Shore up your communication
Paring costs to fall in line with revenue can often mean cutting jobs, whether through buyouts, attrition or, least desirably, layoffs. ACTS has been no exception. In communities with dropping census numbers, management has needed to cut office staff, housekeeping, culinary staff and even some executive positions. As Mashner has led his company through cutbacks, the lessons of good communication have been reinforced to him.
In short, you need to communicate the reasoning behind your decision quickly, and then continue communicating repeatedly. You won’t be able to change the reality that some people are losing their jobs, but you will at least be able to keep your staff informed.
Mashner says no communication can have more damaging effects than bad news. Bad news can hurt morale in the short term, but keeping employees in the dark can hurt your credibility as a leader in the long run and, in turn, hurt employees’ confidence in the organization.
“It is important to develop an appropriate means of communicating with your staff,” Mashner says. “Tell them why the action was necessary and whether you anticipate any other types of similar action will need to be taken.
“That is what we did. We put together a letter explaining what was going on and sent a copy to our residents and a copy to our staff, so that everyone would understand what the effect is. As a result, when you tell them what it is, you take away the uncertainty about whether another shoe is going to drop. What you don’t want is for people to start believing, ‘I can’t do this because I’m going to lose my job.’ You want them to know that you looked at the volumes, looked at what was really needed, and that’s how you make the changes.”
You might be concerned about the negative reaction you will get when broadcasting negative news, but if you can phrase it in a sympathetic fashion, disclose as much information as you can, and show your employees that you are working to make the company healthier both financially and culturally, you stand a much better chance of obtaining buy-in from your employees and getting them to see the situation from management’s point of view.
“Identify the economic circumstances you are facing and, as a result, the actions you’ve needed to take to keep operating effectively, many of which we don’t like and regret having to do, but you emphasize that you have to maintain the business’ status and stability and ability to meet obligations both now and in the future,” he says. “With that in mind, on the letters we sent out from the corporate functions, our key managers would add further information and provide explanations.”
