The Manager's Pocket Guide® to Downsizing with Confidence

Question

63

How do we tell the people

who will remain?

Of all the downsizings in which WorkLife Design

has participated, one of the very first set the

standard for telling remaining employees. You

tell them direct, in person, and as quickly as

possible.

In one insurance company of about 750 employ-

ees, the downsizing was conducted in one day.

People whose jobs were eliminated were told by

departments. As soon as everyone was told in

one department, the team moved on to the next

department. It worked in that culture.

After exiting people had been told, the CEO

returned to each department. He brought with

him people to answer department phones and

to handle other immediate work needs. Then

he gathered the remaining employees around

him. He stood in the middle and briefly told the

people what had happened, and why. He talked

about the severance policy that was in place,

and the kinds of assistance exiting employees

were receiving. Then he asked for questions.

“I took a lot of heat,” he recalls, “and some

people swore at me and there was lots of anger.

But the next morning,” he adds, “people started

dropping by my office at 7:00 A.M. to thank me

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