Disclaimer: This post reflects the personal views and experiences of Dr. Alyssa Stavola and was written independently. Dr. Stavola voluntarily departed from her former employer in 2025 and did not enter into any severance agreement, non-disparagement clause, or confidentiality restriction limiting her ability to speak about her experiences.
I now call it Black Friday.
The date is August 23rd, 2024.
I walk in the side door of 24M Technologies past the dry room emergency exit, where the sweet smell of organic electrolytes is always present. I am greeted by a manager from another department. He immediately says “Layoffs today,” either hoping I am not on the list, or preparing me if I am. He goes on to complain that he has to lay off most of his team, devastating for the other departments that they help out. I learn that it is happening at 9:30. I check my watch. 8:30. 1 hour to wait and see if I still have a job.
I realize now in hindsight that the three HR women were in the office every day this week. I thought something good was happening, but boy was I mistaken. Today, the HR women are dressed in nice black dresses, like ones you would wear to a funeral. Which, I guess in a way, this is. Here lies your employment with us.
I get along with my manager, and there is no way I am waiting an hour to find out. Our entire team is safe, he tells me. Almost 50 people will be let go.
At this point, the gossip is spreading; tight employees means quick communication channels.
There are two emails sent out. One to the entire company and one to the unlucky ones.
I still have my job, but the positive feelings I had about it are gone. My closest co-workers have been let go, including some that were important to my work and had useful training. These people and their skills are valuable to me. How are they not valuable to the company?
I am later told that during the layoffs, the departing employees were told that they could still execute their stock options. Salt, meet wound.
We got to leave work early that day, but the Bad Feeling stayed with me for the entire weekend. For the following week, I paused outside the door, mentally preparing myself to see 48 empty desks.
On Monday, two of my coworkers gathered around my desk as we checked a spreadsheet of the gender breakdown at the company. It seemed like a lot of women had gotten laid off - particularly those in management roles. The glass ceiling had been lowered. The percentage was unchanged; there were around 20% women working at the company.
There was another round of layoffs before I quit. In my exit interview, HR told me that I had survived two layoffs so I should stay, but I could never get over the feeling of being so disposable.
I don’t believe there are villains in these situations. Layoffs are often the result of constraints invisible to most employees. But execution still matters because it’s the only part employees actually experience.
I was recently reading a book: “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”. As someone who previously called herself a founder and who used to jolt awake at 2am knowing that my company was rapidly running out of money, a lot of the advice and quotes resonate with me.
I have never been a CEO, and I cannot imagine doing something as challenging as layoffs; however, with some careful planning, perhaps the next battery layoffs do not need to be quite so painful.
The most important goal Horowitz aims for is how to lay people off without breaking company culture and trust. Your culture is incredibly valuable, and most companies fail after layoffs because that trust and culture is broken. Once the decision is made, don’t delay or word will spread and contribute to distrust.
Horowitz suggests that first the CEO addresses the entire company with the important note that “the message is for the people staying… Many of the people whom you lay off will have closer relationships with the people who stay than you do, so treat them with the appropriate level of respect.”
Leaders should be explicit that layoffs reflect company performance, not individual failure. “The company failed and in order to move forward, we will have to lose some excellent people.”
After the CEO speaks, the Managers should be the ones to do the deed, directly communicating with the people they have to let go.
“People won’t remember every day they worked for your company, but they will surely remember the day you laid them off…The details will matter greatly.”
Horowitz suggests that the CEO must stay visible and present afterwards to show that they care. He even suggests helping “them carry their things to their cars.”
I would like to add that you must look at the remaining org chart to ensure you’re not left with middle management bloat. Post-layoff org charts deserve scrutiny. It’s worth asking whether remaining structures support execution or create drag. In difficult periods, organizations often benefit from minimizing layers between decision-making and the work itself.
There have been a lot of layoffs in the battery industry recently, and I apologize to those affected. I hope you can remember that it is a failing of the company’s leadership and not you personally - although I recognize that that is easier said than done.
For my CEOs out there, with great power comes great responsibility. Please be thoughtful in your execution. I do suggest that you read chapter four of “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” to hear from someone who has successfully navigated this by displaying compassion and extreme ownership.