Due to COVID-19, we’re likely to see the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression. No industry or company is immune. Though retail businesses and their workers (many of whom are hourly with few protections) took the first and most public hit, the pain will be felt everywhere. Even in B2B services & tech companies with weak capitalizations, many friends and former colleagues have either already been laid off or been asked to take pay cuts. And when the economy recovers, many businesses seeking to “right size” for the new normal will need to lay people off. Even for those businesses doing well and expecting to gain market share due to their unique positioning in the market, as planned hiring occurs in the junior ranks, and attrition falls due to the tight job market, a necessary “culling of the herd” is likely just about everywhere.

I have unfortunately been on both sides of the table. I was laid off from a large consulting company where I had worked for five years at the tail end of the Great Recession in 2009. Seven years later, I found myself at a company that ran into serious trouble and was forced to lay off 70% of its workforce in one day. Instead of being the recipient of the bad news, I was one of the “lucky” ones doing the deed. But it was heartbreaking telling people who had done a good job that through no fault of their own that today would be their last day and they would receive no severance ten days before Christmas. Both experiences left a lasting impression. Here’s what I learned from others in advance of sharing the bad news & my own experience:

• Try to executed a Reduction in Force (RIF) as fast as possible and without warning. It may sound cold and heartless but open dialogue or speculation about pending job losses never does any good. Generally when things go south, employees will begin to worry about their jobs. Don’t let that feeling fester long.

• Have a set, fair criteria for who gets let go and rigorously adhere to it. There’s no good way to let go of a lot of people but when it is well explained and seems sensible to all about who is staying and who is going, things go better.

• Go big so you only have to do it once. If you err on the side of cutting too many people, but do so respectfully, you can hire most who you want back later. Hoping for the best and going too slow with multiple rounds destroys morale and you may lose high performers you want to retain for other opportunities in the interim.

• A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Most businesses hire and retain bad actors & mediocre talent for the wrong reasons. A layoff is a good time to retain culture carriers and high performers who will be future leaders.

• Don’t expect anyone to expect it or that they will take the news well. Most see it coming and will handle it professionally, but not in all cases. You can’t presume how anyone will react when bad news comes in anything, ever.

• Most companies will draft a script for you to read. Stick to it and keep your own feelings or opinions out of it. Try to be calm and empathetic in tone, but otherwise straying, apologizing or saying things like “this is a blessing in disguise” isn’t always true and could put you or the company in a bad situation. Your emotions can do the work for you, don’t let the words foul things up. It’s lousy news and generally crafted by lawyers and/or HR in a certain way to protect the company from further liability. It may seem impersonal, but there is plenty of time in the future to repair a valued relationship if the way you handle it upsets someone.

• Try to do it with another colleague, but be thoughtful about who is in the room with you. When I had to let go of a good performer who worked for me in another location, I had a colleague who he knew and liked in the room so it wasn't an impersonal conversation over the phone. But as it may be a difficult conversation of intense personal feelings, if someone is in the room who doesn’t have a relationship with the person being let go, it’s very awkward for all.

• Quickly gather those who have been retained to make them aware of what happened, that they are on the team moving forward and explain everything. Companies get very secretive before a RIF out of necessity, but need to dramatically change their culture following to one of increased transparency & communication. Communicating frequently thereafter regarding go-forward strategy and results against it will do more in allaying any fears of further cuts than any other assurances. Don’t expect things to go back to normal but it’s a moment where you can come back better, leaner & stronger if you do it right.