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Layoff survivors suffer more than sacked staff
By Ni Tao |
March 6, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HOURS before I started to write this article, I received a briefing along with other young reporters on this newspaper about trials and tribulations currently plaguing the US newspaper industry.
The speaker, a colleague who has just returned from her three-month sojourn in America, described the bleak atmosphere at the Washington Times newsroom when she visited. In December the paper announced a cut of at least 40 percent of its staff.
As a result of this downsizing, "people over there all look demoralized and deeply upset. Nobody knows who will be the next to pack up and leave," she said.
Some American newspapers had been struggling for survival even before the financial crisis.
Across the US, dozens of newspapers have either turned to Internet publishing as a last resort or ceased publication altogether. Massive layoffs of journalists followed. Pessimists predict that the worst is yet to come if the situation doesn't improve fast enough.
Mass layoffs are not confined to the newspaper industry, though it certainly is one of the hardest hit by the downturn. Shedding workers is a painful decision to carry out, but their departure will help companies become lean, save costs and tide over the crisis. That's the common logic behind dismissals made in a harsh economic climate.
A widely held notion about major cuts of a company's workforce is that layoff survivors will work harder in gratitude for not being fired, thereby enhancing the company's efficiency and productivity.
But this brighter-side or silver-lining perception of a layoff aftermath cannot be further from reality, according to David M. Noer in his book "Healing the Wounds."
Instead of working extra hard, layoff survivors will suffer some of the same psychological trauma as do their sacked co-workers. Noer calls it "layoff survivor sickness."
Survivors infected in this "epidemic" will empathize with the plight of layoff victims, whom they think the company has treated like commodities that get thrown away after they wear out.
Similar to survivors of natural calamities, layoff survivors are usually filled with misplaced guilt of having the luck to hold down jobs at others' expense. "It could have been me," some would sigh after seeing their friends being shown the door.
Noer cautions company executives against opaqueness in announcing and making staff cuts. If this process is shielded from the public gaze, it will breed popular distrust and uncertainty among surviving staffers: will I become the next victim of some machinations?
While layoff victims often fume over their "undeserved" fate, in most cases their bitter memories will recede over time and life will gradually get back on track. The same cannot be said of surviving staffers, who may suffer persistent depression.
If no healthy outlet can be found for their stress and frustration, they will build up to dangerous proportions and exact a high cost in terms of lost productivity and uninspired work.
Generally speaking, layoff survivors tend to be less bold and ambitious in their career outlook than before. They tend to retreat into a mental cocoon, becoming detached from the company that has laid off workers they think are as capable as they are.
As worries over job security kick in, nobody wants to risk being fired for expressing bold and innovative ideas. This "mental withdrawal and loss of affect," as Noer puts it, is detrimental to a company's vision of emerging from the downturn on top.
So how to coax these troubled employees out of their mental cocoons? How to rebuild their battered confidence in down-sized companies?
Apart from calling on managers to be empathetic in communicating layoffs, the author suggests "necessary grieving" to release suppressed anxiety and resentment caused by downsizing.
Another important treatment for the survivor's guilt syndrome -- albeit one that might be slow to take effect -- is to "break the codependency chain and empower people."
Noer believes that to rid employees of the outdated thinking that their employments are a lifetime guarantee, managers should make their workers more independent, self-assured and maybe a little more "fluid" in their loyalty.
An advertisement for Johnny Walker Scotch whisky hits the bull's eye in this regard. The advert depicts a company farewell party where an accomplished staffer is notified by his executive friends of his surprise dismissal, simply because "a brighter future is waiting for him elsewhere."
Tears turn to cheers when whisky glasses are clinked and the rest of the company's staff gather on the mezzanine floor to see off their colleague with rapturous applause.
Not a hint of melancholy can be felt at this supposedly sentimental moment.
The tagline?
"Keep walking." Very appropriate, I think.
The speaker, a colleague who has just returned from her three-month sojourn in America, described the bleak atmosphere at the Washington Times newsroom when she visited. In December the paper announced a cut of at least 40 percent of its staff.
As a result of this downsizing, "people over there all look demoralized and deeply upset. Nobody knows who will be the next to pack up and leave," she said.
Some American newspapers had been struggling for survival even before the financial crisis.
Across the US, dozens of newspapers have either turned to Internet publishing as a last resort or ceased publication altogether. Massive layoffs of journalists followed. Pessimists predict that the worst is yet to come if the situation doesn't improve fast enough.
Mass layoffs are not confined to the newspaper industry, though it certainly is one of the hardest hit by the downturn. Shedding workers is a painful decision to carry out, but their departure will help companies become lean, save costs and tide over the crisis. That's the common logic behind dismissals made in a harsh economic climate.
A widely held notion about major cuts of a company's workforce is that layoff survivors will work harder in gratitude for not being fired, thereby enhancing the company's efficiency and productivity.
But this brighter-side or silver-lining perception of a layoff aftermath cannot be further from reality, according to David M. Noer in his book "Healing the Wounds."
Instead of working extra hard, layoff survivors will suffer some of the same psychological trauma as do their sacked co-workers. Noer calls it "layoff survivor sickness."
Survivors infected in this "epidemic" will empathize with the plight of layoff victims, whom they think the company has treated like commodities that get thrown away after they wear out.
Similar to survivors of natural calamities, layoff survivors are usually filled with misplaced guilt of having the luck to hold down jobs at others' expense. "It could have been me," some would sigh after seeing their friends being shown the door.
Noer cautions company executives against opaqueness in announcing and making staff cuts. If this process is shielded from the public gaze, it will breed popular distrust and uncertainty among surviving staffers: will I become the next victim of some machinations?
While layoff victims often fume over their "undeserved" fate, in most cases their bitter memories will recede over time and life will gradually get back on track. The same cannot be said of surviving staffers, who may suffer persistent depression.
If no healthy outlet can be found for their stress and frustration, they will build up to dangerous proportions and exact a high cost in terms of lost productivity and uninspired work.
Generally speaking, layoff survivors tend to be less bold and ambitious in their career outlook than before. They tend to retreat into a mental cocoon, becoming detached from the company that has laid off workers they think are as capable as they are.
As worries over job security kick in, nobody wants to risk being fired for expressing bold and innovative ideas. This "mental withdrawal and loss of affect," as Noer puts it, is detrimental to a company's vision of emerging from the downturn on top.
So how to coax these troubled employees out of their mental cocoons? How to rebuild their battered confidence in down-sized companies?
Apart from calling on managers to be empathetic in communicating layoffs, the author suggests "necessary grieving" to release suppressed anxiety and resentment caused by downsizing.
Another important treatment for the survivor's guilt syndrome -- albeit one that might be slow to take effect -- is to "break the codependency chain and empower people."
Noer believes that to rid employees of the outdated thinking that their employments are a lifetime guarantee, managers should make their workers more independent, self-assured and maybe a little more "fluid" in their loyalty.
An advertisement for Johnny Walker Scotch whisky hits the bull's eye in this regard. The advert depicts a company farewell party where an accomplished staffer is notified by his executive friends of his surprise dismissal, simply because "a brighter future is waiting for him elsewhere."
Tears turn to cheers when whisky glasses are clinked and the rest of the company's staff gather on the mezzanine floor to see off their colleague with rapturous applause.
Not a hint of melancholy can be felt at this supposedly sentimental moment.
The tagline?
"Keep walking." Very appropriate, I think.
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