The rise of remote work during the Covid-19 pandemic has now brought about the rise of the virtual layoff.
Last November, Meta laid off 11,000 workers, and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, delivered the news over a remote video call. In April, McDonald’s temporarily shut down its corporate offices and fired hundreds of employees virtually.
Meta declined to send a statement, but a company’s spokesperson noted that the company has multiple locations in the world and cannot do all layoffs in person.
The practice is leading to a public debate over layoff etiquette — whether giving employees the bad news is more dignified than locking them out of their email accounts overnight.
“McDonald’s is teaching a master class in layoffs,” Jessica Kriegel, chief scientist of workplace culture at Culture Partners, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in April. “If I were getting laid off, I’d want to be laid off at home, not at the office.”
McDonald’s declined to comment.
Critics of the remote layoff trend say it lacks empathy and only favors the employer.
“It’s lazy leadership,” said Nicholas Whitaker, former Google employee and chief well-being officer and coach for tech workers. “We’re talking about thousands of people’s lives that have been turned upside down. And it’s one of the most, you know, impactful moments in somebody’s career to be let go or to be laid off. It lacks humanity, an ethical and a moral component.”
Watch the video above to find out how virtual layoffs have become a new workplace norm.
Chapters:
00:00 — Introduction
00:53 — How remote layoffs became the norm
01:53 — The Big Tech hiring Spree
05:26 — Remote termination etiquette
08:30 — What’s next
Produced by: Anuz Thapa
Narration by: Jordan Smith
Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen
Graphics by: Jason Reginato, Alex Wood and Christina Locopo
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How Virtual Layoffs Became The New Normal For Workplaces…(read more)
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In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, many workplaces have shifted to virtual models for remote work. Along with this change, virtual layoffs have become the new normal for companies. The shift in employment models has sparked a new era where virtual layoffs have become common, resulting in a loss in jobs and income for many employees.
The primary driver of this new trend in virtual layoffs is the telecommuting model. It has enabled companies to save money on expensive overheads previously associated with a brick-and-mortar office. Instead, the requirement for remote work in response to the pandemic has allowed businesses to have a more flexible approach to their expenditures.
The virtual layoff process typically includes the following steps: The employer first highlights the business’s current position and then discusses the company’s future post-layoffs. In the case of a remote office model, virtual meetings via video call are held to discuss the entire process. Once the company has decided to move forward with the layoffs, the process is set in motion. Notifications are then given to employees in the form of email, telephone call, or video call.
The loss of a job in any circumstance is never easy. However, virtual layoffs can make the situation much more difficult for those involved. There is a detachment from the work environment and coworkers, making it more challenging to connect or feel empathy from others when receiving the news. Virtual environments also make it harder to process the decision—which is very important for employees who are struggling to come to terms with the layoff.
Employers must maintain a degree of professionalism and empathy during the entire virtual layoff process. They need to provide comprehensive resources for their current employees with regards to next steps and how to deal with the challenge. Companies need to consider the personal circumstances of their employees, giving adequate support to those with financial obligations and those who may need access to mental health resources.
In conclusion, virtual layoffs have become the new normal for workplaces in the present pandemic era. For employers, this new trend represents a cost-effective way to reduce overheads and maintain their financial health in the long run. However, employers must remember the importance of treating their employees with dignity, respect, and empathy, as the layoffs can have a significant impact on their lives. As remote work becomes more common, the way layoffs are delivered may change, but maintaining a human approach to employee treatment should be firmly anchored in any HR strategy.
They got what they deserve for being lazy and working at home.
Tech workers complaining that big tech doesn't treat people as humans? Oh, that is rich.
Hello Mr. Baker, layoffs have always been impersonal and inhumane. Me, and fellow boomers, have been told that we were laid off by a representative from HR or even an outside firm…a la the movie "Up in the air". So, this virtual layoff is not surprising since many of us are working remotely. I mean, the technology is there, right? Why have the trouble of commuting when the company can just have you mail in all of the equipment.
But they ask for a 'two week notice.' Gross.
why is against the law for pump and dump, when our government does it routinely
nah, I'd rather be fired through text or over the phone. One day before I left for work, I was talking to dispatch who informed me that I need to go see my manager before I started my shift, and I drove all the way to my job just to get fired. They had me waste fuel in my time, just so that they could fire me in person. BS
On the first day, hey welcome to our family of Google…. Now you are on last day and what you get is an email.
Massage?!?
"My performance was great."….lol. That's what I said when I got fired from flipping burgers.
If your too lazy to go to site we’ll lay you off the lazy way simple as that.
0:39 companies don't treat you as a human being, and together with people I meet often nowadays, who, I don't know if I should consider to be human beings (they might have reincarnated from their previous life as insects or rodents or reptiles), well, we are enter a new era
virtual layoff… kind of like a phone breakup or text message breakup
Fact checkers just aren't needed as much anymore
What I’m hearing is, more of us should become business owners so that we can avoid being under the mercy of big corporations
"They dont treat you as a normal human being" thats because your not human to them
100 years ago you could be happy if you came home alive from the factory. Now we need hand-holders.
You do not own there company , you work for them . Are you praying and thanking God for your job . If not you deserve to loose your job.
"Up in the Air" now becomes real
If you want to work from home, maybe you gotta accept getting fired at home
There’s no good way to deliver bad news, and if you work from home, they’re not gonna show up to your house to tell you, nor should anyone want that. There’s also good reason to shut off access to all laid off employees at once.
But it really shouldn’t be so much to ask to have managers give the person a call and let them know 1:1, instead of leaving them to piece the puzzle together. It’d take all of what, five minutes, for that manager to be a human being and not an invertebrate?
HR is so paranoid about lawsuits and obsesses over all their hyper-formal language, and yet this automated form-letter layoff (and its cousin, the fraudulent PIP for stack ranking layoffs) is exactly the kind of indecent treatment that really motivates people to lawyer up.
Bit by bit, any semblance of a social contract is shredded by these corporate demons, and they wonder why half their new hires ghost them now.
While they stoke culture wars to keep us against each other. They keep us (AMERICANS) from coming together for real reasons. I don't hate my neighbors that wakes up and works just as hard as I do. As much as I hate my job and the economy that keeps me in a revolving door. How is it that we are working hard and yet we are falling behind. As their wealth explodes
Lol it sucks but don't be loyal to some companies, cause they will not be loyal to you.
If your job offers free perks do not take them. If your in their gym, getting a massage etc that means you are not working. Nothing is not strategically planned by a big company, they do things like that to lull you into a false sense of security, never let your guard down for a second when you are on the clock.
Let a company disrespect me like that. I'll go to the ceo,manager, hr homes. Show these corporations you won't be a punk.
Asking for human when your
job is virtual.
I lost all care for Paul, as soon as his primary reasons for working at google were status and perks. He deserved to be fired.
The final guy to speak is dead right, but im sure CNBS accidentally left it in since theyre the mouth peace of these big organisations guised as the "good guys"
It's just a job. Get another job.
If you are just acting as a virtual being and not showing up to a physical location, then there is no problem with this idea. You can just become a virtual being somewhere else, literally anywhere in the world.
This is me 3 months ago, I was expecting it but still getting a text from my workmate and checking my account's access. I just wish I recieved a personal call for the layoffs.
We need to find a way to be more self sufficient than to rely on this kind of stuff. If we knew how to grow our own food, & provide our own necessities, or develop relationships amongst one another so that where a person lacks in something, the other person can supply in that & in exchange for something else, etc. If we were all well within ourselves, then we could be the ones firing THEM. Especially with their impersonal treatment of employees.
I think the next big shift should be people catching on & having less dependency on companies that act like this, and having greater bonding of communities. If “cancel culture” is already a thing, why can’t this be applied to big companies also for their mistreatment of the common employee even tho we may not work there? I saw some stories in the comments about employee’s entrance badges not working for a lot of people who showed up for work only to find themselves laid off, and their belongings in boxes for them to pick up. I want to know what companies these are so that I may not buy their products or give them my business anymore. Stuff like that I think we can all do & then surely they would be more prone to get their act together. But if we have a “well at least it’s not me” mentality, it WILL eventually be YOU.
Virtual is mostly on the AI many where hired on line by my Blockchain self learning machine now that I brought it back many will be laid off
These companies have become cowards.
Everyone wants the benefits of working remotely from home but get upset when they are laid off “virtually”? Just goes to show how spoiled we really are as a society.
I’m a native Floridian and I’m from Tampa Bay. We have been slammed with remote workers that have completely ruined our retirement economy and priced all of our young people out of the housing market.
You get what you get…
I feel this country desperately needs new labor laws. Strikes/riots, the old fashioned way.