Mumbai man recalls firing 25 employees in one day, calls it his ‘darkest day'

India Today

2 days ago

A Mumbai-based founder recalled the darkest day of his corporate career, when he had to let go of 25 employees in a single day. He shared his experience in a LinkedIn post, which has now gone viral on the Internet.Sampark Sachdeva described the moment, writing: 'I saw the tear form at the corner of her eyes. And then, snap, it dropped.' He was seated across from a single mother when he had to tell her it was her last day at work.advertisement'It remains one of the darkest days of my corporate career. The day I was asked to fire 25 people,' Sachdeva said, adding, 'Back-to-back. One after the other. Each with a story, a home, a life that would be disrupted that evening.'
He revealed how he had to stay detached, without showing any emotion. 'No 'I'm sorry,' because that could be construed as accepting blame. Just: Please submit your ID card and laptop. HR will reach out for formalities. Your system's access will be disabled shortly.'Sachdeva explained that his organisation was going through a difficult time and that he had no role in selecting the employees who would be laid off. 'But try telling that to a father of two. To someone who just took a home loan. To the girl who had moved cities for this role,' he said.One employee, he recalled, accepted the decision without resistance: 'Sir, you had hired me. You were here, so I stayed. Today, you are asking me to go, so I will go.'As soon as his task was done, Sachdeva rushed out of the office and broke down, hiding his tears from his team. That night, he said, sleep did not come easily: "That day, I didn't feel like a leader. I felt like a number. A face delivering a system's decision. And yet, I carried their faces with me long after."He observed that corporate life teaches both resilience and compassion. "If you're a manager reading this, know that your words stay longer in people's lives than you think. And sometimes, what you don't say matters just as much."Years later, Sachdeva said he still remembers the faces of those employees and the silence that followed his announcement. The memory, he wrote, continues to weigh on him.'We all move on. Companies move on. Even those who were let go rebuild their lives. But some days, when I sit quietly by myself, that single tear still haunts me. Because leadership is not just about making decisions. It's about learning to live with them.'advertisementTake a look at his viral post here:Several social media users expressed their own opinions in the comments section. "Leadership is often portrayed as decisiveness and strength, but true leadership includes carrying the weight of difficult decisions with empathy," a user said, while another added, "Empathy isn't about lowering your standards, it's about elevating how you act when the choices are tough. Grace in action means slowing down to preserve the dignity and respect of those affected. Empathy isn't free; it will cost you time, and sometimes money.""Leadership isn't tested in the easy calls; it's forged in the ones that haunt you. In boardrooms, we speak of 'headcount reduction' as a number, but on the ground, it's a human loss. The best leaders balance organisational survival with dignity in execution. What's one way leaders can embed compassion into even the hardest corporate decisions?" A user questioned Sachdeva, to which he replied, "By showing empathy at every step."- Ends