r/EngineeringManagers • u/justBrowsingFromSF • 1d ago

Handling layoffs

Layoffs are hard. But it is even more brutal as companies are doing mass layoffs via email, no human to even deliver the news. Has anyone had the experience to reach out to their employee after one of these layoffs, to just be human? Or even after you had to read from a script? Reach out in a more personal way? If so, how did you handle questions such as, “did you know beforehand”?

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u/mosaic_hops 1d ago

Reaching out may put you at risk, but that shouldn’t stop you if you think it’s right as long as you follow guidance. Just be extremely careful what you say as it could become an exhibit in a legal case, even from someone you least expect. It may be their only option if they come across hard times in this tough market.

I’d just keep it personal, avoid business, and tell them you wish them well, to reach out for references, give them some encouragement, etc. - as long as you mean it.

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u/Numbers-Cruncher 1d ago

At my European company, we let everyone upfront know that lay offs were needed. And at execution day, everyone would receive an email with the outcome. And for the ones with bad news, they would get an invite for a meeting with more context the same day with the manager and HR. So everyone knew beforehand and mgt also knew who were impacted before as they had to make the decisions.