As indicators of a recession pile up and workers worry about the stability of their jobs, HR leaders can offer a sense of hope to organizations despite a forbidding economic outlook.

Signs of tougher economic times are coming from major employers. A recent survey by The Conference Board found that 98% of CEOs in the U.S. are preparing for a recession in the next 12 to 18 months. In October, the rideshare platform Lyft announced that it will lay off 13% of its workforce, and the fintech company Stripe said it will let go of 14%. Both companies cited the likelihood of a recession in their decisions. Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is planning to begin “large-scale layoffs” this week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“The HR leader is the person that’s going to lead us through the humanity of these changes,” said Michael Plante, chief marketing officer at eFileCabinet, a tech company that builds software for document management. “[The C-suite’s] tendency is going to be to all get the executives in a room and spend all of our time poring over spreadsheets. Where can we save 50 cents? Where can we save a dollar? Sometimes that’s us being fearful of fielding candid conversations.”

I interviewed Plante for a From Day One webinar on how HR leaders can help companies and their employees adapt to leaner times. He emphasized the important role HR leadership will play in keeping companies afloat as budgets shrink, resources dwindle, and employees are laid off.

First, Plante underlined the necessity of honesty between the C-suite and the rank-and-file employees. It’s often the senior-most HR leader who is the voice of the people in the room, reminding executives that the workforce deserves answers, even if it’s bad news. “In performance management, there should never ever be a surprise conversation with an employee. It’s the same thing with how the company is navigating economic situations,” he said.

Plante urged HR leaders not to be reactive or unmoving, but instead to be curious and resourceful in looking for solutions. “You may have a tendency to be back on your heels and waiting this out. Now’s the time to lean in, be actively asking questions of your management chain, and be networking with your peer groups. What did you guys do and see what worked when Covid first hit? What worked when the Great Recession first hit?” he said.

Budgets will be reduced–HR leaders can expect that–but ominous announcements from the CEO about doing more work with fewer people that often follow a lay off, are “radically insensitive to the realities of the teams that survive any workforce reduction or other changes. ‘We all have to work much harder now’ isn’t the humane approach,” Plante said.

Wherever possible, HR can recommend automation instead of increased workload for the remaining employees, with the message to employees being, “We as leaders are going to rally all of our resources to focus on the stuff that matters most so that this reduced team can get it done, then we’re going to deploy automation to help automate the work to create more capacity.”

To keep morale high and preserve productivity, Plante encouraged employers to “reattach employees to the mission.”

“Help every employee understand how their day-in-day-out work ladders up to the company’s outcomes, whether that’s revenue or whatever set of KPIs the company is driving toward,” he said. Once everyone is aimed at the same target, solicit feedback on how the company can better operate. “The richness and value we get from a diverse set of voices is doubly important in coming up with creative solutions to get through this situation.”

Show employees that they remain an important focus for the company by continuing to invest in their careers, Plante urged, even if it’s through free and low-cost professional development curriculum. “You can’t take your foot off the gas pedal on performance management,” he said. “Because that’s going to tell you who you need to keep. Those are going to be your lifeboat employees. You have to continue investing in career progressions and promotions because those are the people that you want to be mega-engaged and contributing to how you are going to thrive through and thrive after this situation.”

Being frank about what it takes to be top talent–one of those “lifeboat employees”–is a way to maintain productive engagement while motivating the remaining workers. Employers can say, “‘This is how we evaluate talent, and these people are getting preferential career acceleration because they’re achieving against these standards.’ Then you challenge everybody to achieve that,” he said.

HR leaders have a responsibility to be attitude leaders too. “Don’t let negativity or uncertainty fester,” said Plante. “It’s a vacuum. We’ve got to fill that vacuum with leaders that lean into it and say, ‘Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t know, and here’s what we can do.’”

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Va. She writes about the workplace, DEI, hiring, and women’s experiences at work. Her work has appeared in the Washington Post, Fast Company, and Food Technology, among others.