Sustain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Efforts Post-RIF

In recent months, layoffs and downsizing (RIFs) have hit tech companies large and small, with layoff announcements and posts on Linkedin occurring seemingly daily. While the decision to downsize your workforce may be made by your CEO, CFO, or board of directors, the burden of managing the consequences of the decision and mitigating the impact on other employees often falls on HR. Studies show that even a small RIF can create a snowball effect of contagious billing as the remaining employees are tasked with changing job responsibilities, doing additional work, decreased organizational trustdemoralization and withdrawal.

For DEI leaders, there are even more reasons to worry about the impact of an RIF: layoffs have been shown to disproportionate impact employees of color, which can erase hard-won gains in diversity. And, the fear and uncertainty associated with an RIF can lead to reduced feelings of psychological safety, which are essential for inclusion and belonging.

So how can HR and DEI leaders sustain DEI efforts after a RIF?

First, you can mitigate some of the negative effects by focusing fair equity in the RIF process, from start to finish.

Often, DEI and HR leaders are included in layoff planning only after the decision is made about how many and which employees to lay off. Unfortunately, common ways to approach employee reductions include looking only at title and seniority: taking a last-in, first-out approach, for example, or cutting contracts or jobs. While these methods may seem fair and equitable on the surface, research has shown that they can have a huge impact on corporate diversity efforts, as they tenure-based decisions and contract/gig reductions they are more likely to disproportionately impact historically underrepresented groups, including women, black and Hispanic employees.

When DEI and HR leaders are included. H H. Early in the conversation, they can advocate for a more balanced and fair process that considers multiple factors, including employee performance and potential, and whether employees are contributing to initiatives outside of their day-to-day responsibilities, such as leading an Employee Resource Group.

DEI leaders should provide executives with an analysis of the effect the RIF will have on diversity and equity metrics before final decisions are made:

• Will there be an outsized impact on women in leadership roles?
• Will the progress your organization has made in hiring black employees be cut in half?
• Does the layoff list include leaders from your Employee Resource Groups or other employees who are cultural champions?
• Would anyone looking at their DEI metrics before and after RIF believe that employees were treated fairly?
• If employees ask about the impact on diversity, what would you tell them?

And, executives and HR leaders must be prepared to answer the question of why and how people were chosen for the RIF. While you may be able to share the details of the process due to confidentiality or legal issues, knowing that you have made decisions with integrity and being able to share that the process aligned with your corporate values ​​will give leaders confidence and peace of mind as they face these challenges. Having a holistic employee performance management process that includes ongoing performance conversations, fair and objective performance ratings, and company-wide performance calibrations will enable HR.

Second, communicate the RIF with transparency and empathy.

Rebuilding trust, psychological safety, and commitment begins when executives create space for people to process change in an environment of openness and kindness. Executive communications must acknowledge the pain and loss associated with layoff, take responsibility for how the organization got to this point, and recast a compelling vision of the future. According to the Harvard Business Review, “Surviving and prospective employees want to hear three messages: We treat your colleagues well. We have a credible strategy to improve the company’s prospects. You have a clear role to play in the future success of the company.”

Leaders must be transparent in sharing where the organization may have experienced a setback in DEI progress and reaffirm their commitment to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. At a previous employer, a restructuring eliminated a team that included the executive sponsor of the Asian and Pacific Islander Employee Resource Group. The CEO stepped in as an interim sponsor, publicly committing that the executive team would prioritize diverse pools of candidates for all open and future vice president and executive positions.

Employees must also be able to ask questions and express concerns without fear of repercussions. Having a mechanism to submit anonymous questions and have them answered in a timely manner, whether in writing or during a town hall meeting, is vital to restoring trust in leadership.

Third, reassess and refocus your DEI strategy for quick wins and the biggest impact.

An RIF may not only affect current employees, but it could also affect hiring and the total number of employees in your organization. If your current DEI plan is heavily focused on hiring and diversity hiring, now is a good time to move to equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives until hiring resumes.

Some ways to boost equity, inclusion, and belonging include:

• Conduct a thorough review of benefit plans, employee handbooks, reasonable accommodation processes, and other human resource policies to ensure equal and inclusive treatment for all employees.
• Partner with your total compensation/rewards team to address pay equity and pay transparency.
• Build or enhance your succession planning and leadership development programs to increase and retain underrepresented talent.
• Develop a mentorship program designed to connect diverse, early-career talent with executives and senior leaders across the organization.
• Make sure your employee resource groups (ERGs) have committed executive sponsors.
• Support ERGs in facilitating community development activities to build and strengthen cross-functional relationships.
• Offer a DEI speaker series that highlights the talents and passions of a wide variety of employees.
• Provide training to all employees and managers on how to give unbiased feedback.
• Review and update onboarding materials to include DEI-related learning materials.

Finally, harness the power of your managers to re-engage your employees.

Managers who are new to their role or who have not experienced layoffs in the past may find it difficult to understand their role as a leader in times of change. Support your managers by providing timely training on how to lead through the pain and uncertainty associated with a RIF. In addition to helping employees process loss and cope with survivor’s guilt, managers must be able to confidently share their commitment to the organization’s vision and focus their team’s efforts to contribute to that vision.

Most of what employees experience as their organization’s culture is the daily interactions they have with their immediate manager and team. Managers have a colossal impact about how employees feel at work, and when employees feel anxious or fearful, skilled and caring managers are the key to rebuilding inclusion, belonging, and psychological safety.

Whether managers have inherited new team members due to restructuring or have a smaller team, having role clarity conversations with each team member can help employees feel grounded in what is expected of them and confident in their ability to meet their new responsibilities. A role clarity conversation is an opportunity to review a role’s job description and refine it to meet changing business needs. When done collaboratively, this can be an exciting and energizing opportunity for employees to shape their roles in a way that helps fuel their own growth and development.

These questions provide a good starting point when reviewing a job description:

• Does the mission of the role accurately describe what you are actually doing in your day job?
  • What is missing?
  • What is no longer relevant?
• Do the desired results of the role still align with what you are expected to achieve?
  • If not, what is missing?
  • What is no longer relevant?
• How will your success in this role be measured?
  • What are we measuring today?
  • What is not being measured that is needed?
• What does satisfying, high and exceptional impact look like for this position?
• What goals are you currently working on that will affect your results?
  • What goals do you have that are not aligned with the mission or results of your role?
  • Are these goals important enough to be part of your job description?
  • What growth or development goal would you like to pursue that will affect your bottom line?
• What projects are you currently working on in support of your goals?
  • What projects are you working on that don’t support your goals, results, or mission?
  • What needs to be reprioritized or discarded to allow you to focus on your goals and results?
• How do your goals and projects align with our company goals?

Build Organizational Resilience

Layoffs and RIFs are never easy, but by intentionally building a fair and transparent process, communicating with empathy, realigning their DEI efforts to focus on equity, inclusion, and belonging, and engaging their managers to rebuild trust and psychological safety, HR and DEI leaders can lessen the impact of a layoff on their DEI efforts and reduce unwanted attrition.

To learn more about how HR leaders can cultivate organizational resilience in the midst of layoffs or RIFs, get 15Five’s eBook Building Organizational Resilience: The HR Leaders’ Guide to Keeping Engagement After a RIF or Layoff.