HR Besties: When Layoffs are the new normal: shifting trends and culture
HR BESTIES
HR Besties LLC
4.8 • 586 Ratings
🗓️ 12 November 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's agenda:
- Remember the good ole days?
- Cringe corporate speak: come to Jesus
- Hot topic: all things layoffs: what we're hearing in the news, current trends, best practices and advice to employers and job seekers
- The latest on layoffs and unemployment in the United States
- How does AI play a role?
- Do organizations have an obligation to hire and retain talent?
- Learning how to navigate difficult times from past recessions
- Layoffs should never be an employer's go to solution
- Questions/Comments
Your To-Do List: Grab merch, submit Questions & Comments, and make sure that you're the first to know about our In-Person Meetings (events!) at https://www.hrbesties.com.
Follow your Besties across the socials and check out our resumes here: https://www.hrbesties.com/about.
Subscribe to the HR Besties Newsletter - https://hr-besties.beehiiv.com/subscribe
We look forward to seeing you in our next meeting - don't worry, we'll have a hard stop!
Yours in Business + Bullsh*t,
Leigh, Jamie & Ashley
Follow Bestie Leigh!
https://www.tiktok.com/@hrmanifesto
https://www.instagram.com/hrmanifesto
https://www.hrmanifesto.com
Follow Bestie Ashley!
https://www.tiktok.com/@managermethod
https://www.instagram.com/managermethod
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherd/
https://managermethod.com
Follow Bestie Jamie!
https://www.millennialmisery.com/
Humorous Resources: Instagram • YouTube • Threads • Facebook • X
Millennial Misery: Instagram • Threads • Facebook • X
Horrendous HR: Instagram • Threads • Facebook
Tune in to "HR Besties," a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you're in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You know, back in the day, we used to lay people off in person. |
| 0:11.0 | Like there used to be a ton of planning. |
| 0:15.8 | Number one, to decide who would be laid off. |
| 0:19.1 | Spreadsheets upon spreadsheets, formulas, you name it, right? |
| 0:23.6 | Massive, massive process. And then there would be lots of planning on how we would do the layoffs. |
| 0:31.6 | Then there would be lots of coordination on who is in the meetings with employees and a whole schedule for it, |
| 0:41.2 | right, depending on the size of the layoffs. |
| 0:43.3 | Then there would be all of this planning and documentation creation of like packets |
| 0:50.6 | for the layoffs, right? |
| 0:51.8 | I mean, we would have third parties that would help without placement services, |
| 0:56.4 | and we would, you know, have all of these documents printed, and, I mean, you name it, right, |
| 1:01.9 | just these folders for layoffs. And then, you know, there'd be multiple people in the room |
| 1:08.1 | and a special place that you would hold that layoff meeting and you |
| 1:13.1 | would have ample time to have that layoff and it was a massive undertaking. It really, really was. |
| 1:21.2 | And it still sucked even with all of that undertaking. It was just horrible for people. |
| 1:25.6 | Oh, yeah. And you would still cry. I've cried with |
| 1:29.5 | people in the layoff meetings. But the point is, is that there was just a lot of planning, right? |
| 1:36.0 | And there was a lot of, I would say, respect in the process as much as you could possibly do when it is done right, right? I've seen that. I've |
| 1:46.0 | seen best practices and layoffs, which is something absolutely nobody wants to do. All right, |
| 1:52.9 | back in the day, nobody wanted to do those, right? In fact, this one time I had a colleague of mine |
| 1:59.3 | reach out to me and ask, hey, you are in region for one |
| 2:04.8 | of our employees that is on the layoff list. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from HR Besties LLC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of HR Besties LLC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.