Retrenchment: layoff procedures in a nonprofit organization

One of the most unsettling experiences that human resources and other managers must face is a large-scale employee layoff. Authors Robert Fuller, national director of personnel, Cassandra Jordan, assistant director of personnel, and Robert Anderson, employment and training manager--all at the Legal Services Corporation--show how careful management planning, extensive staff involvement, and well-planned counseling and outplacement services helped employees of Legal Services Corporation wheather such a layoff. As the first step, the planning committee (personnel director, equal employment opportunity director, and general counsel) recommended that the corporation conduct staff education about layoffs for all employees, that a representative employee task force be established to develop specific details of the layoff plan, and that the corporation hire an experienced person to help staff members implement the plan. Members of the task force, who were elected by staff members (except for one additional member who was selected to ensure proper representation of minority groups and women), made specific recommendations on the way to determine seniority and bumping rights. The task force also dealt with such issues as method of notification, an appeals procedure, reemployment rights, the counseling and outplacement services. The task force also considered the issue of "willingness to leave".