The Long Goodbye: Why Laid-Off Employees Are Still on the Job

Chris Pinner, a 42-year-old technical writer in Cleveland, knows his last day on the job is Dec. 29. The software company where he works told him so back in April.

At first, Pinner was puzzled by the supersize notice that his job would be eliminated. But the advance warning has given him more time to look for a new position, which Pinner said he appreciates. He is still in job-search mode as his end date draws closer.

Pinner and many other workers facing termination are experiencing a different kind of corporate cutting—layoffs with a long runway that can take weeks or months to finally come to pass. Wells Fargo and Disney are among large employers that have done some long goodbyes instead of more-traditional, abrupt ones, in which laid-off workers learn they are cut and leave on the same day, often escorted out by security.

The old way protected companies from security problems or lost clients as laid-off workers walked out the door, and workers had little recourse. Now employers are trying to appear transparent and compassionate when cutting, several executives and leadership consultants said.

“Companies can’t lay people off on the quiet anymore,” said Sarah Rodehorst, chief executive of Onwards HR, a software platform that helps companies with legal compliance during employee terminations. “Whatever they do is much more under a microscope. They have to hold themselves to a higher standard.”

Avoiding a backlash

Demand for white-collar workers has taken a big hit this year, as companies acknowledge they over hired during the pandemic and job openings dry up. The tightening job market means employers are piling on layers of new requirements and lengthy, additional rounds of interviews for a few coveted jobs, dragging out the hiring process as they grow more selective about whom they bring on.

Layoffs that are seen as insensitively done can spark backlash on social media, with laid-off employees venting online and circulating internal details, said George Penn, a managing vice president at Gartner who advises companies on staff restructuring.

“Layoffs became not only a legal but a reputational nightmare for some organizations,” he said.

Federal law requires employers of a certain size to give 60 days’ notice to workers when conducting big layoffs. Some companies have gotten around advance warning by paying terminated workers a lump sum to cover that period.

Some affected employees said they would still receive severance pay after their long layoff notice periods, though it would be reduced if they left before their designated end dates.

In the Houston area, James Ridgway Jr., 40, is working at Huntsman, a chemical company, after learning in August that he would lose his job at the end of the year. The father of two children with another on the way said the news was initially an “existential gut punch.” He said the long lead time has given him more time to network and tighten family finances.

“It’s not a great place to be in, but I appreciate that I do have that runway,” said Ridgway, adding that the notice is helping him as he hands off responsibilities to co-workers.

Ridgway, a communications manager, is still looking for another full-time job. Because his colleagues know he is job-hunting, ducking out for interviews is less awkward than feigning doctors’ appointments, he said.

Wade Rogers, Huntsman’s senior vice president of global human resources, said giving laid-off employees months of notice shows remaining and prospective workers that the company treats its people well. That approach, he said, could help the company recruit and retain good hires in the future.

“How we handle ourselves and how we handle our relationships with our associates matters,” he said.

‘Take every advantage’

Not all workers want to stick around after a layoff. A Wells Fargo employee said staying motivated after being terminated was tough. She was told months ago that her job would be eliminated. No precise date was given, making it hard to plan her job search.

“Every day, you go in, and you’re like, is it going to be today?” she said.

Wells Fargo said it periodically needs to adjust its staffing levels according to business needs. During layoffs, “We always treat our employees respectfully, including giving them reasonable time to prepare,” the bank said.

At Disney, a former corporate employee who was given several months’ notice this past spring said she was annoyed that she was expected to keep doing her job even though it was ending, until her manager said she could stay home and stop working. Two other Disney employees said they weren’t asked to work during their advance-notice period; they used the time to consider next career steps.

Earlier this year, a laid-off Disney marketing executive was given two months’ notice of his layoff. While he collected paychecks, he used the time to job-hunt and made use of his employee benefits. He took his children to Disneyland free several times.

“I am going to take every advantage of this as possible,” the former executive recalled thinking.

Disney declined to comment.

Some companies simply can’t give employees much warning, but some of those are trying to soften the blow.

“If you’re dealing in an environment where you have confidential patents or access to business plans, you just want to protect your company assets,” said Tashia Mallette, a longtime human-resources executive who conducted layoffs last year at Therabody, a wellness-technology company.

Mallette said that workers were notified on the day they had to leave but that Therabody encouraged managers to check on them and created an alumni Slack channel so people didn’t feel abruptly cut off. Mallette herself has left the company.

Companies don’t want workers to feel burned during a layoff. If anything, they want workers to feel that they would rejoin the company if given the chance.

Jennifer Bender managed layoffs of hundreds of people during her years at Change Healthcare, where until this past spring she was a senior vice president of human resources. The company had to trim staff during acquisitions and project and client fluctuations, and it also had to fill hundreds of openings a month, she said.

The company decided to tell people two to four weeks ahead of their layoff dates, she said. It felt more compassionate to workers, and it also made it easier to redeploy some people into other roles the company needed to fill, which was a benefit to the company and employees who were interested in staying on.

While longer notice periods involve risks, including security issues or unmotivated people who don’t want to work during that time, Bender said the company let employees know that performance issues could still result in corrective action, including termination for cause. That meant, she added, that it wasn’t much of an issue.

“It’s really a best practice at this point,” Bender said.

—Ben Eisen contributed to this article.

The Australian sharemarket rose during four of five sessions in the week ending 30 October, but the headline gain concealed a sharp divide between recovering miners, rate-sensitive property stocks and retailers hit by inflation and weaker trading updates.

The Australian sharemarket finished October with a positive week, although the route higher was anything but uniform.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed Friday 30 October at 8,908.1, gaining 112.9 points, or 1.28 per cent, from the previous Friday’s close of 8,795.2.

The All Ordinaries advanced 1.34 per cent to 9,025, while the more concentrated S&P/ASX 20 gained 1.11 per cent.

The benchmark rose during four of the week’s five sessions. It added 0.17 per cent on Monday and 0.46 per cent on Tuesday, before slipping 0.03 per cent on Wednesday. It recovered 0.50 per cent on Thursday and gained another 0.18 per cent on Friday.

The index briefly reached 8,933.3 but again failed to establish itself above the psychologically important 9,000-point mark.

The week’s central tension was between a resources recovery and a less forgiving domestic interest-rate outlook.

Materials gained 4.06 per cent, reclaiming part of the previous week’s heavy fall. Australian real estate investment trusts rose 3.77 per cent, financials gained 1.05 per cent and energy advanced 1.39 per cent.

At the other end of the market, consumer staples fell 5.13 per cent and consumer discretionary shares lost 2.35 per cent. Utilities declined 0.73 per cent and communication services eased 0.68 per cent.

Inflation changes the conversation

Australia’s September inflation data was the week’s pivotal domestic release.

Annual inflation of 4.3 per cent pushed market pricing towards another possible Reserve Bank increase and disrupted Wednesday’s early sharemarket rally.

By Thursday’s close, one widely followed market measure placed the probability of an increase in the cash rate to 4.85 per cent at approximately 80 per cent.

That pricing does not make an increase certain. It does, however, change the framework through which investors assess Australian businesses.

Companies dependent on discretionary household spending face renewed pressure on sales and margins. Property trusts, banks, developers and highly leveraged companies must be considered against the prospect of higher funding costs.

Banks present a more complicated equation. Higher rates can support margins, but they may also slow credit growth and increase arrears.

Miners recover

BHP gained 4.56 per cent across the week to close at $57.56, making a substantial contribution to the benchmark’s rise.

The recovery followed an 8.3 per cent fall during the previous week and helped lift the broader materials sector.

Northern Star Resources added 4.59 per cent, while Goodman Group advanced 6.85 per cent to become the strongest performer in the ASX 20.

The commodities picture was mixed. Gold fell approximately 3.12 per cent on the cited weekly measure, while Brent crude added around 0.68 per cent.

The Australian dollar was little changed at approximately US70.35 cents at the reference point.

Supermarkets and consumer shares retreat

The consumer-staples story was markedly weaker.

Coles fell 11.77 per cent after its first-quarter update, making it one of the largest significant-company declines of the week.

Woolworths lost 3.66 per cent and Wesfarmers fell 4.48 per cent to $76.69 as investors processed company trading commentary against the prospect of another squeeze on household demand.

The moves illustrate how quickly expectations can change when an apparently defensive company disappoints.

Supermarkets still benefit from the recurring need for groceries, but customers can trade down, shift between chains and reduce spending on higher-margin discretionary lines.

Wesfarmers carries exposure to several consumer categories through businesses including Bunnings, Kmart and Officeworks. A renewed rate increase would place more pressure on households already confronting higher prices.

The wider market’s biggest movements

Among companies outside the ASX 20, Mesoblast surged 27.32 per cent, SiteMinder gained 22.74 per cent and Zip rose 22.60 per cent.

The sharpest weekly falls included 4DMedical, down 33.51 per cent; Tuas, down 29.95 per cent; Catalyst Metals, down 17.47 per cent; and Champion Iron, down 13.35 per cent.

Those percentages require context.

The movements in BHP, Commonwealth Bank and other very large companies had substantially more influence on the index than similarly dramatic changes among smaller companies.

A 20 per cent move in a relatively small stock may attract more attention than a two per cent rise in a major bank, but the bank can have the greater effect on the market.

How the ASX 20 moved

The following list uses the S&P/ASX 20 constituents and five-session movements reported at the 30 October close.

Where the component feed did not publish a valid five-day comparison, no figure has been estimated.

BHP Group: Up 4.56 per cent

Commonwealth Bank: Up 1.66 per cent

Rio Tinto: Down 2.20 per cent

National Australia Bank: Up 0.48 per cent

Westpac: Up 0.08 per cent

ANZ Group: Up 1.92 per cent

CSL: Up 2.05 per cent

Macquarie Group: Up 2.19 per cent

Wesfarmers: Down 4.48 per cent

Woodside Energy: Up 1.43 per cent

Goodman Group: Up 6.85 per cent

Telstra: Five-day comparison unavailable from the cited component feed

Woolworths: Down 3.66 per cent

Fortescue: Five-day comparison unavailable from the cited component feed

Transurban: Down 2.40 per cent

QBE Insurance: Down 1.21 per cent

Aristocrat Leisure: Up 0.63 per cent

Northern Star Resources: Up 4.59 per cent

Sigma Healthcare: Down 0.36 per cent

Brambles: Down 1.20 per cent

The companies dominating the conversation

Coles was the week’s standout media-facing company for the wrong reason.

Its trading update produced an outsized repricing and drew attention across the grocery and retail sectors. Woolworths and Wesfarmers were also scrutinised as investors considered how stubborn inflation and another possible rate rise could affect sales volumes.

Bank of Queensland offered a more positive corporate signal.

The bank reported that its FY26 net interest margin had risen six basis points to 1.70 per cent, ahead of the 1.68 per cent expected by the market according to contemporaneous reporting.

Bank of Queensland shares rose 5.8 per cent on Thursday, while the major banks also rallied.

Endeavour Group finished Friday at $3.39, up 4.31 per cent on the day, and released the results of its annual general meeting.

The movement was notable during a week in which investors were highly sensitive to consumer-facing companies. The AGM result should not, however, be presented as the sole cause of the share-price increase without further supporting company guidance.

Mesoblast’s 23.4 per cent Thursday rise and 27.32 per cent weekly gain returned the biotechnology company to the centre of market attention.

For editors, it is important to separate the size of that percentage movement from its influence on the index. Mesoblast was an eye-catching performer, but it did not drive the ASX 200 in the way BHP or Commonwealth Bank did.

Qantas remained part of the broader market conversation as investors watched travel demand and company updates.

However, the primary-source review did not locate a fresh Qantas announcement that justified attributing a major weekly market movement to new company information. The airline should therefore remain on the monitoring list rather than being forced into the week’s causal narrative.

Is Australia’s IPO market reopening?

The official ASX new-listings pipeline remains active but selective.

ASX’s upcoming-floats page included formal applications with offer timetables extending through October and at least one anticipated listing on 30 November.

The exchange notes that its page covers companies for which a formal listing application has been received. It does not represent every company privately exploring a float.

The wider debate concerns whether Australia’s public market is sufficiently competitive when high-growth businesses can pursue capital in the United States or remain privately funded for longer.

ASX has previously raised possible reforms designed to improve the attractiveness of the local market. These include debate about reducing minimum free-float requirements and streamlining aspects of the admissions process.

An enhanced fast-track pathway for qualifying applicants can shorten the review process, reducing the execution risk created when market conditions change during a long IPO timetable.

That does not remove the more fundamental challenge.

New floats still require credible earnings or a convincing growth pathway, sensible pricing and enough genuine free float to support trading after listing.

Investors can already obtain diversified exposure through low-cost exchange-traded funds or buy established, liquid businesses. A float must therefore offer more than novelty.

The current pipeline suggests that the IPO window is open, but it is not indiscriminate.

What investors will watch next

The Reserve Bank’s next decision now sits at the centre of the domestic outlook.

Any change in cash-rate expectations will flow rapidly through banks, retailers, property trusts, listed developers and companies carrying substantial debt.

Investors will also watch whether the materials recovery can continue, whether BHP can hold its rebound and whether consumer companies provide further evidence of slowing demand.

Overseas, technology-sector volatility, commodity prices and the United States interest-rate outlook will continue to shape Australian trading.

The week’s 1.28 per cent headline gain was encouraging, but it was not a broad declaration of confidence.

It was a rotation towards miners, selected financials and property securities—and away from consumer businesses facing a more difficult inflation and interest-rate equation.

Market dashboard

S&P/ASX 200: 8,908.1, up 1.28 per cent for the week

All Ordinaries: 9,025, up 1.34 per cent

S&P/ASX 20: 5,214.7, up 1.11 per cent over five sessions

Best sector: Materials, up 4.06 per cent

Next-best sector: A-REITs, up 3.77 per cent

Weakest sector: Consumer staples, down 5.13 per cent

Major large-cap winner: Goodman Group, up 6.85 per cent

Major large-cap loser: Coles, down 11.77 per cent

AUD/USD: Approximately US70.35 cents at the weekly reference point

Gold: Approximately US$3,885 an ounce, down 3.12 per cent on the cited weekly measure

Brent crude: Approximately US$117.70 a barrel, up 0.68 per cent on the cited weekly measure