50 or more people if they make up at least one-third of the organization’s total workforce. However, according to recent reports, there’s been an increase in wrongful termination suits based on the WARN Act. Not enough of these suits have gone through the courts to see if law is being made through these suits. What to do? Check with an employment law specialist in your location.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Remember, too, that it’s not just losing a lawsuit that could cost you money. It will cost you even without ever going to court. We’ve seen numerous organizations shell out up to $25,000 just to respond to a letter of intent to file suit. Driving the cost is time, which means dollars, for someone to research the events to see if the potential plaintiff has a case, and to review what really took place during the downsizing and whether any actions by any person involved in the decision-making processes could be viewed as being discriminatory. Lawsuits not only cost you dollars, they also impact other areas of concern. A lawsuit that gets reported in the newspapers hurts your standing in the marketplace. It also reduces your ability to recruit and retain the best people. Finally, it can have a negative impact on the employees you still have. When you plan carefully, you don’t have to worry about litigation and can be confident that exiting people will land on their feet and with higher regard for your organization.
Effects on Remaining Employees It’s not just exiting people who are directly affected by a downsizing. Remaining employees will be (understandably) edgy during a
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Question 1: Why should we worry? downsizing. They will be watching carefully to see who’s doing what and what’s happening to the people who exit. They will be watching to see who drops out of favor and who emerges as a new power. If remaining employees believe that their friends—those who left or will be leaving— were treated fairly, then there are generally few problems. But if remaining employees perceive that their friends were not treated fairly, you can have major problems. It’s about perception, not necessarily what actually happened. What kinds of problems can this lead to? First, if remaining employees are upset about the organization’s actions, quality and performance will deteriorate. Unwanted turnover will increase. Morale will suffer. How long will it last? This depends on your actions. We’ve known organizations where recovery took years. Second, if remaining employees are upset about the organization’s actions, they’ll tell others. How many? Count them up. Insert the estimated numbers below and then add it up. People involved in the termination of a single employee include the following:
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence The employee The employee’s spouse and children (if any) Family and friends of the employee’s spouse Other relatives of the employee Co-workers Other friends within the organization Friends and social contacts Neighbors Family and friends of children’s friends Add it up:
That number can easily come close to 100. It can be even larger if the exiting employee has a large family, or has been actively involved in the community, or is very well liked within the organization. That’s a lot of people. Multiply the number you come up with by the number of people you’re going to downsize and you have a whole bunch of people. And remember one communication fact: people who like something tell two others; people who don’t like something tell ten others.
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Question 1: Why should we worry? Do you want two or ten? To effectively do a downsizing, you must take into consideration the effects on remaining employees!
Effects on Decision Makers We’ve seen decision makers devastated by having to make the agonizing decisions about what jobs go and what jobs stay, and what people go and what people stay. It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s just plain gut wrenching to make those tough calls. As a decision maker, you’re wide open to increased stress and burnout. As a result, your own performance can suffer, to say nothing of the impact it can have on your family and friends. In planning a downsizing, you need to act as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you will be spending a great deal of energy thinking about and worrying about what might happen. Don’t sit around and wait. Do it as soon as you can complete your planning. The longer you wait to do the downsizing after the decision has been made, the more difficult it will be for decision makers. The energy you devote to the downsizing takes away from your other responsibilities. Decisive
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence action, however, based on solid planning, can help ease the stress and keep you energized and at peak performance. Don’t short cut your planning. Take action. And be good to yourself during this stressful time.
Marketplace Reputation If you didn’t add up the number of people involved in a single termination (above), then do so now. If you did, then you understand why it is so important to conduct a downsizing the right way. People remember actions during a downsizing for a long time. They remember how an organization treated them or their aunt or uncle, or neighbor, or parent. Customers will also remember the headlines, as will your vendors. Your local and extended community—your customers, vendors, and other stakeholders—make up your market. If these people believe the exiting people were treated fairly, then there’s not much to worry about. If they perceive that the downsizing was conducted poorly, your shortand long-term reputation can be seriously damaged. There were organizations during the 1990s that conducted downsizings in all the worst ways: handed out pink slips in the parking lot as
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Question 1: Why should we worry? people came to work; made the announcement on the evening news before telling employees; cut men or women or minorities or people over age 50. Many of these organizations don’t exist any more, or at least not with the same positive reputation as before. For some retailers, it took years to re-establish a presence in the marketplace as a great place to shop. Other organizations found that top candidates would pass them by, simply because of how they did an earlier downsizing. The marketplace remembers. Do a downsizing the right way and the marketplace will see you as an organization that treats its employees and customers fairly.
Future Recruiting Status Perhaps the most significant reason you must do a downsizing the right way is the impact it can have on your future recruiting status. As baby boomers leave the labor pool in the coming years, your recruiting status will become increasingly critical. There are conflicting reports whether there will be a shortfall in the labor pool in the next two decades. What we do know is that good people will always add to an organization’s bottom line. Simply put, people will have lots of employment options, and your organization can’t afford to be viewed as a marginal employer.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence To make sure your organization is a top option for employment, you must take great care of your standing in the marketplace. If a downsizing causes your reputation to fall, then the number and quality of candidates knocking on your doors in the near future will decrease. The opposite is true, too. If the marketplace believes you did a downsizing fairly and treated everyone well, then you enhance your standing as one of the best employers to work for. And the best people look for the best organizations. Keep this in mind, and in the future, you can have more applicants than unfilled positions. Dollars that you spend now on the downsizing will probably reduce your future recruiting costs!
Do you need to worry about doing a downsizing? Yes! Worry just enough to keep your planning focused, comprehensive, and fair. Your reward? • Loyal employees and former employees • Less stress among decision makers • Strong marketplace reputation and recruiting status • A great place to work After all, if others see you treating people who must exit with fairness and concern, imagine what they’ll think about how well you must treat the people who are there each day.
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Question
2
What are our real needs? You can’t adequately plan a downsizing until you know what your real needs include. The way you determine your real needs is to examine your strategic plan and the resources called for. If you don’t, you may be like other organizations that downsized in one department while hiring in another at the same time. Or they downsized only to have to rehire six months later because they could no longer meet performance demands. That’s a tremendous waste of financial resources, time, and energy. Besides, it makes management look like they don’t know what they’re doing. Research suggests that many, if not most, downsizings fail to achieve the goals toward which the downsizing was directed. Often this failure can be avoided by planning more thoughtfully, carefully identifying downsizing goals, and accurately assessing what is needed to achieve your goals.
Examine Your Strategic and Business Plans If you have not already done so, gather your best minds together and take a hard, realistic look
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence at your most informed projections for the next one, two, or even five years. Do some scenario planning, and examine all components of your business: sales, income, expenses, market trends, partnerships, other environmental factors—the works. Given your projections and your strategic plan, what resources do you really need to bring your vision to reality within the timeframes established? What is it you most want to accomplish? What are the options to accomplish this? And how does downsizing really fit into the picture?
Identify the Resources You Need Once you’re quite clear on goals and vision, you’re ready for the really tough part: What do you absolutely need in order to bring in your business plan on schedule? To meet your targets? To achieve your goals? You’ll need to know the financial resources it will take to bring your vision to reality and where those resources will come from. Think people, technology, materials, as well as the location and distribution of these (and other) resources. Examine resource needs from all perspectives. For example, if you reduce expenses by reducing your sales force, how much will that affect sales?
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Question 2: What are our real needs? If sales will go down because there are fewer people making sales calls, what does that do to your income projections? It is critical that you have a clear and accurate picture of your resource needs, particularly your human resource needs. Too many organizations in the 1990s downsized, only to quickly discover that they had cut too deeply, or they cut the wrong positions or the wrong individuals. They then had to re-hire, recruit, or figure out a way to make things work without the people they really needed. In this age of do-more-with-less, you know the stress, the performance slumps, and even the lost market share this can cause. After all, if just a few weeks after a downsizing you realize you need people like the ones who exited, then those you let go will not be happy. And they will talk. You open yourself and your organization to lawsuits that will be difficult to explain, because, obviously, you based your decision on some factor other than organizational need. Your reputation in the marketplace may tumble. You can count on remaining employees asking lots of questions. And remaining employees probably won’t welcome the new hires with a lot of enthusiasm, either. When you begin by examining the company vision and the business plan, and identify the resources you need to bring that plan to reality, there is less temptation to make subjective
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence decisions on who goes and who stays. You can be confident that you’re not just slashing people to reduce costs. Careful examination of your strategy and needs will increase the likelihood that your downsizing will indeed accomplish the goals intended—and with as few surprises as possible.
Checklist Our strategic plan has been reviewed and updated. Yes __ Not Yet__ Our business plan has been reviewed and updated. Yes __ Not Yet__ The human resources needed to bring our plans to reality have been reviewed and identified in specifics. Yes __ Not Yet__ The leadership team has reviewed our real needs and is confident that we know and understand what it will take to make this work.
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Yes __ Not Yet__
Question
3
How much planning time do we really need? The amount of time you take from the moment the decision to downsize is made and when the downsizing actually takes place depends on how hard you work and how smart you work. In most instances, it should take only a few weeks, not months. If you take months to plan the downsizing, your leaders will become stressed. The downsizing will be their major concern. Other, sometimes more strategic, issues will get overlooked or not given enough time or energy. The whole organization will falter. You increase the risk that downsizing plans will get leaked to the workforce (or the press) before you want that to happen. So how long does it take? It takes long enough to: • Evaluate your business plan and identify the skills/positions you’ll need. • Identify the positions that are redundant or that for some other reason you can eliminate. • Complete a discrimination analysis of the workforce before the downsizing and after the downsizing to determine if any bias appears (see Question 4).
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence • Decide how best to tell people whose jobs are eliminated, and when. • Decide how best to tell remaining people, and when. • Identify who will talk with the media and create a script. • Identify the assistance to be provided to exiting people, including severance pay, benefits, and job transition assistance. • Determine the announcement schedule and who will tell whom. • Train the executives and managers in how to tell people their jobs have been eliminated. • Secure the job transition assistance providers and make sure they can be on-site on notification day so that they can begin their work immediately. • Review the schedule and plans with an external resource who is experienced in managing downsizings. • Plan on getting extra sleep and exercise from now until the downsizing is completed. Wow. Now you have a checklist of things you need to do. Just do them as quickly as possible, but without overlooking any detail. We believe it is crucial to have an external specialist review your plans with you, just in case you overlooked something. That specialist might be an attorney or someone who works
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Question 3: How much planning time do we really need? with downsizings all the time. Attorneys can be very helpful, but remember, you can be legal and still get yourself in trouble. Following the law doesn’t guarantee that there won’t be some repercussions if people see your actions as legal, but unethical. People issues—“They didn’t treat those people very fairly”—are usually viewed as more important than legal issues. Lots of decisions must be made, both large and small. By taking the time at the planning end to think through all issues, to coach and train, and to script and schedule announcements, you greatly reduce the risk of unintended consequences. If you’re a smaller organization with few decision makers, this may only take a few days. If you’re a larger organization with many layers of decision makers to consult, this could extend for several weeks.
How much time? Take whatever time is needed so that you can be confident that all issues have been addressed, that the plan is as solid as possible, and that you’ve reduced the risks to your organization. What kind of risks? Legal risks. Workforce risks. Marketplace risks.
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Question
4
How do we select who goes? Selecting which jobs to eliminate is a fairly straightforward decision. You take a look at your business needs and then identify the number and kinds of jobs it will take to turn the plan into actuality. But selecting which jobs stay or go is different than selecting what people stay or go. What do you do if you need only 5 night supervisors and you have 8? Or you need only 15 IT people and you have 21? How you select who goes and who stays is a significant effort. Here are five guidelines:
1. Deal with performance issues early. If you’re considering downsizing to resolve performance issues, forget it. A downsizing is not the time to deal with people whose performance is below minimum standards. The time to deal with those folks was before, as part of a continuous performance improvement strategy. A downsizing is completed to make a correction in the number of human resources that a company has in order to reach organizational goals. It’s not a way to “safely” eliminate marginal employees.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Good management deals with performance issues as they occur, not when they accumulate. If you have people whose work is not up to standard, then they should already be involved in some kind of performance improvement process. These people should be aware that their performance is not up to standard. You should have already provided them with the resources to bring their performance up to standard. They should already know that if their performance does not come up to standard, they will be dismissed. It’s that simple. If that’s not where you are, then postpone the downsizing until you’ve effectively dealt with performance issues. For those who have received the extra attention to bring performance up to standard, but have not, then termination for cause is your course of action. But do it before the downsizing. It shows you’re on top of performance issues, as you should be. Keep the downsizing focused on eliminating positions or skill sets that are no longer needed and can’t be used elsewhere in the organization.
2. Examine criteria. Now that you’ve taken care of performance issues, you’re ready to establish the criteria for people elimination. In determining these
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Question 4: How do we select who goes? criteria, you have choices. There are three common ways to make those hard decisions: you can eliminate people by tenure, by a percentage from each department, or by job title or classification. Let’s look at these.
Tenure This is a tricky one. When eliminating by tenure, your decision is based on the length of time someone has worked for the organization or in a particular position. If you terminate people who have, for example, less than two years with the organization, you may find yourself without the high energy and fresh perspectives of newer employees. On the other hand, if you terminate those who have been with you more than, say, ten years, you open yourself to litigation as some may come back at you saying, “You fired me because I earn too much,” or “I was let go because of my age.”
Department Percentages If you cut each department by 10 percent, you may end up hurting yourself in crucial areas. For example, if your research and development function is about ready to open up some new areas, a 10 percent cut there may really negatively impact your future. And a 10 percent cut in sales personnel might result in market share loss, with all kinds of future repercussions. Ten percent
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence in customer service can negatively affect relationships with customers as it takes longer to handle their calls and concerns. Better is to study the needs of each department. It may be more effective to downsize by 10 percent in one department and maybe even 20 percent in another. But be ready to defend your differences.
Title/Job Classification If you need only 20 people in IT to bring your business plan to reality, and you have 29, then you cut 9 jobs. That means 9 people. If you need only 3 in underwriting, and you have 5, then you cut 2 people. The problem, however, remains: which 9 are cut, or which 2? You must establish clear criteria and then apply them uniformly throughout the entire organization.
3. Select your criteria. What has worked well in other organizations is a criteria for downsizing that includes three factors: tenure, performance, and potential for future performance. Based on your strategic and business plans, you’ll decide how to weight each of these in terms of importance. The first part of the criteria acknowledges tenure. Most organizations want to reward employees who have been with them for
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Question 4: How do we select who goes? certain lengths of time. After all, they’ve been around for a while. They’ve helped drive the organization to success. They probably know the organization and its products/services inside and out. And often they are the ones who can accommodate more change because they’ve already mastered some of your prior changes. So it makes sense to make tenure part of your consideration. Then consider performance. Yes, we said deal with performance issues before the downsizing. But performance can also be part of your criteria to identify those who remain. For example, you have to choose three out of ten people to eliminate. One part of your criteria can be overall job performance. Out of those ten, there are probably several exemplary performers. But there are also probably several who meet the minimum standards, but little more. Take a look at overall performance as one factor in determining whose jobs are ultimately eliminated. Do so cautiously, though; oftentimes a reason for a person’s more minimal performance has to do with some other barrier within the system such as a poor manager. Finally, consider people’s future potential. Of those within a job classification where cuts will be made, who are the ones with the most potential for what’s coming ahead?
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence This relates to more than just who can step in and help shoulder the load when others exit. This also relates to individuals who have the capacity to continue growing so that you can meet new and emerging needs. Another way to look at this is to project several years into the future and identify those people who are the most likely to perform well in the midst of continual change. Different organizations, of course, may use different criteria to meet a wide range of business or personal considerations. What criteria you use is up to you. But select the criteria thoughtfully and intentionally based on what your organization truly needs in order to succeed, more than any other ethical or legal concerns you may have. Then be sure to document your criteria.
4. Weight each factor. Your leadership team can review the criteria and assign a numeric value to each of the criteria. As each person is reviewed, a numeric score is given based on the criteria (however many you identify). From that point on, it’s a review of numbers. Those with the highest (or lowest) scores are those who will exit in the downsizing. The others stay.
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Question 4: How do we select who goes?
5. Apply criteria consistently. When you are confident that you have fair criteria to use in making decisions that reflect what’s really important to you, and you have assigned a numeric value to each of these, then you must be certain the criteria are applied consistently throughout the entire organization. If you have one set of criteria for hourly and another for salaried, it will be more difficult to defend than if you have the same criteria for each. In the same way, if you use one set of criteria for IT and another for Accounting, you may have difficulty defending the difference. Apply the criteria consistently throughout the organization and you reduce the questions. It’s easier to explain to those who are exiting and to those who remain. Without some kind of objective criteria to evaluate employees, work unit managers are left to make subjective decisions. Subjective decisions can lead to subtle forms of discrimination, which can lead to litigation. Worse yet, as a result of subjective decisions, your company can gain a reputation as not being a great place to work. The criteria for elimination must be prepared in advance, must be written, and must be applied consistently throughout the entire organization.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Who goes? Who stays? This is probably the most difficult part of the downsizing process. Since you took care of performance issues earlier, you’re now looking at good people. And some have to exit because you have too many employees to bring your business plan to reality. It is important that you establish your criteria and apply it consistently within each department.
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Question
5
What can we do to show that we’ve been fair? There is a relatively easy way for you to test for subtle discrimination before the downsizing occurs: do a statistical analysis of your workforce before the downsizing and after the downsizing, based on the people you’ve identified who will be exiting. Age is often viewed as an area where discrimination occurs. And many organizations have, it seems, tended to eliminate more people over a certain age. So do an age analysis. Determine the age brackets that characterize your organization and count up how many people fit within each age bracket before and after the downsizing. It’s often easier to convert the numbers to percentages of the total workforce. Here’s an example: Age Grouping
Before Downsizing
After Downsizing
Over 60 50–59 40–49 30–39 20–29
8% 24% 29% 29% 10%
7% 12% 27% 34% 20%
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Ooops! The above illustration suggests you may have done some subtle discrimination. Going from 8% to 7% in the over 60 group is probably okay. But going from 24% to only 12% in the 50–59 age bracket really suggests that you’ve targeted, intentionally or not, people in their 50s. It would be difficult to defend your actions should all those over 50 decide to pursue litigation. And it would be easy for them to say you got rid of the 50-somethings just so that you could keep the 20-somethings. In this example, the decision makers must go back and review their criteria for person elimination. And then they need to reconfigure who goes and who stays. They must continue with the revising until the analysis shows there is no appearance of discrimination taking place. You can do the same kind of analysis for sex, ethnic origin, educational level, years with the organization, salary levels, and whatever else you might want to consider. We’d at least recommend you do it for sex and ethnic origin. However, we really believe you need to do a similar kind of analysis for each of the categories we just mentioned. It will help you make certain you’re not discriminating in your selection of who goes and who stays. It will also help you understand the culture of your new workforce.
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Question 5: What can we do to show that we’ve been fair? There’s another good reason to do all these analyses. You can share the before and after numbers with remaining employees, exiting employees, and even the media. If your percentages remain close, it will help all employees understand that you did not seek out one particular group of employees to exit. It will help morale. Being fair and sharing the numbers may be one of the most important recruiting tools you have for the future. Regardless of what analyses you use, it is important to communicate to your people just how decisions were made. If you’ve been fair and careful in your thinking, this communication will be less painful. If you’ve been unfair or biased, you may find yourself turning to doublespeak in order to make your decisions sound better than they were. The former will help you maintain the respect of others. The latter will get you into trouble. As in all other areas, open communication (truly open, not simply an appearance of open communication) is key. If you’ve acted honorably, there’s nothing to hide. One additional note: A small percentage of organizations are engaging employees themselves
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence in making the decision about who goes and who stays in a downsizing. This is a very effective strategy in a high participation organization where people also have high levels of business literacy. Just be certain that people have all the information they need to make a sound decision, and communicate and share information widely.
“Here’s what we’ve done . . .” We’ve taken the time to do both an age and sex analysis before and after the projected downsizing. Yes ___ No ___ We’ve completed an ethnic analysis before and after the projected downsizing. Yes ___ No ___ We’ve completed a salary analysis before and after the projected downsizing. Yes ___ No ___ We are confident we’re fair in our decisions. Yes ___ No ___ We are ready to share our analysis reports with employees. Yes ___ No ___ We are ready to share our analysis reports with the media and stockholders. Yes ___ No ___
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Question
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How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? By now, several critical decisions have been made. You’re confident that the downsizing is the best choice to meet business needs, and you know the resources it’s going to take to achieve your goals. You’re confident that your criteria for selection are fair and unbiased. You know who will be leaving and when. And now you wonder, “How do we tell the people who will exit?” You tell the people with care and control, with class, and with empathy. There have been lots of horror stories over the years about how not to do it. One bank manager walked into her office one morning and found an envelope on her desk with her name written on it. She opened it and read, “Dear Terminated Employee.” That’s not the way to do it. You also don’t do it the way some of the dotcoms downsized. You don’t just close down people’s computers and wait for them to realize their screen is dead and they no longer have access to do their work. Nor should you send an employee an e-mail informing them that their job has been eliminated and they have 60 minutes to remove their personal belongings from their workstation. That’s not the way to do it either.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Neither is a pink slip in a pay envelope. Or standing out in the parking lot hitting people with the news as they arrive for work. Or waiting until late Friday afternoon and then announcing to people, “Oh by the way, you don’t need to come back on Monday,” then escorting them out under guard. You don’t do these things if you want to be known as a great place to work. In a large downsizing, you need to anticipate that several people who will be exiting may be absent because of vacation or illness. In most instances, you will contact these people at the same time as you tell those who are exiting. You might do this via phone, or at times sending someone to deliver the message in person works best. What you don’t want to do is downsize a person who is absent and then not tell them until they return. Conducting the downsizing in the best possible way demands that you implement selected processes for telling the people of their pending exit. Here are the top 12 actions the best workplaces use.
1. Use care and control. Part of telling people that their jobs have been eliminated is showing that the company truly cares about people. Caring about people goes beyond just a slogan on
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit?
the wall. It shows itself in actions. So you take time to do it right—and with as much finesse as you can. You tell people with words that are not inflammatory. You tell people so that there is time for them to adjust—to get through the initial shock. You let people take time to tell others goodbye and to gather their things. You do everything you can so that you don’t shame or embarrass either the people who are exiting or the people who are remaining. You show you care. At the same time, you stay in control of the process. A downsizing is a very emotional event for most people. If you’re not careful, you can lose control, not only of the downsizing process, but also of your entire workplace. If you tell people in ways that anger remaining employees, you’ve lost control and it may take you weeks— probably months—to fully regain it. Care and control: do all you can to show you care about your people—the people who will be leaving and the people who will be remaining. And stay in control of the process. Plan so that you can put out any fires that may ignite while they are still small. People will be glad you did.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
2. The manager/executive conducts the meeting. If the downsizing involves just a few people, then perhaps the CEO, along with each person’s manager, can inform the soon-tobe exiting employees. If it’s a larger downsizing, however, that kind of schedule may take too long. The basic guideline is that the exiting employee’s direct manager or executive tells the exiting employee. If people are told individually (see #3 below), then two people need to be present during the meeting. Both should be either supervisors or managers. A common practice in the 1990s was to have a representative from Human Resources present for each termination meeting. That can work, but it gives the HR unit the reputation of being “the terminators.” Every time someone sees an HR representative show up in their work area, they think, “Uh-oh, someone’s getting canned.” But it’s your call. You can make use of some HR people if they know what to do. Otherwise, just make certain that the people informing the soon-to-be-exiting person include the person’s manager/ executive and another manager or supervisor.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit?
3. You can tell them individually or in small groups—or sometimes even a large group. Which is best? It’s a tough question, and there is no easy answer. Just remember that you’re striving for care and control. If it is a small number of people who are involved, you may find it works better to tell each person individually. Individual sessions are the ultimate. It’s personal. It shows you care. And it allows you to deal with concerns on an individual basis. But it does take extra planning time and extra time to tell people. You need to plan your schedule as to who will tell whom, when, and where. If you have multiple meetings taking place simultaneously, you will need to train each manager involved in what to say and what not to say. Can you inform one person and then move on to the next person and have it all completed within an hour? Or two hours? As a general rule, if it takes longer than two hours (we really prefer only one hour) to inform people through individual meetings, you will want to consider group meetings. Otherwise, the disruption grows each time someone goes into a meeting. Fifteen minutes after you’ve begun your
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence downsizing, the entire workforce will be waiting and watching to see who “goes into the room” next. If your downsizing involves a number of people from different departments, you will want to think through the advantages of telling them in small groups, by departments, or in one large group. Sometimes informing employees that their jobs have been eliminated can be effectively accomplished in small groups. For example, you have a department of 45 people, and 15 of them will have their jobs eliminated. You might call for an employee meeting of those 15 people. Meet in a room that is private, where other employees will be unable to hear what’s being said, and that will enable the affected employees the opportunity to either leave immediately or quietly return to their work areas to gather personal belongings. Whether you use individual or group meetings, you will explain why the decision has been made to downsize, and how the decision of whom to let go was made. You describe: • The assistance to be provided • How and when people can retrieve their personal belongings • How references will be provided
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? Plan on providing options for employees to retrieve their personal belongings. Options include immediately gathering their things, coming back after hours when someone will be in the office, or having someone else collect the person’s personal items. Take time to answer any questions. Then you immediately introduce the exiting employee to the job transition specialists who you’ve asked to be on-site so that they can begin their work.
4. Do the same things in all your locations. Many organizations have more than one location, even within the same city. So how do you handle a downsizing with multiple locations? Maybe even in different time zones? You plan it so that people get told the same way in each location and at about the same time. Why? If you have more than one location, you can count on the other locations hearing about what’s going on within just a few minutes of the first termination. The rumor system runs swift and deep. If you have people who will be exiting in different time zones, then schedule the notifications so that they take place
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence at about the same time. For example, if you tell people at 11:00 A.M. on the East Coast, then you tell people in the Central Time zone at 10:00 A.M., and people in the Pacific Time zone at 8:00 A.M. Otherwise people from the East Coast will be talking to people in the Mountain Time zone about what’s taking place and when it will take place in their time zone. Of course you can downsize in one location and then, the next day or the next week or some other time, downsize in another location. This works, but it has one major drawback: it keeps the entire workplace in disruption for as long as it takes to notify everyone and complete the downsizing process. Once you downsize in Location A, people in Locations B and C will wonder when it’s their turn. And when you downsize in Location B, people in Location C will get stressed, wondering when the ax will fall in their shop. Even though it takes more coordination, our preference is to downsize in all locations on the same day. Remember, you’ll still need to train the managers and supervisors at each site in what to say and not to say. And you still need to have job transition specialists on-site.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? And what about the CEO and other top executives? Top executives can be assigned to each of the several locations. The CEO can then visit each location within one or two days to help address concerns and respond to questions. Don’t even think, though, about wasting your money on a video featuring the CEO explaining the need for the downsizing, to be shown to employees at the same time in all locations. People don’t want videos. People want people. When you have multiple locations, it’s worth the effort to notify people on the same day in each location. You show you care and you stay in control.
5. Tell the people early in the week and early in the day. Friday afternoon is the worst time to announce a downsizing, despite what others may try to tell you. Why is Friday afternoon the worst time? Here are three reasons. First, exiting employees don’t have the opportunity to begin the adjustment before the first weekend of being “unemployed” comes around. Our research has consistently found that the first weekend of being unemployed is the toughest. Other research shows the same thing. Terminate
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence on Friday afternoon and the people who have been terminated have little time to begin adjusting before Saturday morning. That’s not showing care. Second, remaining employees will talk. Plan on it. If you terminate on Friday afternoon, many exiting and remaining employees will be talking on the phone over the weekend. They’ll be talking about how bad a deal people got, how it isn’t fair, and why one person lost his or her job while someone else didn’t. Come Monday morning, you are very likely to have a workforce whose anger has festered over the weekend, when you could do nothing about it. Third, when you terminate early in the week and early in the day, you have the opportunity to observe reactions from remaining employees. If some people have questions, you can answer them before the end of the day, not after a long weekend has passed. If some remaining employees are angry, you have the opportunity to deal with it before those people have a chance to let it grow. It just helps you stay in control. So when is the best time? We prefer Tuesday mornings. That gives you Monday to make one last assessment of your plans, the schedule, and your scripts of what will be said. And when you leave the office Monday afternoon, you leave knowing you
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? are prepared for the next day’s task. It also gives you the rest of the week to address concerns and questions, to help alleviate fears, and to keep track of remaining employees’ reactions and feelings, all before the weekend hits. Sure, it might be easier (at the moment) to terminate on Friday afternoon. You can make the announcement and then leave for the weekend—not take questions, not deal with comments, not see the looks on the faces of exiting employees. But you’ll pay for it on Monday morning with a disrupted workforce. Friday firings are for wimps.
6. Plan, prepare, and practice what to say—and know what not to say. Downsizings are not the time to go with the flow and say whatever comes to mind. Do that and you could end up in court. Worse yet, you could say things that shove your organization into litigation and to the bottom of the list of great places to work in your community. Here are five key guidelines. The first two are especially critical.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
First, prepare your script. Take time to write out what you will say. Anticipate the questions you might be asked. Write out what your answers will be. Make the script self-serving for you and the organization. Review your script to be sure you show care and maintain control by saying nothing that might hurt the organization in the future. If the downsizing is large, you may want to work with other managers to develop a single script that works best for your organization. Downsizings that have resulted in the most disruption have consistently been those where managers have said, “Oh, I know what to say—I don’t need to prepare a script.” Trust us: Extra prep time pays off.
Second, practice what you’re going to say. Going through in your head what you plan on saying and actually hearing yourself say the words are two different experiences. Practice out loud what you intend to say. The most successful downsizings we’ve coordinated involved training managers in the entire process, including allocating
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? time for managers to practice and try out different scripts. Everybody needs that chance to hear themselves say out loud, “Jane, our meeting is to inform you that your position has been eliminated . . . and to describe the kinds of assistance ABC Organization will provide you during this transition.” We’ll give you more examples later in this section.
Third, avoid chitchat. When you meet the person (or persons) whom you are about to inform of their job elimination, don’t take time for chitchat. Don’t try to put yourself or the other person at ease by talking about the weather, or the latest sports news, or how the kids are doing. Greet the person cordially, but get to the reason for the meeting.
Fourth, state the reason for the meeting. Get right to the point. Tell them why you’re meeting. Briefly explain why the downsizing is necessary, then describe the kinds of assistance the person or people will receive.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Finally, don’t argue. This is not the time to get involved in a discussion as to why the downsizing is occurring or even why this person’s position has been eliminated. Be ready to state, sometimes again and again, “John, I’m not here to argue with you. The decision has been made, and you and I aren’t going to change it here. Let’s move on and let me tell you about the assistance that will be provided for you and the others. . . .” If you get into an argument, you lose. There is no way you can win. The exiting employee will find more to say. And if you really get caught up in an argument over why there’s a downsizing or why this person’s job has been eliminated, you’re likely to get angry. And when you get angry, you’re likely to say things you shouldn’t.
7. Have the letter ready. You may be thinking, “What letter?” The letter is individualized and summarizes the assistance to be provided. Over the years, we’ve learned that this letter can save you lots of time. It also helps people who are exiting.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? People have a tendency to forget details after being told their job has been cut. The letter, however, gives them something tangible to look at when they get home. When they sit and wonder about severance and last day of work and things like that, they can look at the letter. It explains it all. They won’t need to call you. Someone, of course, has to prepare and print those individual letters before the downsizing announcements. Here is where HR can be very helpful in pulling together the data needed to determine severance, vacation time accrued, and other details of the assistance your organization will be providing. You’ll need someone, though, who can be trusted to maintain confidentiality before the downsizing takes place. Handing out the letter becomes an important part of the notification meeting. Take the time to go through the letter with the individual, and answer any immediate questions. Additional questions may come up later, once the person has had a chance to digest what has happened. Here’s an example of such a letter:
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Dear (Name), This letter is to confirm our meeting on (date) and to summarize the assistance you will receive. Because of a downsizing, your position was one of several to be eliminated, and your last day of employment with ABC Org is (date). To assist you in this transition, ABC Org will provide: 1. X weeks of severance (salary continuation) based on the company policy of two weeks salary continuance for each year or part of a year of employment. 2. A corresponding number of weeks of healthcare coverage. After (# of weeks), you will be able to continue your healthcare benefits by paying the full premium. More information will be sent to you concerning this option. 3. Letters of reference will be prepared as you need them. Please contact me directly when you need such a letter. 4. Job transition assistance will be provided by (name of company), and they will begin their work with you today. These people are hired by ABC Org to assist you in finding a new position.They will coach you in how to prepare a résumé, how to find job openings, how to effectively interview, and how to maintain your energy for a successful job search. 5. In addition, you will receive X weeks of vacation accrued, but not taken, according to our company policy. Your contribution to ABC Org is appreciated and we want to provide all the assistance we can during this transition. If you have questions, please call me directly at (phone number). Sincerely, Manager Phone number
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? When you have this kind of an individualized letter ready to hand out during the notification meeting, you save time for everyone. It shows you care and keeps you in control.
8. Provide time for people to get their belongings. Back in the 1990s, we often recommended that people come back in the evening or the next weekend to retrieve their personal belongings. In some instances, that might still be preferred. Otherwise, today we recommend that you give people an option. Either they can get their things now, say their good-byes, and leave the building, or they can come back some evening or even on the following Saturday morning. What’s important is that the exiting people have a choice. Many of them will opt to stop and see friends. They’ll talk with friends about what’s happened, how hard (or easy) it is to leave, and other things of interest. And then they’ll take time to get their personal belongings. Let them know this is an
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence option. Encourage them, however, not to stay too long. One or two hours is probably long enough. Will this cause some disruption the day of the downsizing? Certainly. But it’s worth taking this time now, rather than rushing people out the door. It’s all part of the care and control approach. Some people will just want to get out of the building as quickly as possible. They won’t want to see anybody or talk with anybody. Give them that opportunity. Make arrangements for them to return either some evening later in the week or on Saturday morning. If a lot of people are involved, suggest two or three different times when the facility will be open and available. For example, you downsize on Tuesday morning. You let people decide if they’d like to come back Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, or Saturday morning. Make it easy on them. They’ll remember. They’ll appreciate the choice. For those who want to stay for a while and talk with friends, give them the opportunity. Sure, it will cost you in terms of lost productivity. But in the long term, you’ll gain. People will say, “We work for an organization that cares.”
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit?
9. Make arrangements for people to get home. Some of your people probably car pool, or have neighbors or spouses drop them off and pick them up, or rely on public transportation. For those people, make arrangements to get them home as soon as they are ready to leave. Having them stay the rest of the day, however, is not an option. Tell them so. Have managers ready to give them rides home. Or have taxis ready to take people home. You’ll no doubt know who may need assistance in getting home. Plan ahead.
10. Plan for disruption the day people are told. It isn’t going to be easy the day of the downsizing—not for you or for the others. There will be confusion, anger, frustration, and lots of not totally happy people. Not a great deal will get done that day. Determine what absolutely has to get accomplished on downsizing day and look to the people you can count on. As the downsizing meetings begin to take place, pull those people aside. Tell them what’s going on. Tell them what absolutely needs
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence to get done by the end of the day. Ask for— don’t demand—their help in getting it done. Otherwise, the day is going to be like few others. After people have been told about the downsizings, make yourself available. Walk around the work areas. Stop and talk to people. Ask if they have questions. Leave your office door open. Instruct your assistant that anyone who wants to talk should be shown in right away. And then be prepared to listen. Invite the person to sit and talk. A simple, “José, I imagine you’re here because of today’s downsizing. . . . It will help me if you can tell me what your questions or comments are that brought you in to see me. . . .” Be the last person to leave at the end of the day, even though you want to leave earlier. Cancel all executive/leadership trips and vacations until at least a week after the downsizing. If Senior VP Melissa takes off for the Bahamas two days after the downsizing, it won’t set well with employees. If VP Harry takes off for a professional development meeting in Las Vegas the day after the downsizing, there will be employees wondering why the organization has dollars to send that jerk to play in Vegas.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? You get the idea. Plan on disruption, show care and control, and make yourself available. It’s your responsibility to be there and be available, not shrug it off on someone else. If the top people are walking around and talking with people, and aren’t in their corner offices with the doors shut, then it’s going to work out okay. But if the top people shut their doors, the workforce will wonder what’s next.
11. Prepare a summary of the meeting and file it. It’s important to summarize each notification meeting. This written record doesn’t need to be long, but it needs to reflect what was said, who said what, and what took place. If you’re telling people in individual meetings, then give the managers a few minutes between each notification meeting to jot down notes. At the end of the day, they can review their notes and prepare their reports. A report might look like this:
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
On Tuesday, May 15, 20XX, Sharon Brownfield and I met with Tom Ormandy to tell him of his position elimination.Tom was very angry at first, and we did not argue, but listened to him. Sharon continued to lead him back to the topic of transition assistance and gave him his letter. He asked several questions about who would be doing his work and the length of his severance. We introduced Tom to the transition specialists, and he shook hands with both of us and thanked us for our encouragement. _______________ ____ Manager’s Signature Date
_______________ ____ Manager’s Signature Date
Both management people in the meeting sign and date the report, and it goes into the downsizing file. Will you ever need these reports? Rarely. But it helps in case you do. It’s worth the time to make your report, sign it, and file it.
12. Start at the top. When there are multiple levels of employees who will be exiting, begin the downsizing announcement at the top. The higher-level people get told first. If a Senior VP’s position is being eliminated, do that one first. Then the other VPs, Directors, and Managers. Then you can notify hourly employees.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? Why? Because it shows that the downsizing doesn’t just hit the little guys. It hits the top ones, too. And because some top people are involved, it makes it easier for the majority of employees to support the downsizing—or at least to understand it. However, if the downsizing involves only hourly people and no salaried people, you’re probably in trouble. With fewer hourly people, there isn’t the need for the same number of salaried people. And if there isn’t a need, remaining employees will ask, “Why didn’t they go, too?” You’ll have a workplace that isn’t very happy. And the marketplace will be wondering about the decision-making ability of senior management. Let the top people go first. The rest of the downsizing will go smoother when you do.
Scripting the Announcement We’ve already discussed the need to plan your announcement script and to practice it. Just what you say, though, will vary somewhat depending on whether you are doing individual meetings, group meetings, or a combination of the two.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Individual Meetings Remember to keep your script focused on the purpose of the meeting, the reason for the decision, and the assistance being provided. Think, too, about what not to say. Let’s start with those. Here are some examples of things to avoid: • “Well, John, I don’t agree either, but this is what I’ve been told to do. . . .” • “Yeah, I know John, this seems like a bum deal. . . .” • “Well, John, I don’t know why you’re included. Maybe it’s because you’re over 50. . . .” • “Yeah, John, I know there’s a lot of work to get done. Maybe they’ll hire new people. . . .” • “Yeah, it seems like the top floor just can’t make any good decisions these days. . . .” Say anything close to these examples and you get yourself, your organization, and the exiting employee in trouble. You get yourself in trouble because these are inappropriate things to say. You get the organization in trouble because you open it to litigation or lowered reputation in the marketplace. You get the exiting employee in trouble because the person starts thinking of a recall or maybe a large court settlement— and doesn’t get on with life. Here’s a plausible scenario for telling an individual that her position has been eliminated in the downsizing:
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? Manager
Thanks, Carmen, for stopping what you’ve been doing and coming to this meeting. I think you know Lori (manager motions to other manager present) who manages the marketing unit. Please be seated, Carmen, and let’s get on with our meeting.
Employee
I’ve heard rumors there’s going to be a downsizing. That’s what this is about isn’t it . . .?
Manager
Well, Carmen, as you know, the international market has slowed and our sales have dropped by more than 35 percent. The company’s leaders and board of directors have struggled with what to do and finally reached the decision to eliminate 25 positions. Carmen, our meeting today is to inform you that your position has been eliminated. . . . And your employment with ABC Org. . . .
Employee
What? You’re eliminating my job? After all that I’ve done?
Manager
The decision as to what jobs to eliminate wasn’t easy. The organization looked at the business plan, identified the resources it would take to bring that plan to reality, and then made the hard decisions as to what expenses and jobs to cut.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Employee
Yeah, well, some kind of reward I get for doing good work.
Manager
Yes, Carmen, you have done good work. It has not been an easy decision to make. But rather than focus on a decision that’s already been made, let me explain the assistance you’ll receive to help you find a new job where you can thrive.
Employee
Well, okay.
Manager
Carmen, here’s a letter that summarizes the assistance you’ll be receiving. Let’s go through that letter together. . . .
(Manager addresses each point of the letter.) Manager
Well, Carmen, do you have any questions?
Employee
Yeah, when am I done? When can I get my things? The more I think about this, the more I think it’s a bum deal. I want to talk with the president. She’ll see that I’m the wrong person to go.
Manager
Yes, Inga will be glad to talk with you. When we’re done with our meeting, let’s check with her office and see when she might be available.
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? (Manager answers any other questions related to assistance provided.) Manager
Thank you, Carmen, for understanding ABC Org’s situation. You can count on me to provide an excellent reference for you. We want to keep in touch with you and we want to know where you find a new position. Now, let me introduce you to your transition coach who’ll help you find a new position.
Employee
Thanks, you’ve been helpful. I really don’t need to see Inga. But thanks for being willing to set it up. Now, who are these people who will help me find a new job?
Does it go that smoothly? Sometimes. And sometimes it doesn’t. But if you don’t anticipate, plan, and practice, it will never go smoothly. Just remember the guidelines above. Anticipate how each person may react, and prepare for each possible question that may get asked. The key is preparation.
Group Meetings Your script when talking with a group will be slightly different. Your introductory comment needs to be rehearsed so that you don’t garble what you’re going to say. You need to provide some rationale for the downsizing without
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence taking a long time. You also need to be open to whatever questions the people may have. Here’s an example: Thank you for coming to this meeting. I’m sure you’re all wondering what it’s about, so let me get right to the purpose of our meeting. As you’re aware, ABC Org has been going through some loss of market and downturn of profits. We’ve looked hard at our business plan, made a number of corrective steps, and regret that we have to do one more thing. Our meeting today is to inform you that we are eliminating 49 positions today. Your positions are the ones being eliminated. You are not the only ones whose positions are being eliminated. Earlier today we told Kay, VP of Investments, and Sam, VP of Marketing, that their positions have been eliminated and their responsibilities divided among the remaining officers. What I’d like to do in our time together is to describe the various kinds of assistance we’ll provide for each of you, answer any questions, and introduce you to the people who will help you find new jobs. (Review the assistance, hand out the individual letters, answer questions)
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit? You will have options in getting your personal belongings. If you want to come back some evening this week or Saturday morning, you can. If you’d like to take time to talk with your friends now and pick up your things, you can do that, also. If you do decide to stay, we ask that you not spend the rest of the day here. We don’t anticipate getting a lot of things done today, but as you know, there are some things that have to be completed by the end of the day. I’ll be around the rest of today and the rest of this week. If you have any questions or would like to talk directly with me, come to my office. Now, let me introduce the people who can help you find new positions where you can be successful. . . . Write your own script. Anticipate the questions. Prepare your answers beforehand. Practice. Practice. Practice. And take steps to manage your own stress: eat less, drink less, exercise more, and get more sleep than usual. At the end of the announcements day, find some special way to relax. Be good to yourself.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence
Checklist for Announcing the Downsizing
❑ We are committed to care and control. ❑ The managers and executives to conduct the notification meetings have been selected and trained.
❑ We have decided how to best tell people, either individually, or small groups, or a large group.
❑ We worked through how to announce the downsizing in all locations.
❑ Our plan calls for us to notify people early in the week and early in the day.
❑ We have prepared scripts, and everyone has had the opportunity to practice with others.
❑ Individual letters will be prepared before each employee meeting to give to affected people as part of the announcement meeting.
❑ We have agreed on the most effective way for people to retrieve their personal belongings.
❑ Arrangements have been made for people to get home. (continued)
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Question 6: How—and what—do we tell the people who will exit?
Checklist for Announcing the Downsizing (concluded)
❑ Yes, we know there will be lots of disruption.
❑ Managers are prepared to write summaries of each meeting and file the reports.
❑ We will start announcing the downsizing with the highest levels of people affected.
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Question
7
How do we tell the people who will remain? Of all the downsizings in which WorkLife Design has participated, one of the very first set the standard for telling remaining employees. You tell them direct, in person, and as quickly as possible. In one insurance company of about 750 employees, the downsizing was conducted in one day. People whose jobs were eliminated were told by departments. As soon as everyone was told in one department, the team moved on to the next department. It worked in that culture. After exiting people had been told, the CEO returned to each department. He brought with him people to answer department phones and to handle other immediate work needs. Then he gathered the remaining employees around him. He stood in the middle and briefly told the people what had happened, and why. He talked about the severance policy that was in place, and the kinds of assistance exiting employees were receiving. Then he asked for questions. “I took a lot of heat,” he recalls, “and some people swore at me and there was lots of anger. But the next morning,” he adds, “people started dropping by my office at 7:00 A.M. to thank me
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence for telling them in person and not in a memo.” Bottom line? “It was worth all the gaff I took, and it got us back to normal more quickly than had I hid in my office for the day!” Remember this CEO and his story as you plan how to tell remaining employees. Here are five guidelines for informing remaining employees.
1. Tell them quickly. As soon as everyone whose job is being eliminated in a department or unit or location has been told, then tell the remaining employees. Tell them directly that there was a downsizing affecting X number of people. Tell them briefly why. And outline the transition assistance those exiting people will receive. Remember, as soon as the first person whose job is being eliminated is told, others throughout the location will somehow hear about it. So you need to talk with remaining employees as quickly as possible; in some organizations, this is done simultaneously with telling exiting people (though in different meeting locations, obviously). Tell people quickly to eliminate rumors, to help diffuse anger or anxiety about what might happen next, and to affirm that you are a top class operation.
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Question 7: How do we tell the people who will remain?
2. Tell them in person. The message should be given in person, not through some memo or posting on the bulletin board or even an e-mail. E-mails might be an effective communication tool in many instances, but the subject of people losing their jobs is too important for such an impersonal means of sharing information. Inform remaining people face to face.
3. The top brass talks. Who goes around and tells remaining employees what has happened? The highest-level people you can get! This means the top level are involved in going around to the units and explaining what has happened. If for some reason the CEO can’t do it, then go to the executive in charge of that department. Let that person visit the unit, explain what happened, and tell the remaining employees why the downsizing occurred. And be sure to talk about all the kinds of assistance exiting employees will be given to help them find a new position. Our own personal bias is that the CEO needs to be directly involved in telling remaining employees. It sends a vital message to the workplace. But don’t bother having the CEO make a video and sending it around—it’s not worth
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence the cost. People will laugh. They will be convinced that the company doesn’t really care. Informing remaining employees is not necessarily fun, though it’s a step above telling those whose jobs were eliminated. When the upper-level people are involved, there are fewer unanswered questions by remaining employees. And remaining employees appreciate the fact that the top people came and talked with them—sweaty brows and all.
4. Coach the managers in what to say. People who will inform remaining employees need to practice what they will say. They need a great script. And they need to hear themselves say the words, out loud, before they begin this task. You dare not excuse yourself from preparing. If you do, you’re likely to say something you shouldn’t. If you say something you shouldn’t, you may end up with a lot of angry remaining employees or a lawsuit. Either way, you and the organization lose. Your script should go something like this: Folks, I want to personally tell you that this morning we downsized our workforce
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Question 7: How do we tell the people who will remain? by X number of people. This is a task we didn’t want to do. However, as the leadership group analyzed our business plan, we realized we needed to reduce costs. One of the ways we chose to do this is through the downsizing. There are other cost-cutting efforts that will be in place also, which include. . . . We want to do as much as we can to help these people find new, satisfying jobs as quickly as possible. According to our policy, people will receive severance, which is salary continuation, based on their length of employment, with a minimum of X weeks and maximum of Y weeks. In addition, people will continue their healthcare coverage for X months at which time they can continue it on their own if they choose. We’re also providing job transition assistance, and (company) will start working with these people today on how to identify their best skills, how to write a résumé, how to find job openings, how to ace an interview, and how to keep up their personal energy. Our department managers will also be calling department managers in other organizations in our community to tell them of the availability of these people.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence That kind of summarizes what we did and why and how we’re helping these people. I’m ready to try to answer whatever questions you have. . . . Be ready for questions. People may want to know more detail about why the decision was made. And then there are lots of other questions, most of which you can anticipate: • • • •
Is the organization in financial trouble? Will it survive? Will there be other cuts in the near future? What other steps is the organization taking to reduce costs? • Will the organization be sold? • How did you select who goes? • Tell me again about . . . There will be other questions. Your leadership team needs to take time to identify the probable questions you’ll be asked. Then you can talk about what will be said and how.
5. Make yourself easily available. The day of the downsizing and the several days afterward are not the time to take off. Sure, you may be tired and you may want to get away from it all. But just because you’re a leader doesn’t mean you get to walk away. If the others have to stay, so do you.
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Question 7: How do we tell the people who will remain? The best strategy is to make yourself even more available than usual. Walk around the workplace. Be visible. Take time to talk with people. If someone asks you a question about the downsizing or the company’s future, take time to respond—openly. And let others gather around you if they want to listen, too. Take time for coffee or lunch in the cafeteria. Invite others to join you. Then listen to their questions, and give them straightforward answers. If you’re not hiding in your office or out of the office for a “business meeting,” and you’re available to talk about the downsizing, then you appear confident in the decision and in the assistance being provided to those leaving. What you did will most likely be perceived by the remaining employees as the best approach. And you wouldn’t be out talking to the people if the organization didn’t have a good future. On the other hand, if you shut your door, don’t respond to calls, or worse yet, head to your favorite golf course or sunny beach, then the assumption is quickly made that you were part of a faulty series of decisions or that you simply don’t care about what happened. A quick story: A small company downsized by about 10 percent of its total workforce. The CEO was active in telling each person and informing the remaining people. Exiting
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence people received a good severance package as well as job transition assistance. But the next day, the CEO left for a week of golfing in the Bahamas. When he returned, he drove up in his new luxury car. But he couldn’t figure out why, by the end of that day, he had one damn mad workforce. He failed to see that people made a connection between the downsizing, his disappearance, and his affluence. You create the same kind of appearance if you downsize on Friday, then take your top decision makers and head to a resort for a week to “shape your new business plan” or something similar. People are left with unanswered questions and wondering why senior management isn’t shouldering their share of the burden. And it’s just natural that people will look at this kind of extravagance and think, “Gee, if they were more responsible with their spending, we wouldn’t have needed this downsizing.” Real leaders stay and find out what their people are thinking. They deal with problems if any problems arise. And they act cautiously in any new expenditures. Using this process enhances your standing as a leader and the organization’s reputation as a great place to work.
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Question 7: How do we tell the people who will remain?
How not to tell remaining employees: 1. Send a memo or post an announcement on a bulletin board. 2. Avoid training managers on how to tell remaining employees. 3. Let each supervisor come up with his or her own announcement. 4. Plan on leaving for the golf course by noon at the latest. 5. Go ahead and announce the leadership team’s bonuses.
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Question
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Do we do it all at once or in phases? That’s a tough question, because there are advantages and disadvantages to either strategy. What is essential is to remember care and control. Do all you can to show the people—both those exiting and those remaining—that you care about them. And do all you can to stay in control of the process. If you have more than one location, then a phased downsizing might be a viable option. Or if you have a large downsizing, informing people by departments might be an option. Example: You inform IT today, R & D tomorrow, and so on. Here are advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of a Phased Downsizing In a phased downsizing, you implement the downsizing by location, or department, or level, or whatever makes sense to you. Here are several advantages: 1. With a phased downsizing, fewer employees are involved at one time. You typically notify one department or location at a time, which means there are fewer people immediately impacted. In most situations, there is less
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence possibility for things to go wrong if fewer people are involved at one time. Notifying fewer employees at one time means fewer managers need to be trained to conduct the notification meetings. And training fewer managers decreases the possibility somebody will leak the pending downsizing to others. 2. In a phased downsizing, planning can be completed in stages. You don’t have to make as many key decisions if you downsize in Location A next week and in Location B two weeks later. It isn’t necessary for all the decisions to be made before the downsizing begins, and some planning can be set aside for later. 3. When a downsizing is done by location in phases, key leaders to conduct termination discussions can be at all sites. For example, if you do the Alexandria site next week, the CEO and top executives can be in Alexandria to conduct the downsizing and be available to talk with employees. Care and control. Then if you do Waterloo the week after, the CEO and top executives can travel to Waterloo and lead the downsizing. And listen. Employees like to have the top people involved in the downsizing. It shows concern for employees. It also shows that the top brass isn’t sitting above, telling someone his or her job has been eliminated.
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Question 8: Do we do it all at once or in phases? If the top leaders are around and visible and readily talking with employees of all levels and answering questions, people come to one conclusion: Everything is surely going to work out okay. Otherwise the top people wouldn’t be walking around and talking with employees. 4. In a phased downsizing, there is less paperwork to be completed at the same time. If you have only 45 letters to be drafted and prepared, it takes less time than if you have 300 letters to be prepared. So there’s less paperwork and fewer reports that have to be generated, signed, and filed. You still need to have letters for everyone, but in a phased downsizing, you don’t need all of them at the same time. 5. It is easier in a phased downsizing for the senior management team to remain on top of events and respond to problems as they arise. They are not spread so thin that they have no time to answer questions, listen to employees’ reactions to the downsizing, or just sit and talk about the organization and its future. If there are pockets of dissension within the employee group, senior management has time to deal with the problems now, not next week. 6. In a phased downsizing, there can be less stress on decision makers, because the stress load is distributed over a period of time. However, this works both ways.
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Disadvantages of a Phased Downsizing Yes, there are also disadvantages. We’ll begin with the last advantage: 1. In a phased downsizing, there is always the risk that the stress on key leaders is extended over too long a period of time. Key leaders have to deal with the stress of the planned downsizing for so long that it becomes a major distraction. We have seen executives melt down during a downsizing. Prolonging the downsizing over a period of time just to do it in phases may be deleterious for the leadership team. They will not make decisions as well as when they are not stressed. And they will not be able to focus on other aspects of the organization since so much of their time and energy is devoted to a strung-out downsizing. 2. A phased downsizing prolongs the time involved in completing the total downsizing. The downsizing can go on and on. Some employees will wonder if it will ever end. Energy that needs to be spent on R & D or marketing or performance improvement just isn’t there. Instead, energy is going to wherever the next phase of the downsizing takes key leaders.
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Question 8: Do we do it all at once or in phases? 3. A phased downsizing prolongs the downturn of the remaining employees’ morale and productivity. After each phase, employees will be asking, “Who’s next? And where?” More time will be spent talking about who and where than will be spent on getting assignments done on time. Some organizations that conducted a phased downsizing over six weeks never recovered. Six weeks doesn’t seem like a long time, but for an employee group wondering, “Who’s next?” it’s a very long time. And the longer the employees are wondering and worrying, the lower productivity and quality will go. 4. A major disadvantage of a phased downsizing is the effect on the marketplace. If customers and potential customers keep hearing about another downsizing at your organization, questions begin to surface. Is the company stable? What else is wrong in that organization to cause so many downsizings? Can’t the key decision makers make good decisions? Are the products and/or services going to decline in quality? Or have they already declined in quality? A phased downsizing can have a severe negative impact on the marketplace. Not only are present customers concerned, but people considering using your organization for one of its products or services may well decide it’s too risky, and go to your competition.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence 5. Also of concern is the recruiting stature of your organization. With the extra attention a phased downsizing generates, future top job candidates may pass you by as a viable option for employment. It will take longer to recruit top people, and you’ll have to pay them more. And the very very best may pass you by altogether. As the baby boomers retire, there will be increasing competition for good employees. If you have the reputation of doing lots of downsizing, you will not be able to compete for the top employees.
Telling People Before Their Last Day Helps and Hurts Telling people of their job elimination and then giving them several weeks or months before their last day both helps and hurts. For example, Richard Deems’s former boss Clive Veri thought he was doing Richard a great favor by giving him six months from his notice of termination to his last day. For Richard, it was not good. He spent most of the six months trying to negotiate a return. He didn’t do his job search with focus or energy. And at the end of the six months, he was still unemployed.
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Question 8: Do we do it all at once or in phases? That’s what happens to a lot of people who have been given time to find a new position before their existing position ends. Instead of focusing on their job search, they get stuck in denial, experience feelings of anger, or suffer from a lack of confidence. But it doesn’t have to be that way. WorkLife Design has worked with organizations that gave people notice of their job elimination with the last day being three months out. Then the outplacement coaches began their work. A room was set up as a Career Center, with phones, fax machines, computers with Internet access, and space for people to post job openings they had found. When an organization sets up a Career Center such as this, we’ve found that many people have a new position lined up before their current position ends. They’re ready to exit the organization at the end of the three months and begin their new job the next day. Sometimes it’s in the organization’s best interest to release the person early and join in the celebration of the new job. The difference? Whether or not the exiting employees receive transition coaching and whether or not the coaching begins the day after they’ve been told of their job elimination. The quality of the job search assistance they receive makes the difference.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence For example, Li was a night supervisor at a manufacturing facility. Because of changing markets, the company was downsizing in the area where Li worked. Her job simply wasn’t needed. She was told of her job elimination by her manager and the VP of Operations, and that her last day would be in three months. She was also told that she would have released time from work to meet with her outplacement coaches and leave for job interviews. Immediately after this meeting, she was introduced to her career coach. There were 15 others whose jobs were eliminated that day. The next day, the 15 people met in a group session with the career coaches. Each person was assigned a personal coach, and the group discussed the process. Individual meetings were scheduled for later in the week. Group sessions were held twice a week for the next several weeks. The individual meetings with career coaches continued. Li shared her résumé with her manager, who made some suggestions. Then her manager started calling managers at other local organizations whom she had met at professional and networking meetings. Li’s manager told the other managers about the downsizing and the skills the people could bring to their organizations.
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Question 8: Do we do it all at once or in phases? Li started networking as well. It wasn’t long before she had three interviews lined up. She ended up receiving the one job offer she really wanted, but the new organization wanted Li before her last day. They all negotiated an early out: Li was happy, the new organization was delighted, and the downsizing organization’s reputation in the area rose several notches. Here’s a suggested scenario: you inform the people on Day 1 of their job elimination and give them three months before their last day. You have the career coaches on-site to meet the people and begin their work. On Day 2, the exiting employees meet again with their career coaches. You let people know they will be released for job search seminars and individual meetings with their career coaches. You make sure the people and their managers know they will have unquestioned time off for job interviews. You check in with the career coaches to ensure that they are urging people to engage in a proactive job search now, not at the end of the three months. You make sure managers are releasing people for job interviews, actively telling exiting employees of leads, and helping them with introductions to other managers in other organizations. Care. And control.
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What to do? Though it takes more planning, and more people need to get trained in how to conduct a termination meeting, we prefer the downsizing be conducted simultaneously. We believe there is ultimately less stress on employees, less stress on key leaders, and less opportunity for something really devastating to happen when the downsizing is conducted within a few hours. Stretch it out over several days and you increase the stress level of leaders. That doesn’t help. Stretch it out over several weeks and you increase the jitters of your customers. And think of what it’s doing to the employees. And make sure the outplacement people start working with your exiting employees the day of the announcement.
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Question
9
What about the media? Will you have to deal with the media? Probably. Is it important how you deal with the media? You better believe it! Here’s an example of why it’s important how you deal with the media. Two organizations in the same city downsized within three weeks of each other. The first organization, with several thousand employees, downsized by only ten managers—not a big number. But it made the newspaper’s front page below the fold the morning after the downsizing took place. And two days later, there was another major article on the front page of the business section. The articles reported all the details of the downsizing and described the organization’s problems, how the people were told (in a group meeting), and that no assistance was provided to the terminated employees. The articles also reported how difficult it was to get information from the organization’s leaders. Those leaders mistakenly did not make themselves available until after the first article appeared. Morale dropped. Turnover increased. Customer service suffered. And an organization lost its reputation as a great place to work.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Across town two weeks later, a smaller, but very visible, organization also downsized. Twenty percent of their 130 employees were let go. One entire award-winning department was eliminated. That’s a significant downsizing. The leaders planned well. A press release had been prepared, and when a reporter from the local newspaper called that afternoon, the Executive VP took the call. He answered every question that was asked. He talked about the job transition service that was being provided and offered to put the reporter in contact with the career management specialists. The press release was then faxed to the newspaper first (since they called first) and then to all the other media sources in the city. Nothing was said about it on the evening news. Finally, two weeks later, there was a brief article on the third page of the newspaper’s business section. TV and radio never mentioned it. What made the difference? Planning, availability, and readiness and willingness to talk directly with the media. You have to be prepared to deal with the media. With so many people affected in a downsizing, either directly or indirectly, you can count on someone contacting the media and asking, “Do you know what’s going on at XYZ Corp?” Reporters will take it from there.
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Question 9: What about the media? Here are suggestions on how to effectively deal with the media.
One Person Designate one person, and only one person, to talk with all media sources, both print and electronic. This person should be trained in dealing with the media, and all calls from media sources should be directed to that one person. Make sure that person is readily available to take those calls. If your organization practices organizational transparency, then any employee should be prepared to speak with the media. Such organizations, particularly in the United States, are fairly rare, and in most organizations, it will be best to identify only one person to act as media spokesperson. Caution all managers and officers (board members, too) that it is not their role to deal with the media. Remind them, strongly if you need to, that should they get called, they are merely to reply, “We appreciate your interest in us. Let me get you right through to the person who can answer your questions.” Make sure they have that person’s name and number handy. This response should be persistent, and given courteously but firmly.
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Media Training If you or other key leaders have not gone through media training, then this is a good time to do so. It will be time well spent. You’ll have a better understanding and appreciation of the role the media plays and how they work. And you’ll be better prepared to answer their questions. Media training, provided by people such as the internationally recognized professionals at Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates (www.WPNTOnline.com), is a good investment that will pay off in numerous ways, both during the downsizing and at many other times.
Press Release Be sure to have your press release ready. This communication can briefly summarize what was done and how many people were involved. Provide a brief rationale (changing markets, global responses, etc.) and describe that X number of jobs were eliminated after a great deal of consideration. Close the press release with a description of all the assistance being provided: “Exiting employees will receive one week’s salary for each year of service, continuing healthcare coverage, and comprehensive assistance in securing a new position.” Then provide a contact person’s name and direct phone number for additional inquiries.
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Question 9: What about the media? Depending on your relations with the media, you can take the initiative and send out the press release right after all employees have been told of the downsizing. (Do not risk giving it out beforehand and asking the media to “sit on it” until you OK the release.) Another option is to wait until someone from the media calls, then answer his or her questions. Based on the questions you are asked by the first media contact, review the press release and make any changes that seem appropriate. Then have copies of the release delivered to the other major media sources in your area.
Checklist Here are the guidelines we encourage organizations to follow: 1. Select one person to be your media spokesperson, and make sure this person has the appropriate media training. Coach other managers, officers, or board members in how to refer the media to the designated spokesperson. 2. Think through in advance the information you want to share with the media, and write it down. Prepare your formal press release and have several other leaders review it for you to be sure it covers the most necessary information, and nothing else.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence 3. Do some research. Read what the local newspaper’s business section or key reporters have written about your organization and other organizations that have gone through downsizings. Review your organization’s media files to see what’s been written about you. This may give you clues as to how the media may handle the downsizing. 4. Carefully plan when to contact the media, then make sure your designated spokesperson is readily available for media inquiries. 5. Ensure that your designated spokesperson is prepared to speak with the media either over the telephone or face-to-face. Media interviews are more often over the phone, but some reporters and editors still prefer face-to-face meetings, and this can work to your advantage. 6. The spokesperson should allow enough time for an interview to run its course. If they say they have only a few minutes, the reporter may assume they’re trying to cover up something. 7. The spokesperson should be direct and honest. If there are questions they don’t care to answer, then they should be ready to say why. But they should also be ready for follow-up questions. They should not
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Question 9: What about the media? attempt any kind of cover-up of information or actions taken. If the organization’s actions are honorable, this kind of transparency is not difficult. 8. Remember the reporter has a job to do. A probing question is not a sign of antagonism—it’s good journalism. 9. Let the media contacts know you appreciate their work and interest. Send them a thankyou letter.
Remember . . . The media can be your friends when you know how to help them do their jobs.
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Question
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Is career transition assistance really necessary? In one word, yes! It shows you care. It shows you care even about the people who are leaving. And if you care about the people who are leaving, you must really care about the people who are staying. It’s the ultimate in showing that your organization is in it for the long haul and that it appreciates all the people who have had a hand in its success. Even with all the downsizings of the past ten years, there’s still a trauma to losing one’s job. And many of the people caught in downsizings in this new century remember the stories of their parents and/or grandparents who went through job loss in the 1980s or 1990s. It was traumatic then, and it can be traumatic today. Remember, losing a job isn’t just about income adjustments and finding a new position. For many, losing a job is a life-changing upheaval that can involve a person’s sense of self.
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The Deems Job Loss Reaction CycleTM In an earlier career, Richard Deems spent a good deal of time coaching people who had terminal illness or who had watched a loved one die. He became very familiar with the death and dying reactions of people, outlined and discussed in detail by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. When Richard went through his own job loss, he tried to apply the several-stage Kübler-Ross paradigm to his own situation. It didn’t always match. That began many years of researching what happens to people who have lost their jobs. As he talked with others, and kept in mind his own experience of job loss, Richard began to identify a six-stage process. His research indicates that everyone who loses a job goes through all the stages. Some take longer than others. Most get to Acceptance and Affirmation within a few weeks. A very few never move out of Shock and Disbelief or Anger and Resentment. This is the Deems Job Loss Reaction CycleTM:
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary?
© Copyright 2007 by Richard S. Deems
People who have to make the decisions about a downsizing go through the cycle. Everyone goes through it. The decision makers go through it as they struggle with their decisions. First comes the Shock of having to make
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence the hard decisions. Then comes the Anger that things aren’t working out the way they should. This is followed closely by various forms of Denial or Bargaining, hoping that things will somehow turn around and it won’t be necessary: “Maybe if I work longer hours, we won’t have to let people go.” Then there’s the Self-doubt and Put-downs, believing that the downsizing is somehow the result of their own poor decisions or that “I must be a lousy person because of what I’m about to do to these people.” And there’s often Withdrawal. Employees can usually read these signals and know when something is about to happen. The decision makers pull away, aren’t as accessible, don’t return phone calls, or don’t say “Hi” in the halls. Finally, decision makers acknowledge that it has to happen, take responsibility, and get on with it—Acceptance and, hopefully, Affirmation to do it right. But it isn’t a nice, neat, linear process. Decision makers go back and forth between the various cycle dimensions. They may get up in the morning ready to get at it, only to pull into the parking lot and see someone whose job will be eliminated in a few days and go straight to anger that this has to happen. Or maybe it’s the putdowns or depression.
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? One of the reasons we urge you to do the downsizing as quickly as you can justify it and plan for it is that the longer you take to do it, the longer you bounce back and forth in this cycle.
People who lose their jobs go through the same process. When we work with individuals or groups who have lost their jobs, we spend quite a bit of time reviewing and discussing this cycle. It will be helpful for you to have at least a brief understanding of the phases people go through upon hearing that their job has been eliminated. Shock and/or Disbelief. Even though employees may suspect a downsizing is about to take place, there is still a time of Shock and Disbelief when a person actually hears the words, “Your job is being eliminated.” Many people WorkLife Design has worked with describe this moment as being a surreal sense, like being in a dream. Very often, they stop hearing what is being said beyond this initial announcement. This is another reason why having it all written down in the summary letter is so important. They need to leave the meeting announcing their job elimination with something written so that they can look at it again later.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence For some, this Shock lasts only a short time— minutes, hours at most. One of the reasons we urge you to have the job transition specialists on-site on the day of the downsizing is so that they can begin their work right after you make your announcement. After all, it’s pretty hard for people to stay in Disbelief if the job search specialists are talking to them about how to turn job hunting into job getting. Anger and/or Resentment. Shock turns very quickly into anger: anger that this has happened, now, that their position was selected to be eliminated, that managers made decisions last year or five years ago that somehow led to this moment. Anger can stay on as Resentment. Most people quickly see, however, that it’s selfdefeating to stay in this phase, but some do anyway. The anger often gets directed to the organization’s decision makers. And usually the anger simply takes the form of words. Only very, very, seldom does it turn to physical action, and then, in most cases, only when the angry-violent employee feels he or she or co-workers have not been treated fairly. When job transition help, severance, and other assistance are provided to downsized employees, it is easier for them to move on from Anger or Resentment. Exiting employees may not like having to search for a new place to use their skills, but you’ve at least made it as easy as possible for them.
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? Denial and/or Bargaining. When Richard lost his job, he spent several months bargaining with the person who let him go, Clive Veri. Richard would work out a plan for his return, take it to Clive, and talk about it. He was always turned down. But he wasted six months trying to bargain his way back in. Most exiting employees realize the termination is final. But a few might deny that they have really lost their jobs and will attempt various forms of bargaining: lower salary, fewer perks, longer hours. When that occurs, thank them and then encourage them to continue their job search. Exiting people need to move on, and sometimes you need to help remind them to do that. Self-doubt and/or Put-downs. Even though the economy might have gone down the tubes, many downsized people start thinking the downsizing was a result of something they did. Or they simply begin to doubt what they have to contribute. Some little mental voice creeps in saying things like, “If you were really any good, they’d have found a way to keep you.” They put themselves down in terms of what they have contributed to the organization in the past and what they can contribute in the future. They think of how they’ve let their family down, or wonder if they can ever do anything right again. Not rational. Not reality. But it happens.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence When the transition specialists focus on people’s results and what they’ve accomplished in previous jobs, it’s hard for them to put themselves down. The best job transition professionals are those who quickly get people to focus on their accomplishments and not waste time in pity parties. Withdrawal and/or Depression. This phase of the process can be devastating. After all, it’s very easy for a person to sleep in late, look at the want ads in their pajamas while they drink coffee, and not bother to get dressed as if going to work. The longer it goes on, the more a person withdraws. Depression can set in. When transition assistance is provided, it’s more difficult for people to withdraw. They have to go to the meetings. There’s a schedule to keep each day, making it necessary to get up and get dressed. And the transition specialists can keep track of those who may be having a more difficult time. Either they can be provided extra assistance, guided to the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) when appropriate, or urged to see their own physician. One group that WorkLife Design assisted decided on their own that Withdrawal was not going to be tolerated. Each weekend, they would meet to share notes, socialize, and encourage each other. Pessimistic attitudes (“I’ll never find another job I like”) were not tolerated. They helped each other. And yes, they all got new jobs within 90 days.
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? Acceptance and Affirmation. For well over 95 percent of the people WorkLife Design has worked with, the Acceptance and Affirmation phase becomes a reality within weeks. A few take months, and only a very small number never regain it. It is Acceptance that they went through an involuntary change and Affirmation that they have much to contribute—that this can be a tremendous step forward for them. In our own approach to job transition, we urge people to stop and evaluate their strengths, values, and what they want from a job. After all, we remind people that this can be a great time to stop and figure out their ideal job. When people take this track, we show them how to identify what they do best and what they most enjoy doing—and then how to get paid for doing it. When people focus on strengths and the results of their work, Acceptance and Affirmation come quickly!
Fear, Frustration, and Physical People who have been downsized Fear that it will take a long time to find another job; Fear that bills won’t get paid; Fear that friends won’t call; Fear that their kids won’t love them.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Frustration has to do with taking time to learn a whole new set of skills. The skills to learn how to turn job hunting into job getting have to be learned and practiced. They aren’t inherent within a person. And the routine has now been changed, resulting in Frustration. And Physical: there is considerable research that shows people get more colds and have more stomachaches and more headaches as a result of stress. And losing one’s job is full of stress. So it is common for people to have more physical ailments the first few weeks after job loss. Stress can also lower a person’s natural immune system, making them more susceptible to the usual bugs and colds and flu. Do all you can do to show people how to get to Acceptance and Affirmation quickly! In the Deems Job Loss Reaction CycleTM, you’ll notice that the arrows go both up and down. That’s because people going through this cycle don’t do it in a neat, sequential way. They may start off in Shock and Disbelief and then jump to Acceptance and Affirmation. Or maybe they’ll go to Anger and Resentment, and back to Acceptance and Affirmation, and then to Selfdoubt and Put-downs, and back to Acceptance and Affirmation. It’s an up-and-down and back-and-forth reaction until the person finally settles in with Acceptance and Affirmation. There is not one neat way
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? that everyone goes through the job loss experience. Maybe that’s why some find it so exhausting.
Outplacement Okay, so now you know what happens to people who lose their jobs. And you’ll recognize that the sooner a person gets to Acceptance and Affirmation, the more effective they’ll be in making this job transition successful. And it is important how you and your organization look in the marketplace. So how can you help? The best answer is, “Provide job transition assistance.” While this can take several forms, the most commonly used—and the option with the biggest impact, according to research— is outplacement. No, not just for the VPs and managers, but for all people who have lost their positions. There are basically three kinds of outplacement service: individual, one-on-one sessions (often seen as a premier level); group sessions (often used only for lower-paid workers); or a combination of group and individual sessions (which effectively blends the premier service with the economy of group assistance). Several years ago, we developed a combination of group and individual sessions. At first it was a way to provide assistance for organizations that didn’t
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence think they could afford the more expensive individual service. What we’ve found over the years is that the combination works very well. We’ve provided career transition assistance for more than 20 years and pioneered many of today’s common outplacement practices. Whichever format you use, it needs to cover these content areas: • Dealing with job loss (the Deems Job Loss Reaction CycleTM) • Discussing myths and realities of today’s job search, along with very basic do’s and don’ts in those first few days following the job loss • Identifying what you do best and most enjoy doing • Describing what you do best (in multiple formats)—your résumé • Identifying job openings • Responding to job openings, including scripting calls and writing cover letters • Preparing for the interview • Practicing interview strategies • Acting proactively to create your future • Negotiating the final offer • Maintaining your energy when you want to go back to sleep • The mood needs to be upbeat, positive, and encouraging—no sniveling.
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? If you can’t afford one-on-one service (at least 15 to 25 hours of assistance over a period of several months), then go for the combination. It will take two to four half-day group sessions to cover the material and at least two individual sessions to provide the most cost-effective assistance. And plan so that people have access to their transition coaches for months, if needed. Choose a local company, with local contacts and networks. Right now there is a lot of unrest within the big outplacement firms, and consistency of service is not always maintained. They might have a big name and lots of pretty marketing materials, but if the people providing the service don’t know how to coach people in transition, then the name and slick materials count for zip. Also avoid services that operate on an assembly-line basis, moving people in and out as quickly as possible, or that lump everyone together into the same classes and the same job search strategy. Why go to the expense of providing career transition assistance? Research suggests that people who are provided with skilled career transition assistance spend significantly less time on unemployment, reduce the amount of time it takes to find new, satisfying employment, and go through the job loss experience with much less stress than people who receive no assistance.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence So you do it because it works better for the people who must leave your organization. It shows you care. It shows you have class. It shows you are committed to your people— even the people who have to exit.
When should the outplacement begin? Start it immediately. Don’t waste time. The best way for you to provide outplacement is to have the career transition professionals on-site and ready to talk with people right after they’ve been told their jobs have been eliminated. If employees are notified of their downsizing in a group setting, then the final task of the leader in the meeting is to introduce the career transition people. The transition people can introduce themselves, outline the assistance to be provided, take questions, and get people started on turning job hunting into job getting. Our WorkLife Design staff ask for enough time to also introduce our workbook, No Sniveling—How to Turn Job Hunting into JobGetting! Our workbook becomes the primary reading resource for those now in job transition. We call attention to the section on the Job Loss Reaction CycleTM and talk about it for a few minutes. We suggest what to say to family members, neighbors, and friends. Then
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Question 10: Is career transition assistance really necessary? we make sure they have our cell phone numbers and invite them to call any of us later in the day or evening if they have questions or just want to talk. Sometimes we’re asked, “Should I go home now or talk to my friends?” We let individuals make their own decisions. Our role is to help them see their options and make the decision that works best for each person. Insist that the outplacement people continue their work the next day with these newly downsized employees. We never leave a building until the individuals or group of people have been scheduled to meet the next day. What we find is that people have begun to move to Acceptance and/or Affirmation by the time they go to sleep. As career coaches, that’s what we want. As a company’s leader, that’s what you want, too. Proactively helping downsized employees turn job hunting into job getting is a wise investment for the organization. It shows that the organization cares. It sets the precedence that if a future downsizing occurs, people will get help. And it shows the marketplace that the organization is a good place to work. After all, if the organization takes care of the people who exit, then think of how they care for the people who stay.
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Outplacement Whether it’s called career coaching, job transition assistance, or outplacement, it’s all the same. It is a service to assist the recently outplaced employee find a new position where the person can be successful. WorkLife Design begins its outplacement service with each individual with the statement: “Our job is to show you how you can go back to your former employer a year from now and tell them thank you for doing you a favor.”
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Question
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What if we need some of these people in nine months? The crunch for good people will increase in the coming years. Why? There simply aren’t enough good people to go around. If you read the earlier section on Future Recruiting Status (see Question 1), then you understand why you need to be careful about how you do a downsizing. After all, you may well need some of those people down the road. If you didn’t read Future Recruiting Status in the Question 1 discussion, then turn to it now and read it. Then return to Question 11. Downsizings are temporary actions. They are conducted to reduce costs so that your organization can continue to be healthy. If you lead well, then you may need some of these people you’re letting go at some point in the future—maybe in six months, nine months, or two years. But unless you really messed it up, your drive to make the organization successful will put you back in the growth mode. Then you’ll be competing for an increasingly shrinking pool of real talent. One of the most effective ways to keep in contact is through a periodic update or promotional piece. Whether it’s e-mail or snail mail is not
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence real important. What matters is that you’re trying to keep in touch with those who left because you consider them to be good employees. This promotional piece can also be distributed to existing employees. They’ll enjoy seeing and reading what their friends who left in the downsizing are receiving. You might even want to consider sending this promotional piece out to your key customers. Remember, if you share information, you are perceived as being open and honest. If you do not share information, it is assumed that you’re holding something back. Here are several suggestions to make your organization more appealing as a place to return to. We’ve mentioned some of these in other parts of this book as well.
1. Explain your rationale for the cut. When you downsize, be ready to share information. You need to explain to the people who exit and the people who remain why you’re making employee cuts, why that’s the most feasible way to reduce costs, and what you hope to gain from it. If you can’t explain why the cuts will make your organization more viable, then perhaps the downsizing is not your solution or you’ve focused on the wrong problem.
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Question 11: What if we need some of these people in nine months? You don’t need to give away trade secrets. But if your organization is one that is to be trusted, then you must be ready to share the rationale for the downsizing. Otherwise, the marketplace may just think that you cut employees to boost executive salaries or perks. This rationale for the downsizing can be part of a more significant printed announcement that tells more about your organization: Why the cuts. What’s being done to reposition the organization. Changing markets. What you’re doing to meet economic change. And how the restructuring efforts are having significant paybacks.
2. Explain what assistance is being provided to the exiting people. Your written announcement must also include a summary or overview of the assistance you’re providing to those whose jobs have been eliminated. You can describe the salary continuance system, continued benefits, and even the job transition assistance that people will receive. What you’re trying to show in this printed piece is that you care about people—even those who must exit. Lots of organizations downsize. Lots of organizations talk the talk of caring for employees. Fewer organizations
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence walk the talk by showing, in a real and meaningful way, that they do care. If you tell me that you care about people and then let 10 percent of the workforce go, but don’t bother to help, I can come to only one conclusion: you don’t really care about people. But if you care enough to tell me about the various kinds of assistance you’re providing to those who are exiting, it is easier for me to understand your actions, and easier for those who are exiting to think about returning when you need more people.
3. Keep in touch with those who exit. There are many ways to keep in touch with former employees. Newsletters, press releases, phone calls, and periodic updates described above are all ways to keep in touch with those who exit. Since you dealt with performance problems prior to the downsizing, those who exited as a result of the downsizing are people you’d put on the payroll again if you needed them. So keep in touch with them. If you know what you’re doing, you may very well need them in the future. These are people who know your workplace culture, your customers, and your technology. If you treated them fairly during the downsizing, they’ll still be interested in you. Send them
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Question 11: What if we need some of these people in nine months? periodic updates about the organization. Tell them about the results of the downsizing, new efficiencies, new sales venues, or new performance achievements. If something good is happening, tell them about it. And if you’re still struggling, tell them about that, too. Let them know the issues you’re dealing with. Ask for suggestions and give them contact information if they have ideas. But primarily focus on your successes and your talent needs. If you need five new people in IT, then let those who exited earlier know about it—even those who weren’t in IT. As part of a periodic newsletter, include information about this emerging need. Ask if they know of others who would fit in the culture of your workplace. Since those who exited know it well, they will be able to identify people who will fit. If you could use the skills of someone who exited through downsizing, then contact the person using phone or e-mail and invite them to return to your workplace. Describe your job needs. Tell them that they did a good job earlier and you’d like them to return. If you walk the talk, they’ll be ready to consider a return. If you don’t walk the talk, then plan on spending big amounts of financial resources on recruiting efforts.
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Will they want to keep in touch? Some will and some won’t. Some people will be so upset by the downsizing that they don’t want to have anything more to do with the organization. But if you’ve done it well and followed these guidelines, there will be a good number of former employees who maintain their interest in you. Yes, they just might be interested in returning. They know how your organization gets things done. They know the workplace culture. They will start their new jobs with you on the run.
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Question
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Now what? You have read this downsizing book, you’ve considered all the issues, and you’ve developed your plan. You’ve reviewed it, slept on it, noodled it in the middle of the night, and even spent those extra dollars to have someone go over your plan with you to identify any weak spots. And you made the corrections. Now what? Do it! If you’re convinced your plan is thorough, then the next action is to schedule the downsizing. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be for you to carry out those plans with the energy you will need. Look at the calendar and identify the day when you can do your downsizing. And then plan on getting extra sleep, more exercise, good nutrition, and less alcohol and caffeine between now and then. You’ll need all the energy you can get to implement a downsizing that doesn’t leave the exiting employees devastated, the remaining employees angry, the decision makers stressed, and the company open to litigation or lost business. Do it the right way, and people—all the people involved—can win.
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Have we thought of everything? As you’ve discovered in this book, there are a lot of things to consider when carrying out a downsizing with full confidence. You can take a quick look at chapter headings as one way to double check your planning. The following checklist may also help: In preparation for our downsizing, have we: 1. Reviewed the business plan and clarified our needs and goals? 2. Identified other ways to reduce costs and achieve our goals? 3. Identified the human resources we need in order to reach our business plan goals and objectives? 4. Identified the kinds and numbers of positions that should be eliminated? 5. Established criteria for deciding which positions will be eliminated? 6. Followed the criteria consistently throughout the entire organization? 7. Identified the people whose jobs will be eliminated? 8. Conducted a detailed analysis of our workplace both before and after the proposed downsizing by age, sex, ethnic origin, years of service, and any other categories?
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Question 12: Now what? 9. Found any inconsistencies and taken corrective actions? 10. Reviewed existing severance policy and made any changes to enhance the assistance people will receive? 11. Decided what works best in our workplace: tell everyone in small groups, individually, or one large group? (for both exiting and remaining people) 12. Designated one person to deal with the media and informed all managers to refer media calls to that person? 13. Provided media training for the designated media contact? 14. Set a date for announcing the downsizing and cleared calendars of all people involved? 15. Trained people on how to conduct a downsizing notification meeting? 16. Arranged to have individual letters prepared to distribute at the notification meeting(s)? 17. Scheduled the rooms needed to conduct the downsizing notification meetings? 18. Selected a job transition organization to provide transition assistance? 19. Scheduled the transition organization so that they can be on-site and begin their work the same day? 20. Coached everyone involved in notifying employees of the downsizing in how to physically and mentally prepare, such
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21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
as getting extra sleep, extra exercise, healthy nutrition, and moderate alcohol and caffeine intake? Made sure that key leaders and managers understand the power of being on-site and walking around, ready to listen to anyone who has a question or wants to make a comment? Reviewed calendars to ensure that no leader will be out of the office five to ten days after the announcement, particularly for vacation or conferences? Determined how any employees—both those who are exiting and those who are remaining—who might be on vacation or home ill will be informed of the downsizing? Identified ways to stay in touch with downsized people, in case we need some people back at a later time? Reviewed this list in detail and honestly answered each question?
Looks like you’re ready! Do it well. Do it with class. Do it with care and control.
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Who are these authors? Richard S. Deems, Ph.D. He’s been quoted in the New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, Canadian Business Journal, Executive Excellence, Federal Times, and even The Sporting News. He’s the author of twelve books on key management issues, including two best sellers. Richard S. Deems, Ph.D., has been thinking about terminations ever since Clive Veri fired him back in 1977. It wasn’t an easy experience, and Richard learned many things the hard way. It took him more than a year to find a new position. But the new position was a great move, as he became a graduate faculty member at Iowa State University. As the economy turned in the early 1980s, organizations were letting people go. Almost daily the newspapers contained stories of downsizings across the country. Some were handled well, but many were not. Through his research and work, Richard began keeping track of what worked and what didn’t and soon was conducting workshops for the state business association on how to terminate. His recommended procedures were timely and on target. Organizations that followed his recommendations didn’t have the problems other organizations encountered. Leaders who followed his suggestions had only a minimal drop in
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence morale, seldom ended up in court, reduced their unemployment insurance costs, and maintained a high regard in the marketplace. His strategies worked. As his experience with downsizings increased, Richard added to his collection of how-to-doit-right stories. His first book on termination, How to Fire Your Friends, was released in 1989. A year later, he was asked to write Termination: Beyond Legalities specifically for lawyers (after all, you can be legal and still get your organization in trouble). American Media Inc. (AMI) asked Richard to write one of their books, and I Have to Fire Someone was released in 1994, followed by AMI’s video Care & Control—A Better Approach to Termination. In 2002, HRD Press asked Richard to do a book on leadership during tough times. He agreed, if he could work with his daughter Terri on the book. The two jumped in and Leading in Tough Times—The Manager’s Guide to Responsibility, Trust, and Motivation was released in 2003. In The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence, Richard updates his earlier works and addresses the tough process of reducing employees. One of the things you want to have happen in today’s rapidly changing economy is to downsize in a way that maintains or enhances your reputation as a great place to work. He remembers very vividly what it was like
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Who are these authors? to be terminated. And he’s thanked Clive several times, because what Clive did set Richard on a whole new career path.
Terri A. Deems, Ph.D. Terri A. Deems, Ph.D., is one of Richard’s daughters. Yes, she’s been through the termination process, too, and has gone through all phases of the cycle discussed in this book. She also researched the Job Loss Reaction CycleTM as part of her Master’s thesis. Maybe she was trying to show that Dad didn’t know everything, but her conclusion was that the Job Loss Reaction CycleTM, as her father described it, was accurate. It is the process people go through upon hearing that they have been terminated. And it’s the same whether for cause or a downsizing. Terri’s experience in job loss helped motivate her to more deeply explore what makes an organization a great place to work. Her doctoral research, along with her work experiences in human resources, training and development, and career coaching, focused on what she calls “vital work”: the kind of organization where people are animated, eagerly come to work, don’t run for the doors at 5:00 P.M., and are truly productive and satisfied at the same time—places where creativity, commitment, and community are a lived, rather than appropriated, experience.
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The Manager’s Pocket Guide to Downsizing with Confidence Terri received the Cutting Edge Award in 2000 for her research on the vital workplace, presented by the International Academy of Human Resource Development. In addition to her research and consulting work with her father, Terri is an adjunct instructor for Drake University and Upper Iowa University, teaching courses in qualitative research, training and development, business ethics, critical thinking, and organizational development, among others.
WorkLife Design Richard is founding president and Terri is executive vice president of WorkLife Design, a consulting organization specializing in workplace vitality, development, and transformation, with offices in Arizona, Iowa, and Illinois. Services provided by WorkLife Design’s group of experts include helping people at all organizational levels with executive leadership, team formation and development, change management, communication skills, and culture shift. Richard believes that one size can never fit all situations, “so each of our projects is custom designed to meet each organization’s unique and specific needs.”
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Who are these authors? You can contact the authors at: Richard S. Deems, Ph.D. Scottsdale, Arizona Direct: (480) 206-5100
[email protected] Terri A. Deems, Ph.D. Ankeny, Iowa Direct: (515) 964-0219
[email protected] Or visit their web page at www.worklifedesign.com.
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Who are these authors?
Books by Richard S. Deems and Terri A. Deems Leading in Tough Times—The Manager’s Guide to Responsibility, Trust, and Motivation
Books and Videos by Richard S. Deems How to Fire Your Friends Career Development in Adult Basic Education Termination: Beyond Legalities I Have to Fire Someone Fear of Firing Making Change Work for You Making Change Work for You in Healthcare Interviewing: More Than a Gut Feeling Hiring: More Than a Gut Feeling Hiring—How to Find and Keep the Best People Making Change Work for You—2nd Edition How to Fire Your Friends—2nd Edition Care & Control: A Better Approach to Termination (21-minute color VHS training video) Guiding Employees Through Change (35-minute color VHS training video for managers and key decision makers)
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