More than one in four (25.2%) companies have still not recovered their workplace culture from their most recent layoff, and some HR leaders believe theirs never will.
That’s according to new research from global workforce solutions firm Careerminds, which surveyed 600 full-time HR leaders who led or were directly involved in layoffs in the past 24 months. The study found that 25.2% said their company’s culture has not yet recovered from it’s most recent layoff. Even among the companies that have bounced back, the average return to pre-layoff culture took 7.2 months.
Key findings include:
- One in four HR leaders (25.2%) say their company’s culture has not fully recovered from its most recent layoff.
- Among companies whose culture has fully recovered, the average return to pre-layoff culture took 7.2 months.
- Trust in senior leadership fell 18.4% post-layoff and remains 10.3% below pre-layoff levels months later.
- Team rebuilding events were tied to 22.1% faster recovery, yet only 11.8% of companies implemented them.
“It’s common for organizations to focus their support on employees who are leaving, offering resources such as outplacement services, severance packages, and references to help ease the transition,” Amanda Augustine, Certified Professional Career Coach and resident career expert for Careerminds, said in a statement. “While these are important investments, they only address one side of the equation. Layoffs also take a toll on the employees who remain. They’ve just watched colleagues lose their jobs, and many are left questioning the organization’s decisions and feeling less confident about their own future with the company.
“Our research suggests that the strategies most closely associated with faster culture recovery are the ones that send a clear message that the organization is still investing in its people,” she added. “Initiatives such as team-building activities, upskilling opportunities, and career development programs can help rebuild trust, strengthen morale, and reassure employees that they’re valued and supported.”
Most companies recover within a year, but a significant number don’t
40.2% of HR leaders said their company’s culture recovered within six months, and 58.5% said recovery was complete within 12 months. Yet a quarter of companies (25.2%) have still not fully recovered, and of those, 4.7% believe their culture will never return to the way it was before the cuts.
Trust falls hardest at the top of the organization
The research measured trust across three dimensions: trust in senior leadership, trust in direct managers, and confidence in the company’s future. Senior leadership trust falls by 18.4% immediately after a layoff and remains 10.3% below pre-layoff levels months later. Confidence in the company’s future fell the most (19.1%) because of layoffs and is the slowest to recover. Direct manager trust, by contrast, fell less (14.7%) and has rebounded more so than other parameters, suggesting that managers are most impactful at rebuilding culture after a workforce reduction.
The most effective tactics for culture recovery are the least adopted
Several strategies tied to meaningfully faster recovery are used by fewer than one in eight HR teams. Team rebuilding events (22.1% faster recovery, 11.8% adoption), refreshed company values statements (20.2% faster, 11.8% adoption), boomerang rehire commitments (18.6% faster, 11.7% adoption), board-level acknowledgments of cultural impact (17.5% faster, 6.3% adoption), and public no-layoff commitments (12.8% faster, 8.3% adoption) all showed strong effect with limited use.
Photo credit: magnific/Freepik
Sign in to get access to this free resource, and all of our whitepapers and reports.
Download this content today!
Register Now Already registered? Click here to Log In
Tags: culture, Human Resources, job cuts, layoffs, Payroll
