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Morale Boost
Improve post-layoff morale by communicating hope and encouraging creativity.| Outcomes, Fall 2009
Layoffs are devastating for those let go, but what about those who survive? Christianity Today editorial assistant Laura Leonard spoke with Al Lopus, president of the Best Christian Workplaces Institute and an expert on Human Resources, who explained how communicating vision and hope can turn a stressful work environment into one of creativity and growth.
How can an organization best prepare employees for layoffs?
Layoffs shouldn't be a surprise to anybody. Communicate the key indicators of ministry success regularly before the actual event. You don't want to alarm people, but employees are smart enough to know what's going on if you just lay out the facts ahead of time.
What is the immediate effect of layoffs on employee morale?
It all depends on how the leadership handles it. Jesus said, referring to pagan leadership, "Don't lord it over them like the Gentiles do." There needs to be integrity and justice as well as compassion in the process. These are core biblical principles (Micah 6:8).
To those who remain, you need to say, "This is what's happened, this is why it's happened, and this is the process moving forward." You need to communicate hope for the future. Oftentimes, when something like this happens, there can be a flourish of creativity. Employees have the ability to operate in a new, dynamic way.
How can employers best encourage this refocusing of creative energy?
Create some cross-functional teams to work on a couple of new projects. Using the imagery of the vine and the branches in , you need to communicate that Jesus is the gardener and that he's pruning some branches so that the overall organization can be more fruitful. Having cross-functional teams thinking about and exploring new relationships—that will lead to future growth, and reporting on that is one way to build hope.
A ministry called HomeWord in Southern California suffered a huge drop in donations as a result of the financial crisis. A large layoff forced them to scale back, so rather than creating their own in-house radio programs, they began to team up with vibrant radio ministries. Working with likeminded ministries that shared the same target audience, and then splitting the cost for airtime, was a way to increase their ministry effectiveness and to decrease costs. Without the financial crisis and the corresponding layoffs, that wouldn't have happened.
How can employers approach this task with a godly perspective?
Leaders need to care for the souls for which they have stewardship responsibilities; there's a pastoral aspect. They must recognize there's a grieving process and they need to help people through that, but also give them a vision and lead them toward it.
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