Today a friend of mine told me that 12 people at her company were let go. She was definitely rattled by it, and as she told me the details of how it went, there were definitely things that could have been handled better.

At some point in your professional life, your company will experience layoffs. It’s just a matter of time. Whether you experience it for the first time as a new manager, or you’re lucky enough to go most of your career without experiencing it, your first company-wide layoffs as a leader will be difficult to navigate.

Let’s go through the process for how to make layoffs as painless as possible.

The first time you hear about it

When senior leadership starts discussing the potential of layoffs, ensure that you get 2 key pieces of information. How many people do you need to choose, and when you need to give your list of names by.

I had been a leader in my company for a little over a year and a half the first time layoffs were mentioned. As a leader, you will find out about the layoffs before anyone else on your team, but don’t say anything until a proper communication plan is worked out. Find someone outside the company that you trust, so that you can talk it out. It will help to relieve the pressure you’re feeling.

Choosing Names

You’ll be asked to work with other leadership levels at the company to come up with a list of names of who will be let go. It’s best not to think about the personal situations of employees while you come up with the list. Remember that you also have a responsibility to the employees that remain after the layoffs. Your primary concern is to ensure momentum can be maintained as much as possible post-layoffs. The team members that remain should be the ones that can provide the most leverage to the company’s strategic goals.

In my case, that meant letting go of most of my generalists, and keeping my specialists. Depending on your company’s objectives, you may make an entirely different choice.

Carrying out the plan

Once the list is finalized across the company, things should move fast. It’s going to be incredibly disorienting for everyone involved, but there will be time to regroup afterwards.

An urgent mandatory all hands meeting should be scheduled for first thing in the morning. Senior leadership will announce the situation to the company and let everyone know that followup meetings will be scheduled with those affected. During this announcement, the HR team or other leaders will schedule 15 minute meetings with each affected person. In an ideal world, all of these meetings are done within 1 hour of the announcement. Afterwards, there will be a series of back to back 15 minute meetings involving the manager, and an HR team member. If this is your first time laying someone off, request that a more senior manager join you in the call.

In my case, the first time I had to let people go, a more senior leader delivered the news, but I was present fan those meetings and thanked everyone for the work they had done. In a later situation, a more senior leadership team member was present, but I delivered the news.

I am not an HR professional, so be sure to consult with one before you carry this out. Have a script ready informing the affected employee that their position is being terminated effective immediately. Be sure to let them know that it’s not because of performance. Because a layoff can be shocking, you can’t expect them to remember all the details you’re telling them in the meeting. Confirm their personal email address and let them know you’ll send a followup message outlining the details of the conversation. Send this email immediately after the meeting. Delays will only add to the stress.

Let the affected employee know:

• Legal notice period, including if they are or are not expected to work through the period
• Severance (it is best to pay severance rather than giving advanced notice. Nobody can be expected to do their best work when they know they’re being fired in a few weeks)
• Whether or not there is a continuation of health benefits for any period
• If they will be keeping any hardware, or how to return it
• If there will be any assistance in their future job search, and how long this assistance will last (in some cases, this could be until they find employment again)
• Payout for unused vacation time, salary, commissions, equity, etc.

Remember to always steer the conversation back to the script. The matter is not up for debate, it’s not personal, and do not apologize. Be sure to thank them for all the contributions they have made.

Different people will react to the news in different ways. You’ll see the full spectrum of emotions as employees are let go. Anger, sadness, even relief in some cases. Let them feel their feelings, don’t take it personally. Your last act as their leader should be to not make it about you.

Picking up the pieces

The teammates that are still here

Let your team know when it’s done. This is critical. You don’t want people on your team sitting in fear and anxiety for the rest of the week wondering if they’re next.

At our company, we remind people that they can take a mental health day for the rest of the day if they need. Some people may take that offer, others may prefer to keep their minds occupied with work. Everyone’s going to react differently.

Rebuilding trust after a round of layoffs is hard. I mention psychological safety a lot in this blog. In the case of performance-based termination, there will be a series of conversations leading up to that final meeting, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. One of the hard parts about company-wide layoffs is that, in order to act fast, it will be a grim surprise to everyone.

After the layoffs are done, checkin with your team. Remind them to take the day if they need, take any questions they may have, answer the ones you can, and check with other leaders if there are any questions you can’t answer. Do not guess. This will only lead to more confusion and gossip. After you’ve done the Q&A, remind your team that your door is open to answer any more questions as they come up.

Continue to check in with your team through your 1:1 meetings as well. It will take time for the dust to fully settle.

The teammates that were let go

Your HR team may direct you not to reach out to employees that were let go until all the severance documents are signed. If you feel like you need to do something sooner, start writing reference letters now.

Regularly checkin with HR until you’re allowed to reach out to the affected teammates. As soon as you are allowed, send LinkedIn messages apologizing for the delay in reaching out and let them know you’ve started writing reference letters. Ask if there are any points they want highlighted in their reference letter. Once the letters are written, email them out and also post them on their profile as a LinkedIn recommendation. The employee can choose if they want the recommendation displayed on their profile or not.

If your team was very close knit, rally them to endorse each others skills on LinkedIn.

After that, the most help you can provide is making occasional edits to the reference letter for more promising roles, or changing the date of the letter to something more recent.

If you left things on good terms, offer to be a reference for them.

Wrapping up

Layoffs are hard. Focus on the feelings of people on your team, and those not on your team anymore. As a leader, you can talk about these feelings with other leaders, your manager, or trusted people outside the company. You don’t get to make it about you. Do what you can to take care of yourself, but remember you’ll need to find your support elsewhere.

It’s going to happen fast and it may be disorienting, but you’ll have a few days more notice than the people affected. This is where you have a real opportunity to provide support and leadership. Rebuilding trust and getting the team back on track afterwards are your main priorities.