This week two close friends called to tell me they were fired from their long-time, high-level positions in the government doing science research and management. They read the memo from the DOGE group saying in effect their work was sub-par, and they could do better with their degrees in civilian positions.
I’ll never forget my first firing when my boss walked into my TV station announce booth and said, “How do you like it here your last day?” I had blown the prime time announcements the night before and justly deserved being terminated. It was lucky for me. I changed my career path and came back a few years later to run the place!
Of course, I felt bad for my skilled government friends who did not deserve being summarily fired and it made me reflect on how mass layoffs and firings can be done better. I’ve had plenty of experience with this subject. As a corporate head, I have shuttered operations laying off thousands of people. It really hurt to do that. You think about how you’d feel and how your family and future become disrupted. We always provided generous severance packages, yet some never get over the pain. The other day I met a successful media executive who told me he was fired by me after he had taken his first job 40 years ago and he never forgot it. I likely never met him as it was part of a big global unit shutdown.
Yet there is a way to do this painful act to mitigate it a bit. The first thing I did was to explain to the employees that it wasn’t their fault, that their work and loyalty were exceptional and profoundly appreciated—they had made a real difference with their work.
Sadly, often missed in these firings are those who are left behind and still employed. They get completely demoralized and almost functionless. Some feel guilty they were left behind. The enterprise can take a real nosedive unless you hold their hands and help them work through the pain you all share. We provided outside job placement counselors to help those terminated and remaining. Explaining why it happened, of course, helped.
I have written and researched management subjects for many decades as a practitioner and academic. I can tell you virtually all of the research shows that “kindness” and “truthfulness” always work over the long haul for the betterment of the company, shareholders and employees. The “tough guy” manager may win for the short term, but never for the long haul.
William Baker, Ph.D.
Fordham University Professor, author of “Leading with Kindness: How Good People Consistently Get Good Results,” and more.
