Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • May–June 2018
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review

Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

Today layoffs have become companies’ default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost savings are overshadowed by bad publicity, loss of knowledge, weakened engagement, higher voluntary turnover, and lower innovation, which hurt profits in the long run. This article looks at better ways to handle changing workforce needs that make sparing use of staff reductions and ensure that if they do happen, the process feels fair and the affected parties have a soft landing. Most successful approaches begin with a philosophy that spells out a firm’s commitments and priorities, establish methods for exploring layoff alternatives (such as furloughs, retraining, and reassignments), and determine options for three scenarios: a healthy present, short-term volatility, and an uncertain future. As firms like AT&T, Michelin, Honeywell, and Nokia have learned, thoughtful planning helps organizations address workforce transitions and cope with a shifting economic landscape far better than layoffs do.

Keywords

Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Transition; Strategic Planning

Citation

Sucher, Sandra J., and Shalene Gupta. "Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition." Harvard Business Review 96, no. 3 (May–June 2018): 122–129.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Register to Read

About The Author

Sandra J. Sucher

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
    • Faculty Research

    Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

    By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya
    • March 2025
    • Faculty Research

    Boeing's Turbulent Trajectory: A Timeline of Compounding Crises and Broken Trust (January 2020 - September 2024)

    By: Sandra J. Sucher and Samantha N. Smith
    • March–April 2024
    • Harvard Business Review

    How Companies Should Weigh in on a Controversy: A Better Approach to Stakeholder Management

    By: David M. Bersoff, Sandra J. Sucher and Peter Tufano
More from the Authors
  • Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya
  • Boeing's Turbulent Trajectory: A Timeline of Compounding Crises and Broken Trust (January 2020 - September 2024) By: Sandra J. Sucher and Samantha N. Smith
  • How Companies Should Weigh in on a Controversy: A Better Approach to Stakeholder Management By: David M. Bersoff, Sandra J. Sucher and Peter Tufano
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.