Handle with Care: What the Spirit Airlines Layoffs Reveal About Leadership Communication

Imagine receiving an email that notifies you that today is your last day. On May 2, 2026, that was the reality of approximately 17,000 Spirit Airline workers. Some employees woke up to the news as the email was sent at 3:00 a.m. Other workers learned in real time, for example, the flight attendant or pilot who landed within that time frame. Ironically, on that same day I watched the Devil Wears Prada 2. The opening scene has one of the main characters, Andi and her coworkers being advised via text that their jobs were gone. Fiction, it turns out, isn’t far from reality. While Spirit’s financial struggles were widely reported, how the actual moment was handled speaks volumes.

I don’t know the whole story of Spirit’s situation, but, as an outsider, it raised two questions for me: Is this the new modus operandi, to send an email for decisions of this magnitude? Is this how we now handle some of the most significant moments in people’s lives?

In my Organizational Behavior (OB) class, I introduce the Media Richness Theory by Richard L. Daft and Robert H. Lengel. Their research found that channels differ in their capacity to convey information. Therefore, we should choose channels for their richness based on the nature of the message.

Traditionally, an email should be used for routine messages. In this situation, communicating with someone that they have lost their job is anything but routine. Was email the best channel for the message? In moments like these, the medium becomes part of the message. A video conference, face-to-face conversations, or even a structured virtual town hall could be considered to formally advise of the decision and allow the staff to feel respected. Even if the time was a constraint, a simple adjustment, such as scheduling a same-day live briefing, would shift the experience from transactional to human.

Interestingly, many leaders express frustration when employees leave their organisations without providing the proper notice or operating outside of the standard protocols. Perhaps one reason employees behave this way is that signals are demonstrating to them that employers don’t care about them, so why should they care? The Spirit case may unwittingly be reinforcing the narrative that many employees hold that no one cares. So, before we label the employee who walks out without notice as unprofessional, it’s worth asking what signals has the organisation been sending them all along? Loyalty is a two-way signal.

The case of Spirit Airlines is a call to action for leaders.  It is a call for us to recognise that policies affect people. It is a call to remember that even in difficult moments, we should treat people with respect and care.  It is a call for us to remember that, in the end, culture is not defined by what organisations say but by what people experience.

If a retrenchment exercise is something your business is considering, establish a communication protocol. If you have the budget, consider an outplacement service to demonstrate that you care. As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel”.

Yolande Hylton is the Managing Director of Hylton Insights, an HR Consultancy Firm with a mandate to guide businesses from the transactional to the transformational HR realm, thereby enhancing individual and organisational performance. For inquiries or to learn more, you can reach out to yolande@hyltoninsights.com or visit www.hyltoninsights.com