While I haven't done layoffs, I have had to end our relationship with employees, in both cases the situation is very unfortunate.
From my point of view, there is no simple way to handle these situations but it is crucial to handle them in a respectful way, people are humans, and, while it can be hard for you to handle a layoff, the ones getting the harder time are the people affected by it.
I'd try my best to help these people in any way I can, for example:
1. Motivate people that were planning to leave to take one of those spots.
2. Try finding ways to refer them to other companies.
3. Help affected people to be polish their resume, practice mock interviews, write recommendation letters, etc. I have saw many people that don't know how to sell themselves, if they worked with you for a while, there is a chance you have some highlights they don't actually see.
4. If possible, keep paying their salary for a few weeks/months.
5. This could sound weird but give people time, I haven't announced end of relationships until the affected person feels comfortable, which means that these are still on the chat/repos/etc, this also helps because it is usually simpler to find work when you still are employed than when you don't.
I really hope I never get to deal with this.
P.S. I forget mentioning that I prefer being as transparent as possible.
Ideally through attrition, then a re-org and then an incentive program for people that were already contemplating leaving. The incentive program would give them 3 months of pay and their options/RSU's could continue to vest for that period if they voluntarily leave. After that I would implement project cutting programs that attempt to fill in the remaining gap. Teams could submit ideas for projects along with hardware/software licensing/support to cut but ultimately it would be up to SVP's to provide a list. Beyond that the remaining gap would be the demoralizing method of directors and managers reducing head count that would map back into the re-org.
Make it clear from the start that we're a business that pays people for their work, not a charity or a family, and that we scale up and down based on the market and our needs. Then give as much notice as possible.
Imo the problems start with the cute demonyms and other pretend familial stuff. In industries like construction, layoffs and scale-up-scale down is very regular, and I don't think we see CEOs taking fake ownership and writing sappy letters. It's a fact of business, and lying about the nature of the relationship right up to the moment you lay people off is what makes things the worst.
main issue in big tech..manager reports to manager reports to manager reports to manager. one dev team with 5 coders plus product manager, software engineering manager, technical program manager. 3 to 5 ratio not including management chain.
is massive waste with empire building and politics. impossible to do innovative work because territory wars, managers fighting to get more head count, simple decision need 10 people to agree instead of 1 maybe 2.
fix this problem, can avoid bug layoffs in first place.
hire more people who have meaningful output, not manager that sit in meeting all day. fake economic class with little or no economic output.
From my point of view, there is no simple way to handle these situations but it is crucial to handle them in a respectful way, people are humans, and, while it can be hard for you to handle a layoff, the ones getting the harder time are the people affected by it.
I'd try my best to help these people in any way I can, for example:
1. Motivate people that were planning to leave to take one of those spots.
2. Try finding ways to refer them to other companies.
3. Help affected people to be polish their resume, practice mock interviews, write recommendation letters, etc. I have saw many people that don't know how to sell themselves, if they worked with you for a while, there is a chance you have some highlights they don't actually see.
4. If possible, keep paying their salary for a few weeks/months.
5. This could sound weird but give people time, I haven't announced end of relationships until the affected person feels comfortable, which means that these are still on the chat/repos/etc, this also helps because it is usually simpler to find work when you still are employed than when you don't.
I really hope I never get to deal with this.
P.S. I forget mentioning that I prefer being as transparent as possible.