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“US carmaker Ford Motor is to cut up to 8,000 jobs to reduce costs.”
“Siemens to lay off 2900 jobs, stating delivery delays and the rise in material costs.”
You’ve executed a significant layoff of employees. You announced it, HR and your staff executed it, and the targeted employees have left the building. Now what? Hopefully, everything gets back to normal ASAP.
Ahhh . . . no.
Corporate layoffs resemble a form of PTSD* — a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Most managers don’t realize the long-term effects of a major layoff. Leaders in many companies lay off workers based on missed Wall Street targets, tightening the belt to make the organization more attractive, preparing the company for a buyout/takeover, and strategic moves in a different direction.
The leaders only worry about the effect on the organization’s productivity and their own roles — the hundreds and thousands who are released suffer a greater impact on their lifestyle, family, cultural standing, and mindset.
I’ve coached for over 15 years, and I’ve worked with hundreds of clients who go through a form of PTSD. They’ve gone through a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. They experience anxiety, loss of confidence, shutting down, as well as flashbacks about the event. To be honest, I’ve gone through it (I’ve encountered a few layoffs too.)
In addition, the people who are not released from the company also suffered a muted form of PTSD too. I call it corporate survivor’s guilt — they shut down; they’re afraid of making major decisions; they ‘quiet-quit,’ and frankly, are a combination of being terrified they’re next AND relieved that the axe missed their neck (this time).
It can last a few weeks to a few months. It’s where your people hunker down and just do the basic elements of their job - they don’t take chances, they don’t speak up at meetings or disagree, all because they are afraid there will be another set of layoffs (even if the leaders say ‘this is it!’, they still think there will be more culling).
Leadership says it understands the impact — but they don’t. Most C-level executives are immune to these effects because they have packages, contracts, and connections that will make any loss of employment so much easier than the average employee. Average employees are always caught off-guard by a layoff, and their lives are upended for 3-6 months and even longer.
Why am I writing on this topic? You need to take action:
For Leaders
Every business problem or missed target shouldn’t be followed by layoffs. Unfortunately, it’s been the American way for the past 40 years — bad news/missed targets = get rid of employees. Companies like Victorinox have NEVER had a layoff. To avoid this, they set aside profits during boom periods to supplement recessionary periods, as well as temporarily contracting employees to other companies as outsourced labor during recessions.
Honestly, if your organization misses its Wall Street targets and you contemplate a layoff — do it. Lay yourselves off first — the entire leadership team. Poor performance is because of YOUR inability to understand your market, and/or your competitors have outflanked you. It’s not your employees’ fault - they just do what you tell them to do. But unfortunately, they’re just cannon fodder to your balance sheet.
For employees
Act like a C-Level executive. You need to prepare right now to handle a future layoff — start networking, learning about other organizations, reaching out to recruiters, and building alerts on Indeed.com.
If you start to hear about impending layoffs — you can be one of the first to make your move, collect a severance package, AND start your new role. And most of all, download and read my free playbook here:
Build Your Career Bug-Out Bag Playbook
*In no way do I want to minimize the symptoms and effects of PTSD. I’m not a therapist. There are millions of people in the world who have severe PTSD, but after reading the definition and effects, I surmise that many workers who are fired or laid off from work suffer from a subtle form of PTSD.