Your employer brand is on the line during a reduction in force. When investments in your brand have direct ties to increased profit margins and revenue growth, you need a plan to mitigate risks that could tarnish it.
How will you avoid these 5 RIF disasters and uphold your employer brand?
1. Botching the notification during the reduction in force.
When managers don’t deliver the message well, you run the risk of negative backlash from disgruntled employees.
50% of employees post about their employers online.1
2. Ruining trust in the company’s future & employer brand.
From stakeholders to customers – everyone is watching when your RIF goes down. Losing their trust is costly.
63% of customers refuse to buy products/services from a distrusted company.2
61% of surviving employees believe their company’s future prospects are worse.3
3. Paying endless unemployment taxes.
It’s tempting to cut corners during a RIF, but it will come back to haunt you – especially if it takes separated employees months to land.
Unemployment claims can cost employers up to $12,000.4
Job seekers land 2.67x faster with job search assistance.5
4. Killing productivity by ignoring the survivors.
Your surviving employees have 3 things on their mind: guilt, anxiety, & anger. Ignoring them stalls your ability to move forward after the reduction in force.
In fact, survivors experience a…
- 41% decline in job satisfaction
- 36% decline in organizational commitment
- 20% decline in job performance.6
5. Skyrocketing employee attrition after the reduction in force.
A major workforce disruption like a RIF often sends star employees off to greener pastures.
1% workforce downsizing leads to a 31% increase in voluntary turnover the next year.7
Outplacement services are instrumental in mitigating these reduction in force risks.
IMPACT Group helps some of the nation’s biggest logos with protecting their employer brand during a reduction in force. Our outplacement services mitigate RIF risks by preparing leaders to make RIF decisions, deliver a compassionate message, empower exiting employees, and lead company recovery. Learn more here.
1 The Impact of Negative Social Media on Your Brand, WERSM
2 Stakeholder Trust: A Business Case, Compliance & Ethics
3 Don’t Expect Layoff Survivors to be Grateful, Mark Murphy, Leadership IQ
4 What does an unemployment claim cost an employer?, Unemployment Insurance Services
5 Effectiveness of Job Search Interventions: A Meta-Analytic Review
6 Layoffs that Don’t Break Your Company, Harvard Business Review
7 After Layoffs, Help Survivors Be More Effective, Harvard Business Review
