Don’t Let Layoffs Undermine Your DEI Efforts

How to separate with employees has not historically been a focus for businesses. It’s no surprise that leaders find themselves ill-equipped to navigate this phase of the employee engagement lifecycle and struggle with how to be inclusive while conducting layoffs. Savvy companies need to embed DEI into every stage of the employee lifecycle — including separations. A company that has invested time, money, and effort into building an inclusive culture does not want to have its employer brand story compromised. And more importantly, the last thing a company genuinely committed to inclusion wants to communicate is that its leadership targets marginalized talent in the layoff process. The authors present five ways for leaders and their companies to establish layoff practices rooted in inclusion and belonging, just as they’ve done with other elements of the employee lifecycle.