How long should an employer keep an employee waiting when downsizing?

May 10, 2021 5:30 PM

After announcing lay-offs, how much lead time should an employer give a to-be-laid-off employee before their termination meeting (more clarity below the fold)?

This last year has, of course, been one of budget cuts everywhere and my company is no exception. Last Friday, our CFO announced that there would be lay offs and everyone would be informed by this coming Friday. Immediately after the meeting, I received a message asking me to meet with the CFO and HR this coming Friday. Obviously, I'm going to be "reduced," which I accept in light of the budget crisis, but I feel like making me wait to actually be released (when we all know damn well what it going on) is kind of a lousy thing to do. That said, maybe this is standard practice? I don't know. I'm wondering if there's a standard or recommended amount of time to make an employee wait before delivering this obviously bad news.

posted by Joey Michaels to Work & Money (13 answers total)

I'm not justifying corporate behavior here, just answering the question as-stated.

It's pretty common in my experience to offer no warning of an employee's status during a layoff. Warning would give a bad actor employee chance to take negative action against the company or coworkers. Your company may also immediately lay you off at the meeting, escort you away, and pay out a severance period rather than give you time to potentially take negative action against the company or coworkers.

I'm not implying you would do this, but the company will have to take employee safety as top priority here - there's a possibility of violence in any lay-off, so minimizing that time is generally the standard practice.

I've seen at least once where everybody is given the same invite to the "higher-ups", and the meeting content changes depending on your status.
posted by saeculorum at 5:43 PM on May 10, 2021 [7 favorites]

I'm also wondering if everyone got the same invite. They might be bringing everyone in, and folks who are staying will hear what's up, and others will hear that their jobs are ending that day.
posted by bluedaisy at 5:51 PM on May 10, 2021 [5 favorites]

I’ve been on both sides of it — all hands and the cutting was the next TWO days, all hands and the cutting was booked two weeks in advance for “handoff” reasons.

One considered me a valued employee, the other felt I was just a head in a game of hot potato.

Both times I knew I was on the list but maybe just surf all week and work on your resume if you’re allowed. (Most places I work had a no personal stuff on work computers.
posted by tilde at 5:52 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

Announcing anything like this ahead of time is wasteful. You now have a company full of people that will do the absolute minimum - or zero - until the meeting on Friday. You're all in limbo.

That said, take advantage of the gap and clean up any personal stuff, maybe even get the surplus stuff out of the building, before Friday. If you love office gossip there will be plenty to go around to take up the rest of the time. If not, enjoy the break. Maybe check in with peers and people you enjoy working with and make sure you're all connected by phone, email, LinkedIn, whatever.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:55 PM on May 10, 2021 [8 favorites]

Most places prefer to ambush you entirely, is what I hear. Like "you're laid off and we walk you out the door now." Two days is unusual.

I'd pack my shit and be ready to leave right after that meeting, if you've got 2 days to pack, photocopy, download stuff, what have you.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:13 PM on May 10, 2021 [1 favorite]

I'm with jenfullmoon, but please make sure you stick around long enough to get any paperwork from HR that might be necessary for COBRA or unemployment benefits. Usually that's mailed home but you never know.

ProTip: if you have a healthcare flexible spending account (FSA), the IRS says you can spend the entire elected 2021 amount right now, even if you haven't contributed the next 7 months into the fund. Of course don't do this if you're sticking around and need the money later. But, if you know it's over, do it quickly. Consider it a parting gift.

If you did already spend all of 2021, also know that your company can't claw back the overspent amount. Check your last paystub carefully.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:25 PM on May 10, 2021 [6 favorites]

As others have said - don't assume, don't burn bridges.

That said, take your personal stuff home, wipe your browser history and start working on your CV.

There's no good way to be shown the door.
posted by wotsac at 6:39 PM on May 10, 2021 [3 favorites]

My experience is that companies will make a general announcement and then leave you hanging for an indefinite period of time. There will be rumors, that "calls will be going out this week." Then nothing will happen, and the rumors may circulate again and again with no resolution. Then finally, after several weeks or months, maybe some semi-official announcement that "you will hear this week," meaning, "you will wait all week to hear at 4PM on Friday." You won't know your status until just before they have you sign papers and walk out the door or you find out that your position, department and/or manager has changed.
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:18 PM on May 10, 2021 [2 favorites]

I've gone through layoffs a couple of times. The first time I was retained. The second I wasn't. But the second one was because the company was making a drastic change in how they did business and could not do so with the staff they had. We were all offered a generous severance and benefits if we stayed on until a certain date. It was easy to do because the company was forthright and treated us with respect and generosity.

I admit my experience was unusual, and I was fortunate. Not many employers are that good to their employees.
posted by lhauser at 8:04 PM on May 10, 2021

It depends on where you're located and the size of the layoffs. Your area may have WARN act requirements that come into play.

That said, I was notified 3 months before my anticipated layoff date. My boss gave me a pool of "anytime" time to go on job interviews with little notice (like PTO, but was designed to be used as a separate bank that I could move around and cut into). I got flexibility to update my resume on work time and to take calls from potential employers. Basically, I was expected to keep working to my previous level, but if I needed to come in late / leave in the middle of the day for a job interview, I was allowed to take from the pool of job interview time and make it up later in the two week payroll period. If I couldn't for whatever reason, then it would translate to PTO. (The company paid out PTO so this let me save as much as possible to cash out and cover the gap between paychecks).
posted by skittlekicks at 6:50 AM on May 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

Check labor laws in your state. When I was in a layoff group of a cretain size, it triggered requirements.
Make sure all network data is safely backed up; some people may be vindictive.
When I worked in It and the company was poorly managed, everyone realized that layoffs happened on the Friday after end of quarter, and they'd call us to see if they were getting locked out.
What information do people need - unemployment info, health insurance, payout (if offered), etc. Have that information on hand.
posted by theora55 at 11:23 AM on May 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

Well here's how I would do it. I would announce as soon as I could what I knew. Layoffs are a (possibility, certainty) but it hasn't been decided how many and who. I would set a date when I WOULD know how many and who. It would be long enough for me to do a good job, but not so long as to set up some kind of misguided "maybe if I just... I'll change their minds" competition. Might as well not keep that date a secret either. And I would schedule a meeting with everyone, staying or going, for that date.

The ambush thing has a good-faith reason, trying to be as honest as possible. No sense keeping it a secret, depriving people of the chance to start looking at possibilities. But also no sense delaying it once you know. I think it's more heartless to just come in one day and be like, surprise, layoffs! Usually the motive behind that is to avoid nasty rumor control and everyone turning on each other, but the rumors happen anyway. There's no easy or painless way to do it, people are going to be upset either way.

Nth-ing that your meeting might be a "you're going to have a new manager" or "you're going to be picking up an additional duty" or something like that. I would do those meetings also. They might not be able to release you now because they don't actually even know yet who they are releasing.
posted by ctmf at 9:35 PM on May 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Update - thank you all for your feedback. My position was "terminated" and I was let go with alot of praise for my 25 year contribution to the company and an apology for making me wait five days. It was a miscommunication with an admin assistant that they decided not to correct. Alas!
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:10 PM on May 14, 2021