Communication Breakdown20 Nov 2025

50 Ways to Botch Your Layoffs

In this episode of Communication Breakdown, Steve Dowling and Craig Carroll break down two corporate communication failures shaping headlines this week. First, they explore the Wall Street Journal’s catalog of mass-layoff missteps, analyzing why companies keep choosing speed over dignity and how media coverage is normalizing inhumane practices. Then they turn to Marriott’s collapsed partnership with Sonder, where guests were evicted mid-stay with little warning. Steve and Craig examine how a breakdown in partner communication became a direct reputational hit to Marriott and what it reveals about the CPR triangle of claims, perceptions, and reality. For PR and communications pros, the episode offers a clear look at how operational failures become communication crises when empathy and continuity disappear.

Takeaways

Mass emails and glitchy digital notifications turn layoffs into dignity failures, eroding internal trust long after the cuts.
Companies misread cautionary tales as permission structures.
Telegraphing layoffs creates prolonged fear, productivity collapse, and early attrition of top performers.

Topics Mentioned
layoff communications, digital notifications, employee dignity, internal trust, media normalization, trend reporting, telegraphing layoffs, employee anxiety, rumor dynamics, partnership risk, customer continuity, CPR triangle, hospitality communications, brand liability, crisis amplification, operational incompatibility, integration risks, narrative control

Companies Mentioned
Amazon, Target, Southwest Airlines, Marriott, Sonder, Bloomberg

Episode Hashtags
#Amazon #Target #SouthwestAirlines #Marriott #Sonder #Bloomberg #CorporateCommunications #CrisisComms #InternalComms #ReputationManagement #Layoffs #Leadership #BrandTrust #HospitalityIndustry #StrategicComms #PublicRelations #ShawnPNeal #AdvoCast #OCRNetwork

Communication Breakdown is a production of the Observatory on Corporate Reputation.
Hosted by Craig Carroll and Steve Dowling.
Produced in partnership with Advocast Leadership Advisory and Shawn P Neal.

For questions, feedback, or episode suggestions, reach out at podcasts@ocrnetwork.com

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