Why some companies are failing the 'humanity' test with virtual layoffs

Terry Compton's 24 years at a Toronto university's English as a second language program ended with a four-minute Zoom call in March 2020.

She said her director's camera was off and a "second-in-command" informed her and her colleagues that they had been permanently laid off because of the impact of COVID-19.

"It felt inhuman and cruel," she told Cross Country Checkup.

Compton said the chat function in the meeting was off and no followup questions were allowed.

"To add insult to injury, the next day we all received emails inviting us to the yearly instructor appreciation party. I guess the other departments hadn't been told that we were leaving."

Vass Bednar, the executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy in digital society program, said the etiquette of virtual layoffs is evolving. "We don't have norms yet," Bednar said. "And this is a good opportunity to set them."

While some employers are calling for employees to return to offices following the pandemic, recent research from the U.S. nonprofit National Bureau of Economic Research indicates job postings for new employees in Canada mentioning one or more days of remote work increased "by a factor of five or more" between 2019 and 2023.

Most Canadians who have tried remote work want it to remain an option. A survey published last year by the Environics Institute for Survey Research noted the proportion of respondents who preferred working from home to the office increased between 2020 and 2022. 

But career coach Sarah Vermunt said it's important to keep in mind "if you're working fully remotely — if you're getting hired via Zoom — you're going to get fired via Zoom."

Stories of mass virtual layoffs like Compton's became notorious during the pandemic, especially in 2021 after Better.com CEO Vishal Garg laid off hundreds of employees in a Zoom webinar.

Vermunt said Garg erred by delivering the news in a way that focused on how it impacted him rather than its impact on employees. 

Another example in 2022 saw reports of online used car retailer Carvana disconnecting employees from work apps like Slack before sending out an invitation to a Zoom meeting where workers got confirmation if their job had been cut.

"I think the reason why people are having such a hard time with it right now and there's been so many reports of negative incidents is because people, for the most part, don't know how to do it with kindness and humanity yet," Vermunt said of online layoffs. 

"It's still a bit clunky."