HOW TO AVOID LOSING TRUST IN THE WAKE OF POTENTIAL LAYOFFS
Great Place to Work – 18 JULY 2022
With recession fears and rising interest rates causing many companies to shed jobs, consider this three-step approach to avoid wrecking company culture.
After one of the hottest job markets in generations, the economy might be cooling.
Rampant inflation, which in turn has seen the Federal Reserve raise interest rates, has many forecasting an economic recession. Tech companies have already been tightening belts, with companies like Meta, Coinbase, Oracle and Netflix shedding jobs.
Even the best workplaces aren’t immune to these economic headwinds.
“The best workplaces go through layoffs; it’s part of business,” says Marcus Erb, vice president of data science and innovation at Great Place to Work®. “Nobody likes to have it happen, but it has to happen sometimes.”
Who gets cut has profound ramifications for efforts to diversify the American workplace. When Netflix laid off staff, former employees noted that many of those let go had been working on diversity, equity and inclusion across the company.
How companies conduct layoffs speaks volumes about how great employers distinguish themselves from merely average ones. A great workplace finds ways to care for employees even as they transition out of the organization. And companies that are serious about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging take identity into consideration when pondering staff cuts.
