When Snap Inc. announced earlier this month that it was cutting roughly 1,000 jobs (which is 16% of its workforce), company officials did so via a same-day email to employees with no advance warning. It's the latest example of how abruptly layoffs are being handled across corporate America, according to global workforce solutions provider Careerminds, whose research reveals a glaring disconnect between how companies think they are communicating and how workers actually perceive it.

Last fall, Careerminds surveyed more than 1,000 full-time workers in the United States who had either been laid off or witnessed layoffs on their team in the past 12 months. Only 1 in 4 (28%) of laid-off employees felt leadership was fully transparent about why cuts were made, and 59% of those laid off said their trust in the company was damaged. What's more, 50% of remaining employees said poor communication pushed them to consider leaving their own jobs.

"Being laid off is hard enough to process, but finding out through a mass email, like the 1,000 Snap employees who learned their fate this past week, makes it even harder to move forward," said Amanda Augustine, a certified professional career coach and resident career expert at Careerminds. "How a company handles these moments says everything about how much it truly values its people. When handled poorly, these situations don't just affect those leaving; they can erode trust, weaken morale, and drive further attrition among those who remain. Leaders often underestimate just how closely the people staying behind are watching."

Here are other findings from the report:

The rumor mill is still ahead of HR: A third (34%) of those laid off first heard the news through workplace gossip, more than those told directly by their manager or HR (27%). More than a third (35%) of remaining employees also found out through the grapevine before any official word came through. By the time formal communications landed, many employees had already formed an impression.
Inconsistency is weakening the message: Only 29% of departing employees and 26% of those who remained said communications were fully consistent across all sources. About 1 in 5 reported conflicting messages from different parts of the business — a gap that compounds uncertainty and erodes confidence in leadership.
How you let people go shapes how quickly they recover: Employees who perceived their layoff communications as fair were nearly twice as likely to secure a new role within one month (39% vs 22%). For those who felt the process was handled poorly, more than 1 in 5 were still searching for a job after six months. The quality of the off-boarding experience has a direct bearing on re-employment speed and on how former employees talk about the organization once they're gone.

What employers can do

In the report, Careerminds suggests that organizations navigating change in their workforces develop a clear plan before taking action. This includes the following:

Equip notification-givers with a layoff script to provide clarity on how to best approach each notification conversation and ensure the organization has a standardized approach. These conversations should happen before any other wider announcements are made.
Make sure the HR team is fully prepared in what to say during a layoff event — including how to answer questions about benefits and outplacement.
Once notifications are complete, keep other employees in the loop by explaining why the changes took place and how they will impact operations moving forward. Strive to keep morale up.
Provide every laid-off employee with clear documentation that outlines benefits, severance, and available support — including outplacement services.

Instant Insights /

Poorly handled layoffs are costing U.S. employers their remaining talent

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