This month alone we have seen 3700 job losses and a reported 4400 contract workers cut at Twitter, 11,000 job losses at Meta, and this week it was reported that Amazon is planning to lay off 10,000 employees.
It’s not just the tech industry that is affected by job losses, we are seeing it in many other industries and sectors too. It had been planned for 91,000 civil service jobs here in the UK to go over the next few years, but a U-turn was made about this earlier this month.
However, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that civil service departments will have to choose between offering staff pay rises that fall well below inflation, making significant job cuts, or allowing services to deteriorate as a result of yesterday’s budget.
All this uncertainty will be worrying for many staff and as a leader, it is important that you manage this period with an awareness and sensitivity to how your teams may be feeling. The following is adapted from a research study I conducted looking at the impact of job loss as a result of organisational change:
The negative effects of job loss on employees
Leaders need to be mindful of the psychological impact of job loss on employees and be aware that it can leave them fearful and lacking confidence about the future. Being faced with job loss can be a threat to a person’s sense of personal control, leaving them anxious and fearful about their future careers.
Job loss can negatively affect individuals physiologically, psychologically, and emotionally. The way job loss is mentally perceived and the feelings about losing their job influence the way individuals respond. There can be an impact on self-confidence, with feelings of fear, humiliation, and depression.
Many peoples’ sense of identity is tied to their role. Losing a job can impact an individual’s sense of who they are. It has been reported that some individuals still relate to themselves as their previous roles 18 months after losing their job, not liking to admit to people their loss.
The symptoms that people experience when facing job loss have been likened to the grief process, and job loss has been said to trigger PTSD. The way an individual mentally perceives losing their job influences the way that they respond.
They are more likely to develop coping strategies if they react less negatively to losing their job. Providing them with outplacement support can help them to identify coping strategies and be more optimistic.
A case study
I once had a client whose organisation was going through restructuring and as a leader, she had to reapply for a role. The organisation was reducing the number of leaders at her level from five to two. This meant that the three who were unsuccessful would lose their jobs.
When she came to me for coaching she was having sleepless nights, her skin was blotchy and her scalp flaky. These were the physiological symptoms of the stress she was experiencing. When I asked her what her thoughts were about her situation, she said she thought she would be made homeless.
When I asked her why she thought that, she said that she believed that she would be unsuccessful at the interview, that she would lose her job and not be able to pay her mortgage, that her house would be repossessed, and she would end up homeless.
I asked her what she could do if the worst was to happen, and she lost her job. She thought about it for a while and responded that she had years of experience so could get another job. I asked her what she could do if she didn’t get a job straight away. To which she reflected and said that she could rent out her spare bedroom. She didn’t really want to have to do this, but if push came to shove, she would do it if it meant her keeping her house.
The realisation that she had options, and that even if the worst was to happen that she would be ok, shifted her perception of her situation. So much so that she felt calmer about things and more confident about the interview.
She went into the interview and was successful. She told me afterward that people kept telling her that she was good at what she did and that she would nail the interview. But she said that only made her feel worse and she asked me why that was.
I told her it was because she didn’t believe that she would be ok. It was once she believed that no matter what, she had options and that she would be alright, that she felt ok.
Support them through the stages of change
If your employees feel that the possibility of job loss is a threat to their sense of personal control, they are less likely to view the situation rationally. If individuals view their situation as less intense and more reversible, they are more likely to see their situations as one which they have easy control over or that is changeable. As a result, they are more likely to use active coping strategies.
As mentioned, job loss has been likened to the grief process and use can use the Kubler-Ross change curve, as a way of identifying how to support people through it. The stages of which are as follows:
- Shock
- Denial
- Frustration
- Depression
- Experiment
- Decision
- Integration
Understand the emotional process that your employees are going through as a result of the threat of job loss and provide them with support. Find out where they are at on the change curve and support them as they come to accept the changes to get to a place of integration.
Keep the communication open. Many leaders make the mistake of not communicating with their employees about what is going on until the final decisions are made.
This causes rumours to start circulating amongst the gossip mill, leaving people to draw their own conclusions in the absence of communication from the top. Communicating with them that there is uncertainty and being transparent is better than total silence because people pick up on what is not said. You also run the risk of word leaking out and employees losing trust in you as a leader.
The earlier in the process that an individual embraces the change, the less stressful it will be for them, their colleagues, and the organisation as a whole. Open communication, providing them with coaching, or workshops designed to take them through the process of coping with job loss, will help achieve this. If you would like my support with this, send me a message and let me know. I deliver a workshop which is a cost effective way for employers to provide support.
When making job losses, also be mindful of those who are left behind. Survivors’ guilt can affect them and have a negative impact on how the organisation moves forward. But that is an article in and of itself for another day.
If your organisation is facing the threat of job losses, how are you supporting your teams through it?
If you are faced with the threat of job loss, what support are your leaders providing you?
First published on LinkedIn.
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