Layoff planning checklist: the 60 days before

1. Write down the business reason. In plain words, before anyone is selected. The same reason will be used with every audience.
2. Look for other roles first. Before anything is final, check whether anyone affected could move into an open position elsewhere in the organization.
3. Agree on the selection criteria. Decide how roles will be chosen, document it, and apply it the same way everywhere. Settle the criteria before the names.
4. Have counsel review the selections. Before anything is final, ask employment counsel to check whether the selections fall unevenly on any protected group, such as by age, race or sex.
5. Check which notice laws apply. The federal WARN Act generally covers employers with 100 or more employees and requires 60 days' written notice of a covered plant closing or mass layoff. Several states go further. For covered layoffs, New York and New Jersey require 90 days, and New Jersey also requires severance of one week of pay for each year of service. California has its own rules, too: see our California WARN Act guide.
6. Set the dates, then work backward. The day people will be told, their last day, and every deadline in between. Where WARN applies, the written notice must reach people 60 or 90 days before their last day. Tell them in a conversation first, with the notice in hand, never by letter alone.
7. Check union obligations. If any employees are represented by a union, involve labor counsel early. There may be notice and bargaining obligations.
8. Keep the planning group small. Agree on who knows, and what they can share. Watch for system changes, payroll requests and IT tickets that could reveal names early. People should never learn about their own layoff from a leak.
9. Set the budget for people, not just positions. Severance, benefits and support for each person leaving.

1. Draft the severance terms. If the agreement releases age discrimination claims in a group layoff, employees 40 and older must get at least 45 days to consider it and 7 days to change their mind. They must also receive written information about the group considered, the job titles and ages of those selected, and the ages of those in the same group who were not.
2. Confirm final pay rules. Deadlines vary by state. In California, for example, final wages are due immediately when an employee is let go. Confirm what happens to earned commissions, bonuses, unused vacation and any equity.
3. Prepare benefits information. Know the exact date each person's health coverage ends. Prepare COBRA and any state continuation information, retirement plan details and anything else that ends or changes.
4. Gather state notices and unemployment information. Many states require specific forms at separation.
5. Plan for employees on work visas. An H-1B employer must notify U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and offer the reasonable cost of return transportation. The person may have no more than 60 days to find a new sponsor or change status. Bring in immigration counsel early, so each person knows their options on the day.
6. Plan for employees on leave. Anyone on medical, family or disability leave needs careful handling. Review each situation with counsel, and plan how and when they will be told.
7. Choose the support for the people leaving. Decide who will support each person, and make sure it can start the same day. Our guide on what outplacement costs and how to choose a provider can help.
8. Draft the WARN notices, where they apply, and have counsel review them.

1. Write one core message. The same reason for the people leaving, the team that stays, customers and the press. If AI is part of the reason, see our guide on communicating a layoff when AI is the reason.
2. Prepare every manager who will deliver the news. Give them the facts, time to practice, and answers to the questions they will be asked. Our guide on how to prepare for a layoff conversation walks through it.
3. Build the schedule. Who tells whom, where and when. Respect time zones, and avoid the day before a holiday or a weekend where you can.
4. Plan for remote employees. A live video call, never email alone, with documents ready to send the same day.
5. Time the access changes. Systems change after each conversation, never before or during it.
6. Plan belongings and equipment with dignity. A choice to pack up now, come back at a quieter time, or have items shipped.
7. Plan for the team that stays. What they will hear that day, from whom, and what happens in the weeks after. See our guide to the team that stays.

1. Rehearse. Managers practice their key points out loud. HR walks through the schedule from start to finish.
2. Finish each person's packet. The letter, final pay details, severance agreement, benefits information and state notices.
3. Confirm support for the first hour. Each person should know who to talk to, and be contacted that same day.
4. Think about each person. Long service, a new hire, a known hardship, an interpreter or an accessible format. Ask what each one will need on the day, beyond the paperwork.
5. Align HR, IT and leadership. Everyone knows their role, the timing, and who to call when something goes wrong.
6. Support the people delivering the news. Managers carry this too. Make sure they have someone to talk to, before and after.

For the day itself, see our guides on the layoff conversation and letting one employee go.

• Choosing names before agreeing on the reason and the criteria.
• Discovering a WARN obligation after the dates are set.
• A leak, so people hear rumors before they hear from you.
• Forgetting the people who are remote, on leave or on a work visa.
• Sending managers in with a memo instead of preparation.
• Cutting off access before the conversation happens.
• No plan for the team that stays.
• Support for the people leaving that starts days or weeks later.