Downsizing or rightsizing?

It just needs to be called downsizing – straight! We do a big disservice when we hide under euphemisms like right sizing, performance exits etc. etc.! Call a spade, a spade.

You are firing people and that is the truth. Many of them have no clue and most of them walk out feeling let down and scarred forever. Little wonder that world over employees show lesser and lesser engagement and alignment to companies. 

Downsizing is an inevitable part of the corporate world. The best laid plans get stuck, the economy tanks or the proverbial just hits the ceiling. It is a fact that all of us on both sides of the fence – the downsizers and the downsized need to accept and be prepared. 

For the downsizer or downsized, this need not be an exercise in embarrassment or shame. It is a necessity and will happen in our imperfect world.  What should they do then! Go about unabashed and proud to be cleaning the stables. No! that is not what I am suggesting. I am recommending the following for both downsizers (employers) and downsized(employees). 

For downsizers – factor in the potential of things going wrong, projects not taking off in your planning process. This will ensure you think through resource ramp up, insert check points to assess whether things are shaping the way they are. It has to be a part of management rigor. 

For downsized – if you are in a company, pay attention to the financial results, and watch out for project progress. Actively track the company and the project that you are in. 9 out of 10 employees in so called knowledge companies don’t even know the turnover of the company they work for!  When you are tracking, there are less chances of you being surprised. It gives you time to prepare and be ready. Most people when faced with downsizing find themselves without even a resume. If you are accepting a new job, do you research, talk to people before you jump for that 20 percent increase?

Now the best tracking, the best plans like I said earlier, may still not give you the heads-up. So what do you do if you must downsize? Let us talk about a few suggestions for employers first. 

Be clear that this is the last resort: Downsizing is akin to amputating a body part to keep the rest of the body intact. Have you considered all other options? Are there other “non-feeling” costs that you could cut? Is this a temporary blip? Can you go through with a shave rather than an amputation? Downsizing is easy as other options are tough; but you must weight them carefully. This is the CEO’s job aided by the CHRO.  The corner office has to own this and leave it with the data hacks or the CFO.

If the answer to the above questions is ‘yes’, then

This is short-term pain but pays off in the long run. Talk about the why? If you made a mistake acknowledge it. Remember you are talking about families that will be impacted, marriages that will be tested and children will be scarred indelibly. You owe it to them. Say only what you will do. If you have no intentions of hiring them back don’t say it; if it is a first in a series as you try to recover say it so; others know what they need to do to avoid another round. 

Be Transparent: Lay out the timetable of activities. Put out the criteria for selecting who will be downsized for scrutiny and talk about how you will pay them and when. 

Be Tactful: Don’t adopt the ‘announcement on a Friday and walk them out over the weekend’ approach. This is not a quick 'be done with it' things - be quick but be tactful and sensitive. People have friends, are attached to office spaces, have routines. Protecting against malcontents and deviants is important but be careful. If somebody is working in a data center and you don’t want to risk giving them access after the deed, tell them that and offer them an alternative. Maybe they can still come to office without access to sensitive areas if they want! 

Be Graceful: Don’t penny pinch, especially when you are letting go long serving employees. A few rupees or dollars extra wont kill you but will signal the intent that you are showing grace under fire. If somebody has an event at home, delay their action. A one size fits all approach is efficient but not effective 

Cut deep and cut quickly: Don’t kill with a thousand cuts. Sometimes its better to cut deep and a little extra rather than do it again and again.  You don’t want to bring in a sense of foreboding and when is my turn atmosphere. Be done with it and move on fast. 

Symbolic gestures: There is a story that a CEO announced a few thousand job cuts and immediately announced the acquisition of corporate jets for executive travel. The decision apparently was based on sound logic but timing was terrible. In this world of social media, every action is scrutinized. I would actually recommend the executive team to take a symbolic pay cut the year or the quarter they do this. If you don’t want to do that at least don’t drive your new Porsche to office immediately after you announce the downsizing! 

Downsizing leaves empty cubicles, additional work and stress on those that stay back.  Increase your frequency of communication and spend time on the floor. Be available, assure them of their future, give them plans and things they can do to fix and move on. 

Now to the downsized! 

Good luck to all of us, each one of us will be fired atleast once in our life, lets accept that as a reality and be prepared for it. Maybe it’s a story to be told and a battle scare to carry.