New report reveals how organisations can rebuild workplace culture from layoffs
It can take an average of 7.2 months for an organisation to fully recover from its most recent layoff, according to a new survey from Careerminds.
The survey, which polled 600 HR leaders, revealed that most companies are able to bounce back from job cuts within a year, but in varying timeframes.
Some 40.2% of HR leaders said their company's culture managed to recover within six months, while a bigger 58.5% said recovery happened within 12 months.
The most common time period for recovery was between three and six months, with the average time to return to pre-layoff culture being 7.2 months.
The survey comes in the wake of surging layoffs across the world as of late. In the United States, there have been 397,755 announcements of job cuts in the first five months of 2026, as per data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Trust impact of layoffs
Careerminds revealed that trust at the top of the organisation is usually hit the hardest when layoffs happen at work.
Trust in senior leadership fell by 18.4% in firms that implemented layoffs, while trust in direct managers dropped by 14.7%.
Confidence in the company's long-term future also declined by 19.1%, according to the poll.
Trust in these areas can be hard to regain, with the report noting that the average trust ratings remain below where they stood before layoffs.
Trust in leadership is still 10.3% below pre-layoffs levels, while trust in direct managers is still 7.3% below the pre-layoff average.
When it comes to the company's long-term future, the report showed that employees' confidence remained 12.8% below pre-layoffs levels.
According to the poll, 25.2% of HR leaders said their organisation has not yet fully recovered from its most recent layoff, with 4.2% of them thinking that they don't think their culture will return to levels before the layoffs.
Recovering from job cuts
Amanda Augustine, resident career expert for Careerminds, said the findings indicate that layoffs can also take a toll on the employees who remain with an organisation.
"They've just watched colleagues lose their jobs, and many are left questioning the organisation's decisions and feeling less confident about their own future with the company," Augustine said.
The poll found that team rebuilding events can help in speeding up the recovery of the damaged post-layoff culture in organisations, but only 11% of HR leaders said they implement it.
Refreshed company values, making commitments to boomerang hires, and board-level acknowledgement of cultural impact can also make culture recovery faster, but remain under-appreciated by HR leaders.
"Our research suggests that the strategies most closely associated with faster culture recovery are the ones that send a clear message that the organisation is still investing in its people," Augustine said.
"Initiatives such as team-building activities, upskilling opportunities, and career development programmes can help rebuild trust, strengthen morale, and reassure employees that they're valued and supported."
