Thanks for your reply! I do have a couple of thoughts and I’ll try to respond in detail.

First, I 100% agree with you that it was the CEOs responsibility to inform his employees that they were being let go. Yes, it would have definitely been a pretty crappy thing to do to have one of his underlings handle the notifications for him.

However, I still disagree with the idea that “at least he handled it personally” and I don’t think we can realistically blame the company itself for the layoffs. Layoffs happen and while they suck, they are a reality of corporate life. I would actually say that, having decided cuts were necessary, effective and empathetic communication was the ONLY thing that he could do right to help lessen the blow.