The word has gone round the office. One of your co-workers has been told he will be let go because his position has been rendered obsolete due to “downsizing” measures. Will you be next?
While your co-worker clears out his desk and heads out the door, you are left behind with feelings of guilt, the pain of saying goodbye and the stress of not knowing if you will be next.
You also have one other problem: How is your colleagues workload going to be absorbed by your diminishing work pool? According to researchers who conducted a 10-year study with the Boeing corporation, layoff survivors face levels of stress and difficulty that match, or even exceed, those of the unemployed.
Researchers found that average depression scores were nearly twice as high for those who kept their jobs.
One of the most important things you can do to move on after a layoff, is to accept how you are feeling. No matter what your relationship with your co-worker was, you are grieving. You feel a sense of sadness and you feel guilty that you survived the layoff.
Your ex co-worker is gone and that jumbled set of emotions is real. Your grieving is normal.
In a layoff, more work remains for the employees who survive the cuts. No amount of hiding will make this fact go away. The best approach to divvying up the missing coworker’s work is to meet as a team or departmental work group with your manager to determine what must be accomplished. Here are a few more tips:
• Attempt to recreate the daily patterns you experienced prior to the layoffs. While much time in an office is invested by employees in talking about the situation after layoffs, the sooner you can recreate your prior patterns, the better for your mental health.
• Talk out your feelings with coworkers who are likely experiencing loss just as you are. You can comfort one another. Your significant others outside of your workplace make good sounding boards, too.
• Pay attention to the needs of the coworkers who were laid off. So many people tie up so much of their identity and self esteem in what they do for a living that a layoff is a major blow to their sense of themselves, their competence and self worth.
