Top leaders of different organizations, especially the CEOs and Human Resources Managers, are often faced with different challenges in their quests to institute personal changes in their organizations. The leaders should be honest with all the employees during the periods of retrenchment and hiring of new staff to enable them to understand the organizational needs. However, some leaders are often not honest during these processes and end up negatively impacting the operations of their companies. For instance, if they are not fair and honest when carrying out the layoffs, they will face difficulties in getting the right talent to take them to their desired organizational positions. Potential employees would not easily be attracted to companies that are led by unfair and dishonest leaders (Bharucha, 2018). Honesty has been vital at my current place over the past years. I work in a behavioral and mental health facility where it is necessary to be morally upright and honest with all the stakeholders. Therefore, it is vital to examine how honesty is practiced within the organization and how it impacts finding the right individuals to fill different positions.
Handling honesty and the need for layoffs
Anybody inserted in any executive role must always understand that they make decisions that affect the strategies of their companies. Recruitments and layoffs affect organizational-wide strategies since employees play considerable roles in undertaking specific operations of their facilities. As an executive leader, it is vital to handle personnel issues with high levels of honesty (Bharucha, 2018). Therefore, in this case, as an executive-level leader, I will ascertain that I handle honesty and the need for layoffs adequately. Even though layoffs are painful, the leaders should always be up to the task of ensuring fair processes like the provision of fair packages to everyone laid off. Laying off employees is often necessary to assist businesses in surviving in the current challenging economy. However, the top-level leaders must conduct it in a humane and empathetic way (Bharucha, 2018). Indeed, employees are often sensitive to how their leaders treat them. Therefore, layoffs can cause immense adverse effects not only on the affected workers but also on the work culture of the organizations.
As an executive-level leader, I will handle the layoffs effectively by being transparent with everyone before commencing the process. It is vital to be honest and carry out frequent communication with the employees ahead of the layoffs and make them understand its necessity. The employees deserve a heads-up before the layoffs and should be informed to understand the business challenges and how they could end up affecting the entire organization. Gillespie et al. (2020) explain that promoting transparency raises the levels of trust of the remaining workers and makes the existing workers feel at ease with the process. Besides, it is vital to address every worker individually when retrenching them. Dealing with them individually can take the forms of exit interviews, brief phone calls, and emails. Speaking privately to them enables leaders to answer their questions, thank them for their contributions, and assist them in understanding their career positions (Gillespie et al., 2020). It is also vital to help them with their transition by offering services such as searching for new jobs, support networks, and professional development (Gillespie et al., 2020). The managers should be empathic when laying off the employees. They should always know how to handle the reactions they may get from the laid-off employees.
Necessity for a new set of rules and guidelines regarding the new policy or an internal meeting.
After carrying out the layoffs, executive leaders should clearly define the next paths of their organizations. Since the organization will need to fill up vacant positions and streamline its operations, it would be necessary to develop a new set of rules and guidelines concerning the new policy. However, the new policy should be sensible, fair, and workable in the organization. It should be capable of addressing the immediate issues and challenges that the organization faces in achieving its goals and under the challenging economy (Doeringer & Piore, 2020). Apart from creating a new policy and new sets of guidelines, it is vital to consider both internal and external environmental factors that affect the organization. For instance, the new sets of guidelines should align with the vision statement of the organization and adhere to the regulatory requirements. The organization should consider the changing needs and expectations of its consumers when creating and filling up new positions (Doeringer & Piore, 2020). It will be vital to hold an internal meeting with all the stakeholders to communicate with them about the layoffs and ways of filling up the positions. Under the new guidelines, training the employees will be necessary to make them understand the changes and their new roles and expectations. In my current place of work, the CEO is usually honest with everyone and often explains every scenario before implementing decisions like layoffs, change of departments, and recruitment. Executive-level leaders usually observe high levels of honesty when developing new policies and guidelines that govern employee relations within the facility (Doeringer & Piore, 2020). Honesty has made the organization grow adequately over the past years with better employer-employee relationships.
Exit interview, exit survey, and how to use the information
Organizations should usually reserve exit interviews for both voluntary and involuntary separations (An, 2019). However, it would be hard to conduct exit interviews with employees who have been laid off. Nevertheless, after being honest and transparent with the employees during the layoffs, the leaders would find it necessary to carry out exit interviews. It is necessary to extend exit interviews to all departing employees regardless of their lengths of service, performance standards, or terms of employment (An, 2019). However, the management will need to convince the laid-off employees to take part in the exit interviews or exit surveys. It also implies that exit surveys will be necessary in the process. However, it will be necessary to amend the parameters of exit interviews or surveys to capture information that would not irritate or demean them (An, 2019). My current organization has been managing the relationships of employees effectively over the past years. Due to the positive relationships between the leaders and the employees, the exiting employees have always been willing to take part in the interviews or surveys.
The feedback gained from exit interviews and surveys can be used by an organization to develop and improve its workplace and personnel policy. The feedback from the interviews and surveys would contain vital information such as the social environment of the organizations, the effectiveness of leaders, working conditions, employment packages, and the levels of care that leaders give to the employees (Matthews, 2018). These pieces of information will be vital to the organization in developing workplace policies that govern the relationships between leaders and employees and workplace conditions. For instance, if the departing workers consistently provide information about unique perks and social events of employees, then the human resource management team can utilize these pieces of information when recruiting new employees (Matthews, 2018). The exit interview and survey data would also be valuable in creating guidelines for re-recruiting former workers. Ideally, once an organization lays off an employee, it does not necessarily mean that they would never rejoin them. They can always rejoin under different terms and in entirely different positions. Therefore, the existing employees should always ensure they are honest when answering the exit interview and survey questions. Matthews (2018) explains that exit interviews and survey feedback can also enhance the levels of employee engagement in organizations and improve retention levels. The existing employees can often reveal to their employers the things that work and those that do not work within their organizational setups.
How does the approach scenario assist the organization to find and hire new solid talent?
In the past, my current organization has approached layoff procedures fairly and transparently. Honesty and transparency in the process have helped the organization develop a good rapport with its former and current employees (Bharucha, 2018). This approach has often enabled the organization Millcreek Behavioral Health to be effective in finding and hiring new solid talent to undertake its primary operations. Dealing with patients suffering from mental and behavioral issues is a challenging affair for any organization. Therefore, it is always necessary to attract and hire a solid workforce to provide adequate and quality services to clients. By approaching its layoff activities fairly and honestly, the organization usually attracts top talent due to its belief that the facility cares well for its human resources (Bharucha, 2018). The provision of fair severance packages and treating employees respectfully is vital in maintaining better employee-employer relationships. It reduces potential anger and resentment that would arise from the employees (Bharucha, 2018). These practices have been observable at Millcreek Behavioral Health in the past years in cases of layoffs.
Conclusion
Honesty and transparency play vital roles in the effective leadership of companies, especially during challenging processes like recruitment and layoffs. Executive-level leaders like CEOs and Human Resource Managers should always prioritize transparency and open communication during layoffs to foster trust among the employees. When handling layoffs, the leaders should always provide clear explanations for the processes, treat everyone fairly, and support the exiting employees to transition well outside employment. The leaders should consider both internal and external factors when establishing new rules and guidelines post-layoffs. Even though exit interviews and surveys are challenging during layoffs, they provide valuable insights for improving workplace policies and employee engagement activities. Honest and fair approaches to organizational changes help attract and retain strong talent, as evidenced by the success of my current organization, Millcreek Behavioral Health.
References
An, S. H. (2019). Employee voluntary and involuntary turnover and organizational performance: Revisiting the hypothesis from classical public administration. International Public Management Journal, 22(3), 444-469. https://doi.org/10.1080/10967494.2018.1549629
Bharucha, J. (2018). Creating an honest, transparent and productive workplace. International Journal of Business Excellence, 15(4), 467-482. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBEX.2018.093872
Doeringer, P. B., & Piore, M. J. (2020). Internal labor markets and manpower analysis. Routledge.
Gillespie, N., Searle, R., Gustafsson, S., & Hailey, V. H. (2020). Preserving employee trust during crisis. Behavioral Science & Policy, 6(2), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1177/237946152000600208
Matthews, G. (2018). Employee engagement: what’s your strategy? Strategic HR Review, 17(3), 150-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-03-2018-0025
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