Dealing With Workplace Layoffs And Survivor Stress
Dear Dr. LeCrone:
Please discuss the stress and mourning that occurs after an organization is forced to layoff and buyout workers.
-A reader in California
Dear Reader:
Whether you term it downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring, or changing direction, changes in a workforce that result in reducing the number of employees produces trauma of some sort. Survivor guilt, survivor stress or survivor sickness are all terms that have been used to describe the feelings of those chosen to pick up the pieces and, hopefully, move ahead.
The psychological effect felt by the survivors parallels the feelings and emotions of people who suffer from non-employment kinds of loss such as death and divorce.
Fear and insecurity, anger and disbelief, depression and loss, helplessness, caution about the future, confusion, bewilderment and numbness are all feeling and emotions that may be experienced by those remaining employees.
Layoff survivors are often initially very focused on the current plight and future of the victims that are laid off instead of experiencing gratitude for their own survival.
Guilt feelings such as “Could I have done something to keep this from happening?” “Why was he or she laid off and not me?” or” How can I feel grateful for keeping my job in the face of others loss?”
Survivors’ should be assured that these thoughts and feelings are frequently experienced by those who remain with the company and are part of the passage to the new job situation. Talking about these feelings with other survivors is often very helpful for those dealing with the feelings of loss, survivorship and change.
Survivors sometimes isolate themselves while suffering from feelings of shame, guilt, anxiety and depression. Strong support during this period of time from family, friends, co-workers and management is important.
Professional assistance in workplace reorganizations can be very valuable. Group discussions dealing with change and loss along with teaching healthy strategies to make the transition to a new work environment, can help survivors during this potentially difficult time.
Giving survivors information about and involving them in the new workplace visions and strategies can be very helpful in healing the psychological wounds created by layoffs.
Letting the survivors know about what is being done to assist the layoff victims can be of great assistance.
As survivor stress and guilt begins to heal, company and organizational strategists need to strive to provide a new job climate that promotes healthy morale and a sense of security for the survivors.
