Tech Layoff Letters How do They Stack Up

Authors:

Keywords: layoffs, organizational justice, human resources

Abstract: During 2023 between 262K (layoffs.fyi) and 428K (Trueup, 2024) technology employees were part of a layoff. Companies used emailed letters to announce them, some of them more carefully crafted than others. I will share an experiential exercise where students analyze a sample of these letters in order to identify best practices. Some are shockingly bad others good examples, even one with a Martin Luther King jr. quote. The exercise can also illustrate which elements provide higher sense of organizational justice. The exercise can be used in face to face as well as synchronous and asynchronous online classes with small changes.