[marrone12]

One, be as transparent as possible, as early as possible. Hopefully your company has not been hiding that there are financial problems so that it won't come as a huge surprise that layoffs are happening. If you haven't done this yet, please start communicating. You do not necessarily need to tell the whole company that layoffs are happening, but you do need to tell them that this might happen.

Two, avoid saying anything about how hard this was for you. They do not care.

It is definitely best to tell people in person, and individually. I don't have any advice as to how to do so in a small space. It is for the best to restrict access to sensitive systems once a person is laid off, but you can keep them access to slack or email so people can say goodbye if they'd like.

[toast0]

> You do not necessarily need to tell the whole company that layoffs are happening, but you do need to tell them that this might happen.

If it's a few people, sure you don't need to tell the whole company. If it's half the company, you need to let everyone know.

> Two, avoid saying anything about how hard this was for you. They do not care.

I totally agree. Management should accept responsibility, and acknowledge how hard it is for the employees. And then let people know what's going to happen next. What severance and job placement looks like, etc (ps have that figured out). If you can adjourn for the rest of the day, that's good too.

If there's anyone not present for the big meeting, try to notify them directly asap, too.

[throwaway345826]

Thanks for responding. We've been honest about the situation, but I think people will feel blindsided because due to our own mistakes we mis-calculated our expected runway by a disastrous amount. I only found this out a day ago, at my position.

You're right that my own issues are secondary, my family will support me there. My duty is to those who are being laid off, and then to those who are staying but losing their close coworkers.

[johnnyo]

Are you firing the person or persons who grossly mismanaged your books?

If not, it’s going to come off as pretty hollow.