Collaboration in the Age of Layoffs
Layoff cycles don't just shrink headcount. They change how the people who stay behave. Teams get more guarded. Credit-seeking replaces problem-solving. Information gets hoarded instead of shared. None of this is irrational; it's a reasonable response to uncertainty. But it quietly kills collaboration.
And this isn't a niche concern. U.S. tech companies alone have cut more than 167,000 jobs so far in 2026, already on pace to approach the record levels seen in 2023. Most managers today are leading teams that have been through this at least once.
The cost shows up in the numbers, too. In the Leadership IQ study of over 4,000 layoff survivors, 74% said their own productivity had declined since the layoff. But employees who rated their manager high on visibility, approachability, and candor were 72% less likely to report that decline.
The good news: managers have more leverage here than they think.
1. Over-communicate the "why." Silence gets filled with worst-case assumptions. Explain the reasoning behind decisions, even hard ones, before people have to guess.
2. Make decisions visible. When trade-offs are made in the open, people spend less energy trying to read between the lines or protect themselves from hidden motives.
3. Give credit publicly and specifically. Naming who did what, in front of others, reduces the incentive for people to hedge, over-loop, or quietly compete for visibility.
4. Shrink the gap between check-ins. Frequent, small updates are easier to sit with than long silences followed by big announcements. Predictability lowers anxiety even when the news itself is uncertain.
5. Reward asking for help. If admitting a mistake or asking a question ever seems to cost someone standing, people stop doing it and information stops flowing right when you need it most.
6. Don't oversell reassurance you can't back up. False certainty erodes trust faster than honest uncertainty. If you don't know, say so and say what you do know.
The teams that hold together aren't the ones with no fear.
They're the ones where leaders make it safe enough to keep working honestly despite the fear.
sources: LayoffHedge, Tech Layoffs 2026 Tracker (data as of July 23, 2026),Leadership IQ, survey of 4,172 layoff survivors across 318 companies, cited in "Don't Expect Layoff Survivors to Be Grateful"