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Some Law Firms Are Messing Up COVID-19 Austerity Rollouts

A lack of transparency can hurt morale and give employees an unshakable sense of dread.

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As this website has already covered at length, many law firms are instituting austerity measures in order to deal with challenges posed by COVID-19. Indeed, a number of law firms have instituted pay cuts, furloughed employees, and even laid off attorneys and staff in order to deal with economic issues caused by the ongoing pandemic. Although many firms have taken appropriate steps when implementing these measures, some firms are messing up austerity rollouts, and this is causing unneeded suffering by employees.

Bad News On Mondays

I have been a fan of the movie Office Space for a long time. (I love the movie so much that I even confused John Bolton with Michael Bolton in a Morning Docket I wrote several months ago!) One of the kernels of wisdom I learned from the movie is that you should only announce layoffs or other bad news on Fridays. It is generally thought that if employees have the weekend to think over their predicament, when they would not be working anyways, they will be better able to absorb bad news. In addition, even in the current situation, the weekend is a good time to reflect, relax, and process information.

However, I have heard of some firms announcing bad news on Mondays or at random times during the week. This seems to be against one of the golden rules of layoffs and other negative employment news. Of course, some information needs to be conveyed as soon as possible, but firms should follow the wisdom from Office Space and announce bad news on Fridays whenever possible, and perhaps Thursdays under the right circumstances.

Bad News Through Email

Since most people are working from home due to shelter-in-place guidelines, it is difficult to communicate with employees in the current environment. As a result, many firms need to send bad news through email when they might have been able to convey such information in person under normal circumstances. However, firms should avoid laying off workers or providing other individualized bad news through email whenever possible.

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It is extremely impersonal to be provided information about layoffs or individualized negative employment news through email. Such information will have a profound impact on an employee’s life, and law firms owe it to their workers to have such difficult conversations over the phone or through videoconferencing whenever possible. If Anna Kendrick and George Clooney can fire people through remote means in Up in the Air (which came out over 10 years ago, I’m referencing a lot of movies!), law firms should be able to more personally convey individualized bad news to employees.

No Transparency

Even though flatfooted emails about bad news should be avoided, it is still preferable to no transparency at all, which is unfortunately occurring at some shops. As discussed in prior Above the Law articles, some law firms are implementing COVID-19 austerity measures with little or no communication to employees. Since many people are not in their offices, the only way that employees at these firms sometimes discover that people have been furloughed or laid off is when profiles are taken off of firm websites.

Some firms seem to think that this is a gentler version of rolling out COVID-19 austerity measures. This is not true. A lack of transparency can hurt morale and give employees an unshakable sense of dread about their situation. Of course, some firms do not want to go public with the painful measures they need to take in the current environment. Nevertheless, transparently announcing austerity measures will have far better outcomes than being stealthy about layoffs and furloughs.

Inconsistent Messaging

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Another way that some law firms have been bungling COVID-19 austerity rollouts is with inconsistent messaging. Some firms have told employees that only certain practice areas would be impacted by austerity measures, or perhaps that only administrative employees would be let go or furloughed because of the COVID-19. Still other firms have conveyed that belt-tightening would only impact certain offices, or that people would only be let go if they had been underperforming for an extended period.

However, after conveying these reassuring messages, some firms have been forced to institute austerity measures like salary cuts, layoffs, and furloughs that affect attorneys and staff who were supposed to be safe from such measures. This can have an extremely negative impact on morale and can make it difficult for employees to trust anything management has to say about their situation. As covered by this website in several prior articles, some firms have circulated reassuring emails to employees relating that no negative measures will be taken due to the ongoing crises. Of course, if firms are absolutely sure that they can weather the storm of COVID-19 without austerity measures, they should send such messages, since this can boost morale. However, unless firm managers are confident that their finances allow them to weather the storm, they should avoid such statements, and otherwise try not to convey inconsistent messaging to employees about a firm’s response to COVID-19.

As we all know, these are trying times, and law firm managers have extremely difficult choices to make. We should all have respect for firm administrators who need to make painful decisions about cutting staff and lowering salaries so firms can weather the storm of COVID-19. However, there are a few steps that law firm mangers can take to ensure that COVID-19 austerity rollouts are easier on employees.

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

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