Few things in life are as traumatic as losing a job. One day you're drawing a steady paycheck, the next day you (and perhaps a family) are facing a future of economic uncertainty. It is, literally, a dreadful feeling.
But any manager who has had to deliver the bad news to their colleagues (and sometimes their workplace friends) can tell you it takes a real emotional toll. I've been there, as have many of you reading this, maybe even recently.
There's a good
article over at CIO Update that offers some advice for managers on how to survive the bad feelings from having to lay off co-workers. Some highlights:
Don't hide. "The worst thing you can do as a manager is stay locked in your office
and feel bad for the decisions you made. You have to make a business
decision. You made your decision. You're going to have to live with it.
It's going to be tough but, as a manager, as a leader, you cannot afford
to show that you are completely put down by what happened and you can't
function." -- Laurent Duperval of Duperval Consulting
Stop second-guessing yourself. "You have to look at the big picture: If you didn't make those decisions
the whole ship could come down, which means a lot more people would
have lost their jobs, including yourself." -- Roberta Chinsky Matuson, founder and president of Human Resource Solutions
Communicate. "Be transparent as far as what is happening or will be happening, and the
better off you will be. The longer you wait and the
less transparent you are the more it comes back to haunt you." -- Dave Willmer, executive director of IT staffing firm Robert Half Technology
Don't assume it's business as usual. "That's a mistake that can be common as people say, 'Well, you know
what? We're going to have to work twice as hard because half the people
left, but we still need to get the same jobs done.' That is
unrealistic." -- Duperval
There's some other good advice in the article. Hope it helps.
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