The 5 Don’ts for Layoff Memos: Lessons from Southwest Airlines
CEO Bob Jordan’s memo wasn’t bad. It could have been better
Facing an activist shareholder that wanted him fired, Southwest Airlines’ CEO Bob Jordan turned to layoffs, a move that his beloved predecessor once said would “kill” the company’s culture.
Jordan told employees last week he was letting go 1,750 headquarters workers. His message didn’t rise to the challenge posed by the first involuntary layoffs in the 53-year history of Southwest, co-founded by legendary executive Herb Kelleher.
Jordan’s memo message wasn’t bad, as these things go, but it wasn’t as good as it could have been. It does illustrate a few rules that we call, “The 5 Don’ts for Layoff Memos.”
The number of people let go may seem small, just 2.4% of Southwest’s 72,450 employees. But it cuts to the core of the company’s unique culture.
“The thing that would disturb me most to see after I’m no longer CEO is layoffs at Southwest,” Kelleher told Fortune in 2001, after he announced he was stepping down. “Nothing kills your company’s culture like layoffs.”
He didn’t live to see the day. He stayed on as chairman until 2008 and died in 2019.
Before we turn to the layoff memo, a bit of background is necessary.
Angry investor
Employees may not have been too surprised by the layoffs. Elliott Investment Management, a shake-things-up investor, in June 2024 launched its campaign to replace the board and fire Jordan.
Costs have “ballooned” under Jordan, a Southwest veteran who became CEO in 2022.
Elliott is led by Paul Singer, whose best-known deal is a 15-year legal battle with the government of Argentina over defaulted bonds. The fight ended in 2016 with a $2.4 billion payout.
The fight with the existing Southwest board became increasingly bitter. In September, Jordan proposed his own turnaround plan, which hinted at layoffs. Elliott ripped it apart and attacked Jordan.
Elliott called for a special election of Southwest’s directors to force out Jordan and other incumbents.
Southwest’s existing board avoided a contested shareholder vote on Oct. 23, 2024, agreeing to give Elliott six spots on what would be a reduced 13-member board.
The next day, Jordan was asked if the company would be “more aggressive” about reducing its headcount during a call with stock analysts.
“We’ll have a lot more for you as we progress our way through the cost initiative,” he said.
As part of the deal with Elliott, Jordan is keeping his job. But for how long?
In his layoff memo, Jordan didn’t address the uncertainty created by the well-publicized board fight.
Against that background, we turn to “The 5 Don’ts.” Jordan breaks some of the rules and holds true to others.
1. Don’t bury the news. The memo starts with a euphemistic headline that could apply to any major change in operations. Then it uses the first 140 words to repeat background about the September business plan.
Message from Southwest President & CEO Bob Jordan to Employees: Transforming the Way We Work
We are at a pivotal moment as we carry out our three-year business plan to transform Southwest Airlines. Our transformational plan is the largest and most comprehensive in our 53-year history, and it focuses on three simple but powerful objectives. First, boost revenues and loyalty by offering our Customers the experience they want; second, maximize efficiencies and minimize costs; and third, make the most of our investments.
As we continue to work together to transform our Company, an area of intense focus will be maximizing efficiencies and minimizing costs. We must ensure we fund the right work, reduce duplicative efforts, and have a lean organizational structure that drives clarity, pace, and urgency. Improving how we work together and how we get work done has a tremendous impact on our efficiency as a Company and how we deliver against our plan.
We have made the very tough decision to move forward with a reduction in our workforce, focused almost entirely on Corporate and Leadership positions. This reduction affects approximately 1,750 Employee roles, or 15% of Corporate positions. Separations do not begin until late April. Until then, most Employees who are notified of their displacement will not work but will continue to receive their salary, benefits, and bonus, if eligible.
Employees’ first questions are always: How many people are being let go? Where do they work? Southwest deserves credit for answering these questions even if it takes too long to get there.
The delay getting to the news isn’t nearly as bad as some layoff memos, such as Elon Musk’s message to federal employees.
Southwest’s communications team knows how to be direct. Compare the memo’s roundabout route with the company’s news release:
Southwest Airlines Announces Reduction in Corporate Overhead Workforce
Airline implements workforce reduction in corporate and leadership roles
DALLAS—Feb. 17, 2025—Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) (the “Company”) today announced a reduction in its workforce to create a leaner and more agile organization as part of the airline’s transformational plan.
The workforce reduction of approximately 1,750 Employee roles is focused almost entirely on corporate overhead and leadership positions and represents approximately 15% of corporate positions, including senior leadership and directors. Eleven senior leadership positions (Vice President and above), also representing 15% of the Company’s senior management committee, will be eliminated as part of this restructuring. Separations will be substantially complete by the end of second quarter 2025.
Southwest’s employees deserve the same direct treatment the company gives reporters.
2. Don’t tell employees less than you tell the public. The Southwest press release contains information not included in Jordan’s memo: the planned savings from the move and that 11 senior leaders are included. Instead, give the employees all the information in one place.
Senior leaders may think employees aren’t interested in the public disclosures. They are. Even if they don’t read the public filings, they’ll get some version of the information through the office grapevine.
Employees should be given all the information the public gets, plus more.
3. Don’t wallow in self-pity. The layoffs were a “very tough decision,” Jordan writes.
He elaborates, “This is a very difficult and monumental shift, and I arrived at this decision after careful and thorough reflection, knowing how hard it will be to say goodbye to Cohearts who have been a significant part of our Culture and our accomplishments.”
“This will be hard,” he adds. “This was an extremely difficult decision.”
I have no doubt the decision was wrenching, but the CEO’s feelings are hardly the main point here. Jordan mentions his difficulty six times in a 501-word memo. Once is enough.
While Jordan was feeling sorry for himself, he shrugged off responsibility for the job cuts, saying that “with the best of intentions” the corporate staff grew too large.
4. Don’t use cute names for employees. Southwest has marketed itself with red hearts and called its employees “cohearts” probably for decades. It’s part of an effort to portray itself as the airline that loves to fly with a culture of caring for its workers. The company’s ticker symbol is LUV.
But Jordan calling the dismissed employees “cohearts” rings hollow. Southwest isn’t showing them any love and they probably aren’t feeling very affectionate toward the company.
Jordan isn’t the only CEO to use a pet name for workers when announcing layoffs. In 2023, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai addressed his layoff email to Googlers. People losing their jobs is too serious for such whimsy.
5. Don’t blame those you’re laying off. Jordan didn’t break this rule, acknowledging the contributions of the dismissed employees.
But Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg did. In January, when he announced plans to cut 5% of the workforce, he wrote to employees, “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” according to Bloomberg.
That same month, Microsoft began planning large-scale job cuts targeting so-called underperforming employees, Business Insider reported, although we don’t know what employees have been told.
Perhaps this tactic is intended to motivate the remaining employees by instilling a fear of losing their jobs. Instead, it’ll likely create distrust. Many remaining workers are apt to sympathize with their former colleagues.
Some of those laid-off Meta workers have defended themselves on social media, tarnishing the company’s image a bit, Fast Company reports.
What Jordan didn’t do is acknowledge the uncertainty that many Southwest employees have been feeling during this long boardroom battle with Elliott Investment. Employees want to know that their leader understands their worries about the business and their roles in it. Then the leader can present a plan to overcome the current difficulties.
What Herb said
Perhaps there won’t be another round of layoffs at Southwest and this chapter will be remembered as an exception. In the Fortune interview, Kelleher said unpaid furloughs, which are common in the airline industry during downturns, are shortsighted.
“You want to show your people that you value them and you’re not going to hurt them just to get a little more money in the short term,” he said. “Not furloughing people breeds loyalty.”
Tom Corfman thinks CEOs need help writing. Sometimes especially CEOs. He is a senior consultant with Ragan Consulting Group, where he directs the Build Better Writers program.
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