The only time I had been laid off (30 years ago), my supervisor was the best surgeon ever. It was a mass layoff and each manager had to wait until a certain time to give the notices. Mine stayed away from me until the mandatory time. He told me that he couldn’t be near me knowing what he had to do. When he gave me the news, which was expected (every admin having less than 4 years of service would be let go, as other admins in the union with longer tenure will be spread around) I felt as though I had to console him. He will forever be in my heart. I think I will try to locate him.

I had one boss who tended towards the mugger path, but I will never forget her because she was also 100% transparent about the process. She gave us notice when management was thinking about layoffs, and gave us time to help prepare ourselves for the process. She also gave us advice about how to handle it and what to do if we were laid off so that we could be ready. When the actual layoff happened months later, it was a “meeting in HR and march to security” type layoff, but it hit differently than other times I was struck by the mugger approach. I had savings built up and my portfolio ready to go and had a new job within a week.

I think of her when I read about the horrible layoffs in the paper from the tech companies. She was a gift even if she wasn’t a great boss the rest of the time.

While this isn’t as heartbreaking as working for a company for 20 years and getting laid off, it goes directly to the comment about empathy and how to deliver bad news.

This guy had the tact of battery acid. I retired a few months later due to his continued inability to communicate and lead.