What is the typical timeline between someone being identified for layoff and that layoff actually happening?
Is it months? Weeks?
17 replies (most recent on top)
As you can see the answers will vary. My experience, having participated in many displacement events, generally follows something like this:
12 months out --- boss will share some high level future plans (ex. - it's going to be a tough year - I'm expecting that we'll see cuts)
6-9 months out --- boss will share more specifics (ex. the team is going to take a 30% haircut by 'x' date - expect that your team will lose between 'x' and 'y' number of people)
4-6 months out --- boss will give me specific targets, I begin to work with HR on approach / stack ranking
3 months out --- my names are provided to HR so that they can vet my selections
1-3 months out --- specific date is provided, I'm working on transition plans to mitigate departures
The above has probably happened 75% of the time I've had larger team layoffs. There have been a few instances where the timeline was shortened or I had a manager that did not give me any warning that layoffs were coming. I would be told 4-6 months out in that case. I also had one situation where I wasn't told that there would be layoffs. My manager selected the employees. They only told me the day before. That was very frustrating.
I was in a group where 15 of 24 of us we let go. Was told that the pkan was set in stone and people were identified by name for the layoff about 10 months before it occured.
If there is re org in your team there is likely layoffs in near future. Middle layer prepare the dirty work for the top to clean. I have seen it's happening and likely going to a victim soon.
OP is asking how much time between when the specific person is identified and the actual layoff notification.
For non-location strategy "efficiency" layoffs - that's about 3-4 months ahead of the notification itself.
For location strategy, every person outside of the go-forward hub locations was known at the time it was announced. So it's been years.
@cb very interesting take.
Charlie think everything while doing….. HR stand ready to execute the orders. They are constantly in this mode from 2019. U don’t follow
warn notices will tell you nothing more than who we just laid off. Where required, they are submitted the same day employees are placed on 60-day non work.
The forecast can go out 12 to 48 months. Names are not attached, but the business lead knows how many positions they want to eliminate by location.
You can look up Wells Fargo WARN notices in your state. That will tell you how many WF employees in your state will be let go and about when. These are planned months ahead.
There is not a whole lot of fat that can be trimmed remaining. The efficiency ratio is still well above target of 55. But the asset cap will likely be lifted and the stock buybacks ending and going towards growth.
Location Strategy will come to an end before it is completed as WF shifts to growth and needs workers for that.
But Location Strategy was always just about easy lawsuit free targets, not an actual strategy.
We were told about two years ago that anyone not in a hub location would be displaced. They refuse to tell us an exact timeline. I went from feeling dread and anxiety about being displaced every other Tuesday to now feeling dread and anxiety when I don’t get displaced. Still hoping for June!
12 months
I knew 3 months out
Generally I’ve seen 6 months from beginning stages to the actual layoff.
Months. At least for the non core and WFH people.
Couple days
One wave I was involved in took a plodding number of weeks. Then there’s significant oversight / coordination by HR to train the managers about the “conversation” all of which is orchestrated to occur over a Tuesday morning.
That said, as the company has gone down the learning curve or other earnings exigencies manifest maybe they’ll happen faster now.
Related to how much material RIF still remains, I have not seen anything depicting what our efficiency ratio is vs should be and how little / much it has been budged with the reductions so far.
History has plenty of examples where companies go through multiple rounds / waves while they circle around the drain trying to find their new level.