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Communicating bad news to your offshore team

November 24, 2008

Bad news deliveries are never easy. Especially when it pertains to job losses. And the possibility of snatching away a person’s steady income, a certain lifestyle, family comforts etc. The difficult decision that many corporates in America are being forced to take these days on account of the worsening situation at home gets compounded in the case of offshore vendors by the distance factor.

Fact is that we can all emote very well in person, but through modern day telecommunication tools, the same that fuelled the growth of the outsourcing industry — written words can come across as cold and clinical.

So if you are chosen as messenger for conveying the Doomsday news, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone or fly down in person.
Your voice, your presence can be far more personal and comforting than a well-drafter letter on the company head.

Offshore Team Layoff

Other ‘human touch’ strategies that you can adopt include:

  • Speaking in the ‘we’ tone, e.g., “the situation, we are in,” “the profits we couldn’t post,” “the deliverables we couldn’t make,” the “costs that must be scaled down, the resources we can’t support…” Make sure you make them feel you are In this WITH them and not AGAINST them
  • Don’t overdo the sincerity part. Convey your news in a matter-of-fact tone. There would no doubt be hurt that can’t be avoided. Show empathy, however avoid dramatizing the situation.
  • Be clear and empathic. Don’t try to obscure the situation, or complicate a simple thought with the choice of clichéd expressions. Use words that come natural to you. Feel you are in the same boat with the other person and how what you feel. You will know instinctively what to say.
  • Explain, if you can, what led you to this situation. Try to link your fate to the macro economic situation. Cite relevant history, facts, or strategies, but don’t go overboard with parallels. Less is more in such a situation.
  • Discuss any original assumptions that are no longer hold valid. Invite questions, doubts, alternatives, suggestions. Above all, don’t severe ties completely. Who knows tomorrow when the situation improves, you might have to hire them back. Jet Airlines, one of India’s largest private carriers, laid off 1900 employees one day, only to summon them back the very next day. When the economy is in a state of flux, you can’t predict what’s going to happen the next day!
  • Let them discuss, present and rule out all the alternative courses of action. Let them openly discuss the pros and cons. Occasionally, let them also vent out their anger. That’s understandable. But just don’t let the situation blow out of control. Go prepared for all the dire consequences. A CEO of an Italian company (Graziano Transmissioni) didn’t consider the situation serious enough and paid for it with his life. He was bludgeoned to death by a bunch of irate employees in India during the month of September.
  • Announce the decision. Discuss how this would address the problem.
  • Discuss the severance package. Discuss how it will address the hardships resulting from the action
  • Last but not the least, share your vision for the future. Reaffirm your goals. Don’t burn the bridge. Set expectations for the future and set a time frame for recovery. Give them some hope for the future.

Whatever you do, don’t part in misery. If possible, give your audience confidence and improved morale. There is fear, no doubt in every mind. Look at it in the eye and move on. If good times didn’t last, bad times won’t either.

Related posts:

  1. Risks of Offshore Outsourcing
  2. High skilled IT and BPO jobs are going offshore
  3. More political grandstanding: Senator Charles Schumer proposes an offshore call center tax
  4. Offshore Outsourcing Commoditization
  5. Top Three Hurdles of Offshore Outsourcing


Written by Radhika · Filed Under Outsource Blogs 

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