The Unemployed Life

Condé Nast’s Layoff Rules

A big layoff came down today that held a little more resonance for a couple of us here at Recessionwire: Condé Nast Portfolio, where Sara Clemence and I worked before we were laid off, announced it would be shutting down immediately. The June issue will be halted and the website will go away come Wednesday.

And it was all handled fairly well, considering.

Condé Nast is known for making pretty fast decisions, surprising most people at the abruptness of them. In a family business, this is easy to do when there aren’t shareholders or extensive boards to consider. According to our sources, the decision was made Friday and it was announced first thing this morning.

Our former colleagues might disagree, but pulling the knife out quickly is actually a good thing. Acting quickly can prevent leaks, which make everyone uneasy, worrying about whether you’re on the list. Decisions about personnel are always best if acted upon right away. It’s just like dating – if it’s not working out, isn’t it just best to let them go?

Further, they did it on a Monday. According to Stever Robbins, president of VentureCoach.com, Fridays are no good because “employees have all weekend to stew and won’t be able to do any job-hunting until Monday morning. Better to do it early in the week, instead of dumping people out into the weekend to wander aimlessly and purposelessly for two days. Layoffs conducted at the beginning of the week allow for distributing resumes and setting up meetings during business hours (with, say, former colleagues with recession-related websites, among others).

Also, they didn’t make everyone leave immediately. Really, what is the point in this? Sure, there’s a risk of corporate espionage and tampering – but the risk is lower when soon-to-be-former employees don’t feel like they’ve been downgraded from stars to vagabonds. Two days is enough to gather one’s belongings, but not too much time where you’re rearranging your pencil collection and wishing you were gone.

When Sara and I were laid off last fall, we were told on a Thursday (the day before Halloween, actually), and because of business partner obligations, we were asked to stay until the end of the year. The Halloween holiday was fitting, since we all walked around like zombies in our final weeks. (Sara also experienced the company’s rapid-fire decisions first-hand when she was pre-fired from Domino, another former Condé Nast property.)

We’re not thrilled that any of our former co-workers now find themselves out of work. But we hope they enjoyed those morning screwdrivers handed out at the announcement today — they’ll have at least half the week to work them off before considering their next moves.

Tags: Condé Nast, layoffs, media