The Best Way To Deliver Bad News To Employees

No one likes bad news—neither the giver nor the receiver—but there is a way to make it a little easier on everyone involved. While words matter, your tone has a bigger influence on the way the information is received, according to a new study from Saarland University in Germany. Researchers reviewed 400,000 employment tribunal cases, half of which were layoff-related, and found that employees were far more likely to react in a confrontational manner when managers used an aggressive tone instead of taking time to explain the situation and its underlying causes.