Corona layoffs or trimming the fat?

I was working out in the park by my house today. To my 4 o’clock was a couple doing some kind of tantric yoga thing. To my 12 was a group of kids doing a social distance toke session. And to my 8 was a social distance wine lunch. Got to love San Francisco.

On to the next…

I saw this tweet today by Justin Kan and it resonated with me.

To no one’s surprise, there’s been a lot of layoffs in the startup community lately. I understand a lot of businesses need to make the decision in order to survive and make it through this. That’s an unfortunate reality of this pandemic. They’ll need to do everything they can to survive and it’s unfortunately understandable.

Of particular interest to me has been the businesses that seemingly are doing well or okay during these times, but are taking advantage of the coronavirus as an excuse to layoff staff. In my eyes, this is complete bullshit.

As some background here, I sit on the pro-business side of the aisle and likely am more understanding to tough business decisions than most. Sometimes companies need to make tough decisions to do what’s best for the company. Firing, lay-offs, and cost cutting sometimes have to happen in business.

With that said, using a global pandemic as an excuse to layoff staff is disingenuous at best.

Companies have the right to rightsize their staff. Employees deserve the right to transparency and truth. Don’t hide under the veil of coronavirus as the primary driver. Be honest and tell them why they are being laid off. The truth hurts, but they will be better off afterwards.