Speaking · Workshops · Advisory
The layoff moment, from someone who has stood on both sides of it.
Jarrett Reed spent twenty years inside a Fortune 50 company deciding things that affected other people's jobs. Then he lost his own, and built PinkSlipped for the week that followed. He brings that pairing — the operator's view and the person on the receiving end of the call — to rooms that are trying to do this better.
The point of view
Outplacement covers the résumé. The rest of the exit is where trust is won or lost.
Every separation sets off four decisions on a clock — a severance agreement, a health-coverage election, a retirement account, a job search — and most people make them alone, on the defaults. How an organization shows up for that week is remembered longer than the reason for the cut. That is the argument, and the research, the tools, and the stories behind PinkSlipped are what make it concrete.
The first ninety days.
What actually happens to a person after the badge is collected, decision by decision, and what it costs when nobody in the room works for them.
Human provenance.
Why real people, introduced with context, outperform portals, drip sequences and AI drawers in the moments that matter — and how to tell the difference when you're buying.
AI-cited cuts and the trust bill.
A fifth of this year's announced job cuts name AI as the reason. What that does to the people who remain, the ones who leave, and the employer's name in the market.
Formats
Four ways in, sized to the room.
01
Keynotes and conference talks.
Forty to sixty minutes for HR, people, benefits and total-rewards audiences, associations, and industry conferences. Built from primary sources and first-person experience; no slideware theater.
02
Workshops and manager training.
Half-day and full-day sessions for people leaders and front-line managers on how to run a separation well: the conversation, the packet, the ninety days after, and the people still in the building.
03
Advisory and consulting.
Offboarding experience design, packet and benefits review, employer-brand risk in a reduction, and how PinkSlipped's per-person benefit fits beside what you already offer.
04
Panels, boards and moderated conversations.
Moderating, panel seats, and civic and arts-sector board work. Comfortable in the chair or beside it.
Who books this
People who own the moment, and people who write about it.
HR, people and total-rewards leaders. Benefits and outplacement teams that want the other four lanes covered. Conference and association programmers. Employment attorneys, financial planners and benefits navigators who serve the same person from a different chair. Boards and civic organizations that want an operator's read on how institutions treat people at the edges.
Background
- Twenty years at a Fortune 50 retailer, most recently as a Senior Director
- Founder, PinkSlipped — built after his own layoff
- Partner, thursday. — operator-led consulting
- Past board president, Springboard for the Arts
- Board member and Guest Experience Committee chair, Hennepin Arts
- Earlier: Deloitte Consulting
In the press
Seen and heard on the subject.
CBS News Minnesota (WCCO) · Video
Laid-off workers are struggling with what comes next. This site was built for them.
Jarrett on the WCCO Mid-Morning set on the first hours after a layoff and why PinkSlipped exists.
Watch the segment →
Star Tribune — North Star Insider
Jarrett Reed on PinkSlipped
Ishmael Interactive — CX Pod
Post Layoff, Rebuilt
Podcast
PinkSlipped on the podcast circuit
How it starts
A conversation, not a rider.
01
Tell us about the room
Who's in it, what they're carrying, and what you'd want them to leave with. The form below, five minutes.
02
We shape it together
Format, length, and how much of the PinkSlipped toolkit belongs in the session. Fees are flat and quoted up front.
03
We show up prepared
Every talk is rebuilt for the audience in front of it. Nothing is read off a slide.
Bring this to your organization
Tell us about the room.
Speaking, workshop and advisory engagements are delivered by Jarrett Reed through PinkSlipped by Thursday Studio. They are educational and strategic in nature and do not constitute legal, financial, insurance or medical advice. Fees are flat and quoted in advance.