Case Study: Participatory Layoffs
The story (and blueprint) of how we designed and ran a fully participatory “reduction in force” at a small worker self-directed non-profit & multi-stakeholder co-op.
This is the story of a small social enterprise that faced a critical cash crunch in its 7th year, necessitating a “reduction in spend” (and “reduction in force” aka Layoffs), and which departed from the “business as usual” playbook to involve the entire company in choosing how to reduce that spend… and who would be laid off.
By the end of our tale, I hope you will understand:
the basics of how we designed and ran our participatory layoffs and achieved our spending reduction,
the impact on the Team, especially those who were laid off, and
some replicable lessons learned and insights to apply for leaders and members of organizations like ours.
I hope that sharing this “business as it could be” play-by-play can help you imagine a less disruptive and more humane path through the shitty decision of having to fire some of your team. (Spoiler alert: “It was hands down the best staff reduction process that I've ever been a part of.”)
Download the Participatory Layoffs Case Study PDF!