Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - October 2009

Layoff Survivor Sickness: Act 2

Months of massive layoffs. Long-term unemployment. An overworked, anxious and confused workforce. We've been here before, but the lessons didn't take, says David Noer.

"The layoffs of the late 1980s and early 1990s — what I call the first act — were an early wake-up call but one that was not adequately passed on and was overridden by the short-term noise of the recent boom," writes Noer in the newly updated edition of Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations. The original edition was published in 1993, when Noer was a senior executive with CCL.

Noer, who coined the term "layoff survivor sickness," says the "second act" of layoffs is having fierce and far-reaching impact on managers and employees who remain in organizations after downsizing.

"Too often organizations institute layoffs to cut costs and promote competitiveness, but afterward, they find themselves worse off than before," Noer explains in his book. "All they have to show for it is a depressed, anxious and angry workforce that is confused, fearful and unable to shake an unhealthy and unreciprocated organizational dependency."

Lean and mean, it seems, translates to sad and angry.

To cope, layoff survivors tend to behave in ways that get in the way of organizations' ability to adjust to economic and business challenges, including reduced risk-taking, lowered productivity, blaming and denial.

Noer's advice? In his book, he offers insight for handling layoffs, addressing grieving, and redefining commitment. He also describes ways leaders and organizations can immunize people against survival sickness and build a new employment relationship.

But, importantly, as employees and managers, we need to see the global pandemic of downsizing for what it is. "Today we have reached the tipping point, and we have no choice but to accept and accommodate the new reality," Noer writes. "What is at stake is the survival of our organizations and individual relevance."