What Helped Moral After Company-Wide Layoffs?

Morale might bounce back but there will always be some level of distrust.

I would tag the Uber and wework people as it seems they’re getting sliced as well. I’m not sure there’s a real conclusion there yet.

It will stay low for at least a year or two. Trust won’t be the same. Expect more departures as folks that think they could be cut, start looking and finding better gigs.

Time heals as people forget and get used to new stability. Wins also heal like improvements in stock price. Restarting hiring also helps so you fee the place is still growing

Some people will be skeptical about whatever you say from now on. If you have another layoff soon after, that would be it for a lot of the top performers who are usually the most passionate about their job, so keep that in mind.

Cake.

I lived through one decimation, and the way the firm explained it away was “well, we got rid of the nonperformers, and all you guys that remain are the good ones.” Kind of worked? What followed was a bit of gossip but no grumbling? I suppose what helped was that the layoffs came as a surprise, so the morale was fine going into this thing, and the people that remained did not experience much of a shock as a result. So yes, lesson to all the firms: make sure your layoffs come out of the blue.

My morals went straight into the shitter.

So, none of you have read any Covey books? Never read “The Speed of Trust?” Every great manager reads that book. Do everything you can to help the people you’re laying off get another job: write letters of recommendation for them, give them generous severance packages, etc. Don’t treat them like they’re worthless and they never did anything for the company.

I think the moral would improve when your product stops killing people.