Is layoff season shifting away from the holidays?

Thursday’s numbers from the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed job cuts were down in December, both from the previous month and year over year.

But the firm also noted that over the past decade, more layoffs have shifted away from the holidays and into the second quarter of the year. 

With the caveat that a whole lot of layoffs in the second quarter of 2020 might’ve skewed those numbers a bit, Challenger thinks the rise of social media and the damage it can do to a company’s reputation might be playing a role too. In other words, a company’s timing and tact with a layoff matters.

Traditionally, the primary audience for a layoff announcement has not been the employees whose jobs are being cut, said Michael Sturman, a professor of human resources at Rutgers University. It’s shareholders.

“As a way of trying to show we are responding to business needs, or we are in some way providing changes that are going to increase shareholder value directly or indirectly,” he said.

But trying to deliver shareholder value in the last quarter of the year by telling a bunch of people they’re fired, just as they’re buying gifts or planning family get-togethers is — surprise! — not a popular move.

“Companies are recognizing we need to do layoffs a little bit more carefully with regard to the public relations associated with them,” Sturman said.

That’s because laid-off employees will talk, in person and on social media. Just search “layoffs” on TikTok to see a bunch of videos of people finding out they’ve been let go over a Zoom call. And that can damage a company’s brand, one of its most valuable assets, said Jason Winmill at the consulting firm Argopoint.

“No executive wants to be perceived as Mr. Potter of Bedford Falls, the meanest man in the old movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” especially around the holidays,” he said.

A more thoughtful executive, Winmill said, would try to delay cuts for a few weeks or months.

But even in April or May, a boss can still look like Mr. Potter if they don’t combine timing with some humanity.

“You can’t just look at this as ‘My inventory of people is too high, and I have to reduce the inventory immediately,'” said Deb Best, head of Deb Best Practices, a human resources consultancy in Albany, New York.

She said a layoff will go down easier if employees get regular updates on the company’s health in good and bad times.

And if they have to layoff employees, HR managers should offer them a lot of support.

“You’ll give a recommendation. You’ll work with an outplacement firm to help them. You’ll do everything you can to help them,” Best said.

Then those employees might be less likely to vent about the company on TikTok.