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Layoffs leave mark on those left behind
Photo illustration of manager with pink slip and ax.
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Kai Ryssdal:
Here's today's not-so-fun fact about the economy. According to the Department of Labor there were 2,100 mass layoff events last month.
A mass layoff, the government says, is 50 or more people at a single company losing their jobs. The grand total for October came to almost a quarter-million people getting pink-slipped.
Remember that doesn't count Citigroup's huge cuts from just last week.
Whether firings come in bunches or if they come one by one, it's never fun to be on the receiving end. But it's not too much better for those who're left behind. From New York, Sally Herships has more.
Sally Herships:
What do you think is worse? Getting laid off, or dodging the axe? It's a no-brainer right? Losing your job. Internet project manager Heather Flett used to agree. Then the dot-com bubble burst earlier this decade.
Heather Flett: I think I counted somewhere between 19 and 23 different rounds of layoffs.
Herships: So, wait a second, 23 rounds of layoffs?
Flett: Yeah.
At first, Flett says, the pink slippings at her dot-com were surprising and scary -- something to be avoided at all costs. But things quickly got tough.
Flett: It was really sad. So, it was hard to pick up the extra slack of doing other people's jobs, it was hard to see our friends leave, it was hard to be in a scary environment.
And the layoffs kept going on. The ax continued chopping for five years. And by the final rounds when most of the desks around her were empty, Flett had changed her mind. She wanted out.
Flett: The 17th and 18th, OK, this is not a surprise. You know, please make the pain stop.
If you feel stress, your body doesn't care what you're worried about. Your body just knows there's a stressful situation out there. That's according to psychologist Mitchell Marks.
Mitchell Marks: If you lie awake at night and can't sleep because you're worried about losing your job, that is as stress inducing as actually losing your job.
Marks teaches management at San Francisco State. He says downsizing seems irrational to employees. Good workers getting the boot for no good reason. And that, he says, can cause competition among the ranks. Employees pitted against their own supposed teammates.
Herships: Why do people stick around in these situations?
Marks: People hate change. Do you know anyone who's in a relationship and you look at it and you say why does he or she stay with that person? Well why does he or she stay at that job?
But can a bad job really be worse then no job? I met up with Chris Connor outside of his neighborhood grocery store. Until a few weeks ago a he was a retail exec -- then he got laid off. Now he's clipping coupons from the circular.
Chris Connor: The person who you thought you had a great rapport with and they just totally dumped you for no reason? That's what getting laid off feels like.
Just like you'd think, Connor says the financial stress of being laid off is enormous. But Mitchell Marks of San Francisco State says Connor has a leg up. Unlike the workers stuck in a bad relationship, he can move on. He just has to work through some stuff.
Marks: So first there's denial, "Oh, they're going to get over it. They're going to change. They can't really be doing this." Then there's anger, you know, "How could these people do such a thing to other human beings?"
Then comes bargaining, depression and finally acceptance. Connor again.
Connor: I no longer will ever walk into that building and feel like, Is today my last day? Am I going to get escorted out like a criminal today?" It's over. It's done.
Chris Connor is still looking for a job. But, it's only been a few weeks. Dot-com survivor Heather Flett, after staring at the ax through 23 rounds of layoffs couldn't take it anymore. She left. On her own.
In New York, I'm Sally Herships for Marketplace.
I have a very close friend, who graduated from Harvard. Worked for ML for over 8 years, recently he’s been “right sized†too, despite of his outstanding performance and the increasing revenue he generated. OMG, now the banking industry is badly hurt, how long it would take for those financial background guys like him get back to the job market. Banking jobs are not there as much as before as easily seen on http://www.joboutlets.com and other job sites in the region
During the Great Depression employers axed employees to remain profitable. But they could have kept wages constant or lowered everyone's wages instead. According to Robert Shiller (The Subprime Solution), employers thought that doing so would be unacceptable to unions and provoke a fight. He attributes to a confusion of nominal versus real inflation. If employers were required to cut compensation across the board it would probably be less disruptive to lives and the economy. But if the axe is to fall shouldn't the claims of efficiency require managment to cut themselves and their buddies as well?
I've been through my share of layoffs during the dot-com bust. At one company the stress level was so high that one of my coworkers was having stomach cramps from a developing ulcer. He was laid off, his health suddenly improved overnight and he ended up much happier. Don't be too surprised to see a lot of doctors who are busy diagnosing stress-related health problems in the coming months due to overworked people. Sometimes getting laid off is a good thing - you don't have to deal with the fallout and you also have the ability to move onto something new.
