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Last week, a record 6.6 million people filed for unemployment benefits.
With most of the country still in lockdown, thousands of companies were forced to layoff staff.
Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and “Shark Tank” host, understands this is a necessity for many companies but the billionaire has a message – don’t lay off staff via email.
Layoffs via email will end up being a costly error with long-term effects.
“[You’ve] got to be cognizant of the reality that what do you do as a company today is how you will be branded for the next decade if not more,” Cuban told Yahoo Finance.
Cuban emphasized that companies need to be open with employees and that laying people off in such a cold and uncaring manner will define how they treat people and “whether or not folks will do business with them in the long haul.”
Cuban has personally heard stories of people being informed of a layoff or furlough through email.
“You can’t do that,” he said. “That is the biggest mistake you can make. You can’t fire people by email in this period. You’ve got to communicate. Even if you have a thousand employees you have to work through HR and touch each one of them personally.”
Cuban stressed the importance of brutal honesty.
“Everybody is terrified. This is not unique just to employees and it’s not unique just to small business owners, but communication has to be involved,” he said. “Communication is key. Transparency is key. You can’t B.S. people. ‘Oh, the business will be fine,’ then all of a sudden you’re laying people off. No, be brutally honest. And, also, carry that over to your customers.”
Cuban feels that small businesses especially should heed this warning.
“If you are the CEO or even a line employee, speak up, communicate, share your ideas, because this is where we need the greatest ideas, and you never know where they’re going to come from.”
[via Yahoo! Finance]