3 Ways to Keep Employees Engaged During Downsizing

27 Apr 3 Ways to Keep Employees Engaged During Downsizing

The only constant in business in change. Unexpected changes to business environments sometimes happen because of the unintended consequences of decisions that are made internally. Other times, changes result from things that occur outside of the business’ control, such as regulatory changes, actions by competitors, or other changes in market conditions. Unfortunately, unexpected downturns sometimes prompt business leaders to make the difficult decision to downsize in order to reduce wage expense and increase cash flow.

Before making such a decision, leaders should first look at their business from different perspectives to be certain that downsizing is the best option. Could the company cut costs elsewhere, or could they employ a furlough program to save jobs? In his TedTalk, Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe, Simon Sinek compares the business world to the military and discusses the benefits of alternative strategies for reducing labor costs.

If leaders do make the tough decision that downsizing is necessary for their business, ensuring that the employees that are left at the company are motivated is a challenge that leaders MUST face. Layoffs will understandably cause employees to feel uncertainty, fear, confusion, and even anger.

Here are three things that leaders can do to help mitigate the effects of a layoff on the remaining employees.

1. Be Honest.   I can’t emphasize this point enough….just be honest. The worst thing leaders can do is to try to hide the fact that layoffs are happening. An unexplained surge in terminations over a period of weeks or months will panic employees. Vendors will wonder what is going on in the company, and perhaps question the company’s ability to pay invoices. And customers will start worrying about the viability of the company’s products and/or services, and start looking elsewhere.
   

   This is especially true when some or all of the terminations are for performance issues that the employees themselves were unaware of prior to the termination. When people presume that employees who were let go were blind-sided, insecurity among the remaining employees will become an epidemic.
   

   Surprise terminations will inevitably lead to employees changing their focus from that of helping the company survive and thrive to focusing on their own survival. When an employee’s primary objective is to keep his or her job until the end of the day, rather than helping the company succeed, financial (and other) results will suffer. Foxhole mentalities can motivate people to fight for the company when they are fighting together against the competition. When employees are in a foxhole and management is the enemy, backbiting, manipulation, and lack of engagement and motivation will certainly result.

2. Show every employee how they contribute to success. Constantly show people where they fit in and make sure they are aware of their individual contribution to the company’s success  I often talk about aligning what people do with the important things that drive success. This is never more crucial than in times of downsizing. Employees must know and believe that they are making a critical contribution to success. For that to happen, they must know what success means and have a clearly mapped strategy to show their role in the company’s success.

3. Communicate constantly.  Vision and mission (why your business exists and where you want to go) shouldn’t change, however the route to get there will and should change amidst changes to the business environment. Be sure that modifications to expectations are communicated to every employee.  Often, leaders are mired in their daily world, and forget that good employees are coming to work to accomplish great things. If the executive team vanishes into the back room, employees will absolutely fill in the blanks of their uncertainty with their own perceptions. It is critical that business leaders are out in front of the curve, ensuring each employee that they have a place, even before they ask the question.

Especially in times of downsizing, leaders must inspire employees to fight for the company. The only way to do this is to foster an environment of trust and to inspire every employee to fight for the company’s success. Great leaders put those around them first and success will follow, even in times of uncertainty.

Photo credit:  Paramount Pictures