54. Handling Layoffs as a Remote Company and as an Employee w/ Michelle Labbe, Toptal

Remote First

We are facing a prolonged period of high uncertainty with a world post-COVID, a war between Ukraine and Russia, a recession, “the great resignation”, and, more recently, massive layoffs in big tech companies. Navigating all of that is not easy.

So, today, we have Michelle Labbe, the Chief People Officer at Toptal, a company that even before the pandemic was already one of the world’s top remote work employers and provider of top remote talent.

We are discussing the current state of affairs, how that has impacted Toptal and remote work in general, the best practices Toptal has in place to weather this storm, and what we can expect to see for remote work moving into 2023.

In this episode:

[06:47] The demand for remote talent since the start of the pandemic

[09:29] Are contractors the future of remote work? How post-pandemic layoffs are affecting culture and changing remote teams

[15:43] Ways to support your remote employees once they’ve been laid off

[19:26] How the latest layoffs have started a trend among remote workers

[24:32] Ideas and strategies to improve employee retention

[28:47] The pros and cons of remote and hybrid work on the employee experience and retention

[35:53] Michelle’s wish for 2023

Connect with Michelle Labbe

On Linkedin

Website Toptal

Resources Mentioned:

Toptal's Suddenly Remote Playbook

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