While there is no easy way to deliver your employees bad news, there are certainly some ways that are better than others. If you have bad news to share, do not send it in an e-mail. This is much better handled in person. It’s always better for your workers to hear the news from your mouth. Then, they can immediately respond to their questions and concerns.

Here are some tips when delivering bad news to your employees:
Contact those people who are impacted in advance. If the bad news will mean personal repercussions for specific employees, be sure to let them know ahead of time so they can process the information. Anyone who has their job on the line should always be notified as far in advance as possible.
Always consider the best time of the day to hold the meeting and make the announcement. Most managers believe it’s best to hold such meetings at the end of the work day. However, there may be some cases where the meeting would be best held first thing in the morning. This would be applicable if workers needed to get to work on any new assignments that could come out of the meeting.
Be sure to share a clear and concise explanation. You should always clearly state where the company stands. Withholding important information in these circumstances will not help your cause. You should definitely tell your employees what they need to hear, but you do not have to go into a detailed account of what might be happening behind the scenes.
Make sure you encourage employees to ask questions. People will have questions and you should make sure there is enough time for everyone with anyone concerns. Try to spend some time thinking about potential questions prior to the meeting. That will allow you to prepare the best answers possible.
Instead of concluding the meeting on a dark note, focus on what will come next. Give employees a vision for the future.
Communicate your expectations to employees. No matter what the long-term results of the bad news is, make sure your employees clearly understand.
While there is no easy way to deliver bad news, advance preparation will help you handle it the best way possible.

Modern Business Associates is an HR company that focuses on payroll and HR outsourcing. We routinely work with clients on personnel issues. As a Professional Payroll and HR outsource organization, our clients rely on us to help them effectively deal with these kinds of topics.