Companies embraced technology to work remotely during the pandemic now they're using it for layoffs

It was stressful enough for Fionn Kellas to suddenly lose their retail job.But getting thenews via WhatsApp messagerather than in-person made it worse.

"It was an absoluteshock to me," said Kellas, recallingthe hurt of being dismissed in a way that felt so abrupt and cold.

Months later, the memory of being laid off from aToronto-area candy store is still painful for Kellas.

"I was crying."

Using technology to deliverthis kind of bad news whether via email, video call or similar tools is an approach some organizations embraced during the pandemic, butemployees and experts say it fails to factor in the people on the receiving end of job losses.

"I think it's another example of us really not getting our heads wrapped around the best use of technology," said Paula Allen, a senior vice-president of research and total well-being at human resources firm LifeWorks.

Logging on for layoffs

Thousands of employees at tech companiesMeta and Twitterrecently learned of confirmation of their layoffs in emails.

This was months after hundreds of U.K. ferry workers were firedviaZoom call. Workersat online car retailer Carvanalearned of large job cutsin a similar mannerin the spring.

While such massterminationsat large firms have made headlines, it'snot just big business using these tools to part ways with staff.

For Kellas, the jarring WhatsApp-delivered news of employment loss came from the smallstore's manager.

"I've moved on from it, but it still is kind of a 'What the F?' kind of situation," said Kellas, who noted the manager could have made the momenta little less harsh by calling instead.

But a phone call may not be that welcome in all cases either.

Kelsee Douglas learned she was losing her job at a Saskatchewan hearing clinic halfway through her workday last winter.

First came an electronic message notifying her of asurprise meeting. Then came the phone meeting, during which she was told her employment was coming to an end immediately.

"I was really, really shocked," said Douglas, who had been in the job for two and a half years.

Allen, the HR firm leader,saidit's key that organizations provide employees with support such as counselling and career coaching as theyadjust to their new reality.

She cautioned that employers may notknow the full set of personal circumstances people are facing at the time of a layoff ortermination notice nor do they know how hard employees willtake the news.

"A lot of people are dealing with many issues and coming into the office every single day and this is the one straw that makes it very difficult for them to see their next step."

A pandemic uptick

Sixteen years ago,consumer electronics retailer RadioShacknotified400 employeesthey were losing their jobsvia email.

Back then, prominent labour leader Bruce Raynor called it an "outrageous way to treat human beings."

But it's seemingly becomemore common, especially during the pandemic.

WATCH | How it feels to lose a job you love virtually:

What its like to be fired over Zoom

4 years ago

Duration 1:34

Joanne Gallop was let go from Canopy Growth through a mass layoff of 200 employees via the video chat platform Zoom. Illustrations by Chelle Lorenzen.

Cannabis company Canopy Growth used a Zoom announcement to lay off200 employeesback in 2020.

Just last year, 900people at Better.com learned they were being let goduring amuch-criticizedZoomcall.

And 700 people atSwedish payment company Klarnawere told aboutcuts in arecorded messagein May, after which employees reportedly had to wait for an emailto find outif theywere affected.

Janet Candido, a Toronto-based HR consultant,said she hopes the remote termination approach"doesn't become commonplace."

She saidthe use of these methods seems to have expanded during the pandemic. As a greater number of people began to use these tools to work remotely,that sametechnology was beingused to let some of themgo.

Camilla Boyer, a U.K.-based executive communications consultant, believesglobalizationhas also contributed.

"Companies withemployees spread out across the world don't have the option to gather everyone in one room or meet with them face-to-face in an office the way it may previously have been done," said Boyer, who has helped advise firmson layoffs in the past.

"That has given rise to the increased use of technology in carrying out reductions in force," she said in an email.

Room forimprovement

"I think the practice has good and bad sides," Martha Maznevski, a professor of organizational behaviour at Western University in London, Ont., told CBC News via email.

Maznevski said the process is "completely dispassionate and cold" and leaves little goodwill among departing employees.But it may also be anefficient way tosharekey information, particularly in organizations that are spread out geographically.

Nadia Zaman, an employment lawyer with Rudner Law in Markham, Ont., said "employers should be cautious in carrying out dismissals via video or other similar methods."

Aspects of these tools, she noted, may allow an employer to have discussions in a private and confidentialmanner.

In the long-term, Allen doesn't expectthese practices togoaway people will continue to be hired remotely andlet go in the same way insome cases.

No matter what the circumstances, she saidconsideration of the person shouldbe at the centre of the process.

"I think it's the how it's done that needs a little bit more care."