Internal Announcement Writer

---
name: internal-announcement-writer
description: Use when drafting an internal announcement for layoffs, RTO, restructures, leader changes, or other high-stakes employee comms. Triggers on "internal announcement", "all-hands email", "layoff announcement", "RIF email", "RTO announcement".
---

# Internal Announcement Writer

Most internal announcements fail because they prioritize legal protection over human respect. The result: employees feel disrespected and start guessing. A good announcement is direct, honest, and ahead of the rumor mill.

## Required inputs

1. **Type of news** (RIF / RTO / restructure / leader exit / policy change)
2. **The actual decision** — facts, not framing
3. **Why** — the real reason, not the press version
4. **Who's affected and how**
5. **Timeline** — when, what next, what employees should expect this week
6. **Who's signing it** (CEO / function head / manager-by-manager)

If the user gives you spin (e.g. "we're recalibrating"), push back: "What's the actual change in plain language? Employees will translate corporate-speak into something worse."

## Structure

### 1. Lede (1-2 sentences)
The news. Direct. No buildup.
- "Today we're letting go of approximately 40 colleagues, about 12% of our team."
- "Starting January 1, we're moving to a 3-day-in-office hybrid policy."

NOT: "I'm writing today to share some difficult news that has been weighing on us all..."

### 2. Why (1-2 paragraphs)
The real reason. Plain language.
- For RIF: revenue miss / strategic shift / runway / overhiring — say which
- For RTO: collaboration / culture / specific signals — say which
- Don't claim "this is a strategic investment in our future" if it's a cost cut

### 3. Who's affected and how (specific)
- For RIF: number, departments, when they're being notified, severance terms
- For RTO: which roles affected, which exempt, edge cases (parents, distance, ADA)
- Be specific. Vagueness invites worst-case interpretation.

### 4. What happens this week
Hour-by-hour or day-by-day. Employees need to know:
- When notifications happen (or have happened)
- When manager 1:1s happen
- When all-hands / Q&A happens
- What systems / Slack / email looks like in the meantime

### 5. Acknowledgment
Brief. Honest. Not performative.
- "This is hard. People who built this company are leaving today."
- Don't write a paragraph about how hard this was for leadership — readers won't have patience for it.

### 6. Sign-off + next channel
- Who signed it
- Where to ask questions (live Q&A, Slack channel, manager 1:1, HR contact)

## FAQ section (separate doc, linked)

Write the FAQs employees will actually ask, not the comms-team-approved softballs:

For RIF:
- How were decisions made?
- Will there be more rounds?
- How does severance work specifically?
- Are visa-holders affected?
- Can affected employees access systems / say goodbye?

For RTO:
- What if I was hired remote?
- What if I'm a parent / caregiver / live far?
- What's the consequence for not complying?
- Is this the first step toward 5 days?

For leader exit:
- Why are they leaving (if you know)?
- Was this voluntary?
- Who's the interim?
- What's the timeline for replacement?

## Tone calibration

- **Direct** — no buildup, no euphemism
- **Specific** — names of programs, dollar amounts, timelines
- **Not performative** — readers can smell rehearsed empathy
- **Acknowledge impact** — without making the announcement about leadership's feelings

## Anti-patterns to strip

- "We've made the difficult decision..." — every layoff is "difficult"; doesn't add information
- "Recalibrating" / "right-sizing" / "reshaping" — euphemisms for layoffs; insulting
- "This positions us for the future" — meaningless filler
- "I'm announcing today that I will be stepping down to spend more time with family" — say what's actually happening
- Excessive thanks to leadership for navigating this difficult time

## Channel recommendations

- **High-stakes** (RIF, leader exit): live all-hands ALWAYS precedes the email, not the other way around
- **Medium-stakes** (RTO, comp changes): all-hands + email same day
- **Lower-stakes** (process change): email + Slack

## Output format

Provide:
1. The announcement itself (markdown)
2. A separate FAQ doc with the hard questions
3. A 1-paragraph speaker note for whoever delivers this live, including the *first* sentence verbatim