Sometimes, founders postpone layoffs because they care about their team and want to protect them as much as possible. This is understandable because layoffs are the most difficult, gut-wrenching decision.
Just be aware, this deliberate (hence slow) approach often backfire.
When a company considers layoffs, people at the company usually get a sense of what’s going on. Words travel; in bad economy, they see other companies doing layoffs left and right. But since there’s not been an official announcement yet, people can’t really start a full-on job search yet. They’re in a weird limbo state – they’re working, but not really working.
Then a few months later, company finally (and seemingly abruptly) announces a layoff plan. People complain “We knew the company had been considering layoffs the whole time, why didn’t they tell us early on so we could have more time to prepare?” They might have passed a really good opportunity “just in case”.
This is a double whammy for the founder, because the very reason the founder pushed the decision was that she cared so much about the team, but now she’s taking the blame and being called disingenuous.
Be decisive and take actions as quickly as possible. It might be a way to service the team that you care so much about.
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