Leaders, are you looking at thiscrisis through a humanitarian lens or an economic one? This is nota trick question: The answer can not be "both." The framework youchoose most certainly will shape the future of your company.

If you acknowledged that COVID-19 is a humanitarian crisis, youmade a good choice. The biggest issue right now is containing thevirus and responding to people's needs in the world at large. Ifyou focus on people now, profits will come back faster when webegin our hike up the rebound mountain.

You are a human first and a leader second

We're all a bit worried. For our family members, friends,colleagues, neighbors and community. Our health, our finances, ouruncertain futures. Acknowledge this vivid truth. Embrace it and letyour employees know that we're all in this together. Recently,Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sent an email to employees that was a goodmodel for us all to follow. He explained Amazon's vital role infulfilling basic human needs, explained how the company isprotecting its workers' health and rewarding them for their serviceand, finally, spoke on a personal level about his own fears.Showing vulnerability is a great way to lead, especially when thevast majority of the world is also vulnerable.

Make layoffs a last resort

We're reading, hourly, about more layoffs. We know Q2 is goingto be very tough, but I beg you to please slow down for a minute.If you can, try to buck the layoff mentality. The bigger issueright now is containment of the virus and responding to people'simmediate needs in the world. CEOs who have jumped to cut staff mayregret this action, especially when there may be many otheralternatives.

Related: Why people are critical to a CEO'ssuccess 

The reason for this is economic, mixed with a very humanattribute — optimism. Your people are your best offense and defensefor 2020 and if you don't secure your own talent, you're at riskothers will leave and they won't be coming back when you need them.We will recover from this global economic strain and your actionstoday tell a lot about you and your organization. Keep in mind thattraining a new workforce is much more expensive than keeping peopleon in the short-ish term. So losing 25 percent of your staff nowcould delay your recovery for another year. In addition to cost,getting a new workforce up to speed could be a drag on theacceleration of your business when it's time.

Layoffs now also tell employees that you don't care. Do you wantyour best people getting the wrong message and going out andlooking for a new job when the economy rebounds?

Exhaust every option. Instead, try to maintain as much of yourworkforce as possible so that things will be steady enough.Carefully examine the alternatives. While maintaining benefits, youcan ask employees to take unpaid leave. Consider reducing theirhours, or offering half-pay for the next three weeks. Ask yourexecutive team to take a reduction in pay; chances are they cangive back and live on less. Are there any government loan programsfor short-term funding? Can you find another pool of liquidity thatyou can pull from? You must do all you can to secure your workforceand think ahead. Decisions made solely with today's data areincomplete at best.

Now, there may be limited demand for your product or service.Consider ways to keep people working with new products and servicesthat impact your ecosystem. UberEats is donating free delivery frommom and pop shops. National sports franchises are raising money tosupport stadium employees.

Do this right, and you help your business and other businessesbe better positioned to move forward when it comes time. You'regoing to have to be operationally efficient, to rebuild inventory,to rebuild everything and you will need a staff who knows things.You won't be able to return without people.

If you have to lay people off, do it with care. This shouldn'tbe so hard to do if you have laid the groundwork at your company totreat the workforce humanely in the first place. The New York Timesreported that a waitress at LaGuardia airport was dismissed lastTuesday after 30 years of work there, with no severance, limitedhealth care and no open communication. The abruptness, the lack ofcommunication, the confusion and feelings of betrayal sends themessage that you don't care about people when the whole world isfocused on doing just that. What a shame that a 30-year veteranemployee would be impacted so significantly by a virus that's beena threat for three months.

Plan for the next crisis now

If you didn't have a crisis plan in place before, now is thetime to revisit your policies and change them to set up a safetynet for people who may be impacted, not by a horrible globalpandemic, but by other predictable ebbs that they may face in theirlives and that your business may face.

These shifts may require a change in the way you lead andgetting unstuck from traditional frameworks of success, likeprofitability. Now that the rules of engagement have faltered, it'stime to write new rules for this new world. This crisis is teachingus all how to do the hard things well. Heed these newlessons. In 2008, when Southwest Airlines announced they would beadhering to their longstanding promise of no layoffs, stock pricesshot up, not down. And, the Fed is rushing stimulus to the U.S.airlines who have each promised no layoffs if they get fundingbefore September 1, 2020.

Keep talking

Now, more than ever, is the time to talk, to reach out, to keepcommunication flowing with your workforce. Keep the output steady.Daily, if possible. If you haven't set up a mechanism to talk withthem, do it now. At 8 a.m. each morning, I post on our companyYammer page; even if I don't have new information, they hear what'shappening. Create moments for your people to feel like people,whether it's a virtual company happy hour, like the ones we'veinstituted here, lunch hours by Zoom, or more creative virtualgatherings that take into account employees are working with their kids and pets inthe room. Find new ways to show your appreciation. Thesevirtual gatherings are proof of our need to connect and to becreative. This is a good outcome of this pandemic and anopportunity to engage your entire workforce.

Right now, China is getting back to business. Apple andStarbucks have reopened there. People are returning to the streets.We still may have weeks or months of uncertainty ahead of us. Asleaders, now is your opportunity to seize your biggest, mostimportant moment and to declare that you truly care about people.What an enormous contribution that would make to the world thatworks.

Scott Cawood is president and CEO, WorldatWork, a nonprofitprofessional association in compensation and totalrewards.