Layoffs | HR fury as redundancies carried out via text

There’s really no ideal way to be told that your job is no longer relevant and that unfortunately, as a result, you’re being made redundant.

It’s a moment defined by the sinking feeling penetrating the core of your stomach as your brain races to process the news. Yet whilst the experience can never be positive, there are definitely better ways of communicating it with employees and minimising the damage.

For example, informing the worker that they’ve done a fantastic job and will be sadly missed, or allotting time to discuss any key issues such as redundancy pay or references can alleviate stress in the moment. There’s also an unwritten obligation to physically look at the person being made redundant in the eye as a sign of respect when informing them of the decision.

Unfortunately, this mark of respect is all too often overlooked in the modern workplace. We recently learned that in the major restructuring of Deutsche Bank’s business model, up to 18,000 employees globally would be losing their jobs.