Fixable (TED)

(Re-release) Unsolicited Advice: How to Handle Layoffs with Care

Release Date: February 16, 2026
Hosts: Anne Morriss (CEO, author), Frances Frei (Harvard Business Professor)

Episode Overview

This episode of Fixable dives into the emotionally charged topic of layoffs and the essential actions leaders must take “the day after”—when the dust settles and it’s time to rebuild trust and momentum with the remaining team. With layoffs becoming more normalized in the current business climate, Anne and Frances address questions from leaders struggling with the fallout. The episode provides actionable advice for HR, senior leaders, and managers on navigating post-layoff reality with humility, transparency, and care.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Context and Layoff Landscape

• The episode opens with a reflection on current events: a wave of layoffs across tech (Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, Google) even amid positive economic news.
• Companies are reorienting toward AI and specialized skills; layoffs are being normalized as a quick-fix response to economic anxiety and fast change.
• Anne underscores the emotional impact, especially for organizations facing public sector cuts affecting entire communities.
  • “The headline on our advice is to not do this alone. Your real enemy right now is isolation. So build a community to help you get through this difficult time.” — Anne Morriss (01:57)

2. The Hidden Cost of Layoffs

• Frances challenges the prevailing “toughness” narrative among leaders, urging them not to frame layoffs as a show of strength but to see them as a sign of failed anticipation or strategy.
  • “A layoff is on the other side of you, senior executive. It's on the other side of your failure.” — Frances Frei (04:38)
• Layoffs, while sometimes necessary for strategic pivots, inflict deep and often underappreciated harms:
  • Reduced innovation
  • Loss of engagement and talent
  • Creation of a culture of fear
  • Longer-term decline in company performance

3. What Companies Get Wrong About Layoffs

• Overconfidence or a misreading of the situation leads leaders to treat layoffs as a badge of “toughness.”
  • “They're almost doing it with, like, a jocular, muscular energy. Like, look, we're tough enough to do this. I'd like you to be humble enough to admit you've had a failure because it's the only way you're going to learn from your failure.” — Frances Frei (05:00)
• Companies often neglect the aftermath—failing to invest enough in supporting remaining employees and clearly communicating the next steps.

4. A Framework for Handling Layoffs Well

Step 1: Own It (Apology and Humility)

• Start with a sincere, specific apology from leadership. Admit mistakes and own the decisions—not just as an organizational issue, but as a personal failure in forecasting or strategy.
  • “It will be very difficult to listen to any of the words that come out of your mouth if you don't own it… The more sincere and the more specific, the more likely you are to repair the relationships that you have undoubtedly harmed.” — Frances Frei (11:58)
• Transparency is crucial—no vague acknowledgments.

Step 2: Present a Clear Plan for the Present

• Detail the new strategy or plan: Why stay? What’s the case for future success?
• Be specific in communications—don’t let ambiguity lead to negativity.
  • “All ambiguous information just assume it's being interpreted negatively.” — Frances referencing Tom DeLong (14:20)
• Repeat and reinforce the message; don’t assume one email is enough.

Step 3: Paint a Vivid, Data-Backed Vision for the Future

• Leaders must provide a “rigorous and optimistic way forward” with specifics on what the next chapter will look like.
  • “Tell us about the future in vivid and specific language. Tell us what it’s going to feel like when we get there. Give us a data driven case for why we're likely to get there and then repeat it over and over and over again.” — Anne Morriss (16:13)
• Bring remaining employees along the journey—not just by explaining change, but by giving them language and narrative they can repeat confidently to others.

Step 4: Make the Pain and the Process Discussable

• Encourage honest dialogue; don’t sweep pain or loss under the rug. High-performing teams “have the courage to discuss the undiscussable.” (20:23)
  • “You don't even have to be good at it. This is courage over competence.” — Frances Frei (21:29)
• Address collective trauma together rather than pushing responsibility down the hierarchy.

Step 5: Review the Employee Value Proposition

• When you can’t offer stability, clarify what employees do get (compensation, learning, responsibility, experience).
  • “You may not be able to guarantee that there won’t be layoffs again ... I can't make any guarantees. But if you stay right and if we figure this out together, we are building a future where you will have a place. So this is a high risk, high reward situation.” — Anne Morriss (22:11)
• If financial compensation can't increase, emphasize skills, experience, and learning opportunities—and promise to revisit pay when success returns.

Step 6: Self-Care and Surviving the Emotional Toll

• Leaders need to replenish themselves; it's not indulgent—it's necessary for the team's recovery and resilience.
  • Share the 24/7 burden with a team (“Leslie Perlow’s research”), and recognize that supporting traumatized teams requires shorter “shifts” and more intentional self-care. (27:00)
  • “Amy Cuddy calls this surge capacity … how do you solve for your own surge capacity? It requires deep care of yourself in order for you to be of service to the human beings around you.” — Anne Morriss (27:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the real cost of layoffs:
  “It’s a failure to anticipate market trends. It's a failure to anticipate technology trends.” — Frances Frei (07:30)

• On the leader's responsibility post-layoff:
  “You have the whole rest of the workforce that you now have to bring along and get buy in from. And I feel like the investment in that part of the challenge is just painfully, painfully, painfully short of the challenge.” — Anne Morriss (17:22)

• On communication after layoffs:
  “You might be done thinking about [the layoffs], you’re ready to move on. ... But the people around you are just beginning to move through those phases.” — Anne Morriss (18:40)

• On high-performing teams and discussability:
  “High performing teams ... have the courage to discuss the undiscussable. And layoffs can be a third rail ... That is not what the senior team should be looking for in an organization. In fact, the opposite. Bring it up. Reward people for bringing it up.” — Frances Frei (20:23)

Key Timestamps

• 01:09 — Introduction of Unsolicited Advice, focus on layoff aftermath
• 03:29 — Tech layoffs in 2025: sector context and why this is so widespread
• 04:38 — Layoffs as executive failure—why humility matters
• 07:30 — The real cost of layoffs: innovation, engagement, culture
• 11:56 — Step 1: Own it. Start with a clear, genuine apology
• 13:52 — Step 2: What's the plan? Bringing people along
• 15:53 — Step 3: Paint a rigorous, optimistic vision for the future
• 17:34 — Advice for managers: Your job is to place a strong narrative
• 20:23 — Discuss the pain together—don’t avoid it; courage over competence
• 22:11 — The honest “value proposition” for employees who stay
• 27:00 — Self-care for leaders after layoffs—share the burden, manage surge capacity

Takeaways for Leaders

• Apologize and own the mistakes: True leadership starts with humility after hard decisions.
• Communicate with radical transparency: Ambiguity breeds fear—be clear, repetitive, and honest.
• Replace lost stability with opportunity: When you can’t promise job security, focus on skills, experiences, and the future payoff.
• Create safe spaces for difficult conversations: High-performing teams confront the pain—collectively.
• Prioritize self-care to sustain leadership: You're valuable to your team; you can't pour from an empty cup.

Final Thoughts

Anne and Frances offer a pragmatic, compassionate, and research-backed playbook for handling layoffs with care—not just for those who leave, but for the people left behind. At the heart of their advice is a call for leaders to practice humility, invest deeply in communication, and foster collective resilience through honest conversation. The episode serves as both a salve and a guide for anyone faced with navigating organizational trauma in turbulent times.