By Vanessa Diaz, a queer Latinx graphic design and marketing professional passionate about equity and liberation for all

Nonprofit organizations forced to do layoffs can take steps not to leave their ex-employees high and dry and actually support them during this time of need.

As someone who was laid off seven months ago from a nonprofit organization and has applied to over 100 jobs, invited to 15 initial interviews, and five second-round interviews, I can confidently say layoffs are unmotivating and exhausting. 

But I believe there can be a way to make them less horrible and highly empathetic. 

Countless nonprofit organizations claim to be mission-driven, community-oriented, and a safe space for all, but that suddenly comes to a halt when they call you into HR for a “chat.” The ways in which they express their sincerest apologies speak volumes to how senior leadership is being trained in letting people go and what they are doing (or not doing) leading up to the termination date and weeks after.

It can start to feel very personal if your former boss doesn’t offer any words of support or if the resources provided to you feel abysmal. This goes for any and all former employees, especially those in good standing, who have received no warnings, are highly productive, and are excellent collaborators across staff.

Nonprofit organizations forced to do layoffs can take steps not to leave their ex-employees high and dry and actually support them during this time of need. This not only shows tremendous character but leaves both your exiting and remaining employees with high morale, knowing that everything was done to support affected individuals and came from a place of kindness. 

In my humble opinion, here are 10 things nonprofit organizations can do to ensure ethical layoffs:

10. Be upfront about expectations before the termination date:

Be upfront with your former employee if you’ll be taking away all passwords or important document access right away, if you won’t be inviting them to any new meetings, or what their workload will be like. The sudden change can cause whiplash, and any forewarning is helpful. Alternatively, if taking sick days until their termination date is possible, then offer that to your former employee.

I was not offered any additional conversations with my team about the reduction in force. I was removed from all passwords and applications within an hour of being notified that I was laid off, and was only left with limited email access. No one reached out about an off-boarding plan for the following two weeks after, and the layoff was well-known by senior leadership ahead of time, so if they had wanted to reach out, they could have.

Other colleagues within the organization worked all through the two weeks leading up to the termination date and were offered transparency in their off-boarding.

9. Resources and options for 401k and healthcare:

Prepare a “cheat sheet” for laid-off employees on how to transfer their retirement funds outside of the organization and options outside of COBRA for healthcare. Many folks often forget their 401k accounts, and then their former employer changes providers, and that money can get lost. 

COBRA is ridiculously unaffordable in many cases. Offer Medicaid options for healthcare and other reasonable resources to follow that can guide them through that process. Anything that gives them a few options, websites, or numbers to call is helpful.

In my experience, I was sent a very basic one-pager that only included the minimum amount of information they could possibly fit on one page. To say the least, I was left with so many questions that I had to follow up with HR and do some extensive research on my own. I did request a meeting with someone from HR to talk about my questions, but they ignored my request, which felt very unsupportive during such an emotionally exhausting time. 

Due to the lack of information about what to do with their 401k, some former colleagues ended up paying high transfer fees without needing to do so.

8. Let your ex-employees obtain files for various portfolios:

This shouldn’t be an awkward conversation to have. Under appropriate supervision, allow soon-to-be ex-employees to retrieve files as needed, giving them visual proof of all their experience. It’s important for portfolios of work in the fields of UX/UI design, graphic design, illustration, website design, and fundraising, for example, to have real-life examples. Set your former employees up for success. 

If you feel the need to, you can also make an agreement about crediting the work as the property of the organization so everyone feels good.

For example, I have friends who have been laid off and did not have permission to copy files from a company cloud or drive. Hypothetically, if this were permissible to exiting employees, the company could include a watermark or logo, and draft up a contract with reasonable limitations of use. This could really create a tangible way for folks to maintain trust with their former employer and have something to show for their years of hard work.

7. Resources on FSA/Commuter Benefits:

Many folks plan ahead and pre-pay for commuter benefits and FSA funds, which means some of those funds are already paid for and need to be spent before your termination date. Please train your HR employees on what updated options are available to you.

I had to ask HR to stop my commuter benefit weekly payments, which was super frustrating because the payments were accumulating into an account that would have to be used within a short time period. I had assumed payments from my weekly paycheck would automatically be on pause, or best case scenario, I would have been alerted by HR to stop these payments to avoid spending so much in one sitting. 

I did end up having to spend well over $500 before the two weeks, which proved difficult since I stopped going to work and bus tickets have an expiration date.

6. List of trusted contacts that could possibly lead to job interviews:

You don’t have to be aware of who’s hiring, but at least keep a spreadsheet of folks that your leadership has a good relationship with and send that out to laid-off employees to do their own outreach. 

That in itself would be super helpful and if their former boss can vouch for the employee, it would be an instant referral.

It is a fact that executive teams and senior leadership are connected and in collaboration with other like-minded individuals with local nonprofits. These contacts could easily be put into a spreadsheet with their name, organization, position, and who in your organization they’re connected to, and kept updated on a quarterly basis. 

That way, if laid-off employees contact those people or look into who’s hiring, they can put down the contact’s name as a referral and go in with higher chances of getting their applications looked at. 

Laid-off employees are allegedly let go due to a reduction in force, restructuring, or budget reasons, so the nonprofit should have no issues giving up their contacts. 

5. Resume reviews or career coaching through partnerships:

The nonprofit world is filled with sponsorships from large corporations funding massive galas, building new office spaces, or donating new technologies. Let these corporations help your laid-off employees with resume reviews, career coaching, or financial tips. Organizations are always looking for volunteer opportunities!

In my experience, medium or large nonprofits are well connected to banks or corporations that offer their corporate employees perks for volunteering at the nonprofits they donate their money to. My former place of employment held an annual career fair for members of the LGBTQ+ community and part of their programming was holding resume reviews, career coaching, and offering financial literacy workshops. 

Seeing as these programs are already being offered to community members, it would be easy to extend the same resources to their former employees. Assuming programs have the capacity to take on more people, this offering would be a free way to help support laid-off employees.

4. Do not tell your team that you are “safe” from layoffs:

Layoffs are often a last resort and may affect anyone from leadership to associate positions. Any boss shouldn’t be telling employees anything that could potentially change.

Yes, this was my experience. My boss assured our team most other teams would be affected except ours. Being wrong about such an assurance does more damage and lessens the trust and credibility you have as a leader of your department.

3. Provide an exit interview:

It’s degrading to see some laid-off employees get exit interviews and others not. Train leadership on best practices on how to let go of staff. Yes, it’s awkward for everyone, and emotions can be high. But, assure your soon-to-be former employees that their skills and experience at the organization were highly valued by a person who worked closely with them. 

Do not ghost them. Do acknowledge their current situation is hard. Maybe take them out for lunch or do one last outing as a team to acknowledge a farewell in good spirits (after checking in with them to see if that is something they want to participate in).

2. One final email from the CEO or COO:

Layoffs are usually a decision made from higher up in leadership. Offering all the support previously suggested in one email from the CEO or COO is not only helpful but will genuinely feel like they didn’t want to have to do this. CEOs and COOs are often so removed from their staff members that an email of this sort can feel like a small gesture of kindness. 

For organizations laying off less than 20 staff, a personalized email for each laid-off staff member would be living up to your values.

1. Ensure recommendations from a former boss, supervisor, or close colleagues:

Make sure to offer recommendations with no animosity, including folks who personally laid off staff. There should be no reason for this not to happen. 

If someone was not on good terms with a former supervisor or boss, it would be at the discretion of the former employee to make a decision on whether their former boss, supervisor, or close colleague would provide a good reference.

No one expects a layoff to happen to them. At a bare minimum, organizational leadership should provide support that doesn’t cost them anything. You never know how long your former employee will be out of work, so why not set them up for success? 

Even with severance agreements and nonprofit lawyers in place, unethical layoffs only decrease the morale of current staff, increase the chances for whistleblowers, legal lawsuits, and poor working conditions, and remove accountability of leadership, who will continue to perpetuate unethical layoffs.

To all nonprofit leaders: please live up to the mission and values of the organization. You want your former employees to potentially come back as contractors, collaborators, volunteers, program attendees, donors, or even write your organization in their will. 

If you want to be proud to be a nonprofit space that values the lives of current staff, community members, and former employees alike, please do better with layoffs. Consider adopting ethical layoffs as much as possible. Your community will thank you for it.