The current issue of Fortune magazine has a brief piece on PLSD. That would be Post Layoff Survivor Disorder.

It goes like this. Those left with a job after a firm goes through layoffs experience severe feelings of guilt, anger, and grief. Of course, these are not good things and we are left with a workforce that can’t perform well.

Here are some tips from David Noer, author of Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations.

If you are a manager – look inside and see if you are feeling guilt too. If so, talk about it with someone. Don’t expect morale to just pickup. 46% of survivors worry about being caught in the next round of layoffs. Finally, don’t overspend on things that employees might not consider essential. You just fired their buddy; do you really need new carpet?

For survivors – talk it out. Health care provider CIGNA reports a big increase in stress-related claims among layoff survivors. Stay in touch with friends who were laid off. They aren’t contaminated; they are simply out of a job. Continue to network and keep yourself marketable. This is always good advice but more so today.

Noer goes on to say, “In many ways, it’s the same thing you experience when you go through a near death experience.” OK, I think the last part is a little dramatic but our country does drama and hysteria so there you have it.

Having been through a near death experience when a Marine helicopter I was flying in impacted the ground at over 100 mph at night I feel somewhat qualified to talk about a near death experience. I don’t think someone else losing a job qualifies, but that is just my opinion.

Get beyond the hysteria and understand that there is something to this survivor issue and you need to know this as a manager and as an employee.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 2:40 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.