ESPN informs on-air talent of job cuts during broadcasts; Monday.com says company will ‘simplify’ work amid layoffs

Greetings, comms pros! Let’s take a look at a few news stories from the last week and see what we can learn from them.

1. ESPN conducts layoffs, tells one affected employee mid-broadcast

ESPN cut ties with some of its most well-known and longest-tenured on-air talent earlier this week, and reports stated that some employees learned they were being laid off during commercial breaks (in the case of football analyst Ryan Clark) or just after completing a broadcast.

Network president Jimmy Pitaro ascribed the move to a reshuffle after Disney bought the NFL Network for $3 billion earlier this year. In an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Pitaro told employees that the move was done to future-proof the company post-acquisition.

Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future. As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.

While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted.

Pitaro’s note is clear in giving employees a reason for the job cuts, but beyond that one piece of clear information, gets more vague as it goes on. Layoffs are “job impacts,” and employees aren’t told how many job cuts are on the table.

The bigger issue at hand is the sequencing of the layoff news. Because news started circulating about the layofs mid-show, it forced ESPN to deliver the news during commercial breaks or after the cameras shut off. Layoff comms need to start with the people most directly affected before moving to a companywide memo or allowing the news to reach external audiences. Once employees are hearing about cuts from reporters or while appearing on live television, the narrative is already playing catch-up.

2. Monday.com co-CEO tells employees it won’t ask “fewer people to do the same amount of work” after layoffs

Software company Monday.com is the latest organization to cut jobs due to the rise of automation, with co-CEO Eran Zinman stating in a memo on Linkedin that 20% of jobs will be slashed.

“The organization we built for our previous chapter is not the organization that fits the new AI era,” the note said.

In addition to expressing support for affected employees, Zinman addressed potential concerns that remaining employees might be tasked with more duties.

“The change is not about asking fewer people to do the same amount of work,” he wrote. “We are making real choices about what we will stop doing. We will simplify how we work, remove unnecessary friction, and give teams more authority to make decisions.”

Zinman’s memo stands out a bit from the typical AI-related layoff notes that call out the need for more efficiency by stating that the company is reworking its operating model entirely. In addition, his callout to remaining staff is also more concrete than the usual language to employees in these situations. Instead of using phrases like “we need to be agile” or other jargon, he provides a bit more detail by stating that some work will stop and some teams will get more authority. The biggest test for communicators will be whether or not the organization can show employees what is actually being cut from their workload instead of just making chops to the org chart.

3. Report: Jargon at work causes comms gaps among Gen Z

A new study from Careerminds found that jargon is causing communications gaps at work, particularly among Gen Z. A survey of 600 British workers stated that Gen Z workers in the study understood an average of 5.3 out of a given 24 work jargon phrases, the least of any generation surveyed. While gaps in understanding are obviously an issue for any workplace communicator, the more concerning part of the study is that one in five employees admitted to guessing what a jargon phrase meant. Ideally, that number would be lower because employees are asking for clarification and communicators are providing it.

Comms pros need to pay close attention to internal language, especially during onboarding. Just because your organization is complex doesn’t mean your phrasing has to be. Communicators should consider creating a handbook of jargon phrases when bringing employees on so they’re caught up on what terms mean, and when they can, should work to avoid jargon and get right to the point with their words.

4. How about some good news?

• British runner Josh Kerr broke the men’s world record for the mile.
• A new species of monkey was discovered in Congo.
• Rapper Pitbull set the world record for the largest gathering of people in bald caps, with over 30,000 concert attendees emulating the music star’s look.
• Ragan Training is an excellent place for communications professionals to find inspiration and valuable resources.
• You should be rewarded for your work. Find out how to earn an award here!

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. You can connect with him on LinkedIn here.