Slack Hunger Games memorial for the fallen

Last week was rough. On Tuesday, around a thousand of my coworkers and a third of my direct team were laid off in the course of ten minutes. Many people didn’t realize they had been laid off until they were automatically logged out of applications on their work computers.

As a leader, laying off is never easy. I will say the leadership at my company delivered the news as best they could and didn’t say anything unhinged or out of touch. Also, the severance packages and support colleagues have offered each other are cool.

Reflecting on the events of last week, I was astounded at how hard it was initially to figure out who had “survived” the layoffs. Even at the end of last week, I was finding out about people who were no longer at the company.

This reminded me of the movie Hunger Games. During the day, a cannon sounds off when someone is eliminated. In the evening, a projection of “The Fallen” illuminates the sky so contestants can see who’s left.

This got me wondering… What if we pulled this into Slack? At the end of the day when layoffs occur, you could run a slideshow memorializing your forgotten coworkers. This is a depressing concept, but at the same time, it might be a better homage to those who are gone.

This concept is a video so to watch it go to any of my social media feeds.

Have a friend who recently got laid off? Send them this newsletter.

https://sorens.beehiiv.com/