Mergers & Acquisitions

Hello, I have worked on several merger / acquisition projects. An unavoidable, painful and common element, is reduction in the workforce. In my experience, there's no "genuine" narrative (for leaders to communicate) that buffers the pain or explains the decisions in a way that isn't about the bottom line.  I would value any strategies or success stories of how you have navigated this experience, so those left on the team are "seen" in their grief, but can move forward on new footing. 

Thanks, Lisa Jackson 

 I believe transparency, empathy, and a clear vision for the future are key. Acknowledging the impact openly, providing space for grief, and ensuring remaining employees feel valued through meaningful engagement can help. Leaders who personalize communication-sharing their own challenges and commitment to the team's success-often foster resilience. I would love to hear others' strategies as well!

So true!  The piece about leaders sharing with transparency, their own journey is powerful. 

Hi Lisa, I agree with Marilyn. This is a challenging task and requires empathy and transparency. Leaders need to navigate to minimize stress and maintain trust. I would also add to Marilyn's suggestions to offer two way conversations so people can voice their concerns and ask questions. It fosters a sense of inclusion and will help leadership remain of the sentiments in the organization and on the teams. I don't know if there is a outplacement that they can speak to professionally. Don't have leaders hide behind closed doors have them remain positive and visible as difficult as it may be. Personal engagement can help reinforce trust during these times. I believe I saw on Forbes on LinkedIn's merger. the leadership really communicated well to help with the anxiety and morale of the organization and people. I know there is not a one size fits all on the complexities of workforce reductions. Very challenging - keep us posted. I have a feeling a lot of us will experience this and can learn from your experiences, 

Tammie, I appreciate your perspective; the idea of outplacement is a strong call-out.  Feeling supported through a sudden and major impact is humane and should be part of the merger budgeting. I really resonate with the "leaders need to be visible" and not hiding behind closed doors. Glad to know that LinkedIn handled this well - it's not difficult, it just takes planning and the intention to make it human-centered, versus profit-centered. 

I was 1 of around 300 people let go in late 2020 (likely completely unrelated to the pandemic). My employer did several things very well.

I was informed on December 2 that my last date with the company was December 31. Others were informed their last day was January 31.

The person who held the conversation with me was quite senior (probably because my boss' boss' last day was also December 31).

30 minute conversation - warm, firm, descriptive of the why and who impacted. He had a tightly choreographed day. He asked me to immediately talk to HR to continue the process. The stated "why" was that the company wanted to diversify market emphasis overseas (outside the U.S.). 

My access to email outside the company was immediately shut off. My access to many internal sites was immediately cut off, but later restored. It took months to get my personal files off my PC (you accumulate stuff over 7 years), but that was a reflection of my manager being unable to work well with the equipment (PC) jockey.

Originally 12 (?) months of COBRA, later proactively extended it by 6 more months.

12 months of top notch outplacement - mostly unused since I just wanted to finish my book(s). I thought I needed 6-12 more months - wrong! 

My boss called me a bit later to tell me she was completely uninvolved in the decision. She also developed a sudden, keen interest in all my knowledge capital and templates (she knew I was writing a book) and asked me to train my whole department on Change and Project Management. Of the 60 things I could have shown them (all in my second book), I educated on around 20 (5 involve ADKAR). 

My boss' boss was pretty upset that I was notified at 10:30 AM, and he was notified after me (11 AM).

My former/original boss at the company (I worked there 7 years total) was given a last day as January 31.

I felt I basically got a four-week Farewell Tour. Practically everyone's conduct was polite and professional. For the most part, I got to "leave with my stock high."

I note this "Buy Low Sell High" since when I was part of a mass layoff on October 30, 2008 (anyone remember Q4 of 2008?), that was a "Buy High, Sell Low" scenario. Nothing was done with grace or empathy - because the 20 of talked among ourselves quite a bit in 2009!

The exception was that an in-flight Salesforce.com integration project worked hard to extract every last user story out of me and kinda demanded I work late. Then gave my project swag to another random person instead of me. Bad form. Petty, but no big surprise.

Other than the swag (a jacket I think) and cognitively bankrupting me to populate user stories, they did a great job.

I ran into a fellow employee months later, in the thick of the pandemic. He remembered my book and asked me if it was a "tell-all." No. But the lessons learned that my past employers (plural) never pursued ... I tell all of those in my books!

The negative press from 2008 survives, and the positive press from 2020 does too.