Reading about layoffs in the news is not unexpected these days. It is, however, always unexpected to the employee who receives notice. As if losing a job weren't painful enough, the heartless manner in which the bad news is often communicated and then followed by the encouragement of a swift exit, is like pouring salt on an already painful wound. While employers may offer severance packages and job-placement assistance, little effort is typically made at being civilized during the moment of a layoff.

Abruptly dismissing employees is a uniquely American corporate model. No matter the reason for dismissal, being laid off can be traumatic. Those who have devoted years, sometimes decades, of service to a company deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

During this tough economy, businesses would do well to consider applying the rules of etiquette when forced to let employees go. I interviewed both those in the line of fire and those on the firing squad in this very discouraging war of employment attrition.

A Santa Fean, who wished to remain anonymous, was laid off last week from a government job after two decades. She and her co-workers were given three hours to gather their things as armed security guards stood
by. "I will say that I've never been so rudely treated and that it's that treatment which is my main source
of pain over this whole thing. The method by which we were given notice [head on, face to face, 'Please get out by the end of the business day. Come back tomorrow if you must, but ask for permission first.'] had an element of blame, and was cruel, uncivilized and insulting."

Wendy Hampson was one of two athletic therapists laid off from Canada's Laurentian University when it closed its athletic therapy clinic in July. "They gave me my termination papers, telling me that it was due to budget cuts. They said, 'We'll need your keys and we'll take you to get your personal possessions,' and I was escorted out." It took 20 minutes to end a three-decade-long relationship. "The next day I had to make an appointment to be escorted back to my office to retrieve 33 years of paraphernalia." In addition, her university prevented her access to her computer so she was unable to retrieve any of her intellectual property.

When asked what she thought of the handling of the layoff, Hampson responded, "I felt like a common criminal. I felt like I had done something wrong after 33 years of dedication. To have these tactics employed at a university is antithetical to what we represent."

Dale Starnes of Los Angeles worked on a trading floor. "Upon being let go, my things were collected and brought to me. They couldn't have cared less about etiquette."

And why the swift departure and security escorts? Melissa Glick, a former corporate human resources employee, said, "One enraged, disgruntled ex-employee can do tons of damage in a short time. Ultimately, it's business, not personal." She also offered that while the impersonal methodology of layoffs is most common in the corporate world, the unfortunate style is beginning to trickle down to small businesses.

When asked about the 20-minute layoff and departure of Hampson, the university's chief of staff Chris Mercer said, "Is that the best practice out there? It is. Does it make it any easier? Absolutely not."

In the book Business: The Ultimate Resource, management psychologist Alan Downs says, "Downsizing is often executed with a brisk, compassionless efficiency that leaves laid off employees angry, and surviving employees feeling helpless and demotivated.

"Helplessness is the enemy of high achievement. It produces a work environment of withdrawal, risk-averse decisions, severely impaired morale and excessive blaming. All of these put a stranglehold on organizations that, in this economy, desperately need to excel.

"How you treat people really matters — to the people who leave and the people who remain," warns Downs.

We live in a litigious world where the act of laying people off is scripted by legal departments, not Hallmark. Budget cuts and eliminating redundancies may be good for the bottom line, but so, too, should good manners. If layoffs are inevitable, treating departing employees with dignity and decency will go quite a distance inside and outside the office.

Bizia Greene owns the Etiquette School of Santa Fe.
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