Softening the blow: Incorporating employee perceptions of justice into best practices for layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 has led to staggering numbers of people being laid off or furloughed. The way these decisions are communicated to employees can critically affect how workers receive and process the news. Specifically, if employees perceive layoff decisions as unfair, both those who are let go and those who remain may suffer untoward mental and physical effects from the layoffs, and these effects, in turn, can have negative consequences for the organization (such as reputational damage). In this article, we draw on prior research into perceptions of justice—including distributive justice (focused on how resources and burdens are allocated), procedural justice (focused on how decisions are made and implemented), and interactional justice (focused on how decisions are communicated) — to offer behaviorally based policy recommendations that organizational leaders and managers can apply to buffer some of the negative effects that layoff decisions can have on both employees and organizations.