Give some love to employees who remain
Don't be fooled into thinking that after a series of layoffs, those who remain are happy and relieved. The feeling of guilt, uncertainty and worry for ex-colleagues can far out do the relief of keeping a job, says Melissa Dark. She explains here how internal communicators – standing strong in their position as the organization's conscience – can help employees cope with this feeling known as "survivor syndrome".
"Survivor guilt" or "survivor syndrome" is a term psychologists use to describe the anxiety and stress people experience if they survive an incident or disaster in which other people are killed or seriously injured. It's usually applied to things such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or severe accidents like plane crashes, but the term was initially coined when psychologists noticed similar symptoms among holocaust survivors.
More and more, the term is being applied in organizations to describe the emotions and reactions of people who remain after a number of people are made redundant. Of course, generally speaking, it's better to have a job than to lose it. But for many of the people who survive downsizing, the emotions that go along with watching their colleagues pack up their things and move on can be more overwhelming than any relief they feel that they get to stay.
Employees' guilt over being "survivors" can have a detrimental impact on productivity, morale and engagement. Common reactions include: depression, withdrawal and feeling helpless, and these emotional symptoms can also manifest as physical illness. And of course most employees, whether affected by survivor guilt or not, spend a great deal of time worried and scared that they might be next.
Talk about it
Psychologists advise that for patients suffering from survivor guilt, one of the key forms of therapy is talk. It's important for people who feel this way to express their emotions, share their experiences with others and build a support network. As internal communicators, the "talk" that happens within an organization is very much within our remit. The issue is that this is an exceptionally difficult topic to talk about.
I've spoken to people who have been retrenched who felt almost pariah-like after the announcement was made, because people stopped speaking to them.
I've spoken to people who have been retrenched who felt almost pariah-like after the announcement was made, because people stopped speaking to them. Why did that happen? For many people, survivor guilt makes conversations with "victims" extremely uncomfortable – they have no idea what to say and don’t wish to make the situation worse. What they don’t realize is that for those who are leaving, while their self esteem has no doubt been affected, having their colleagues offer support and understanding can be vital.
Internal communicators have a role to play in advising people how to handle these discussions. In particular, the way leaders and line managers model behaviors will go a long way to demonstrating how the organization responds to awkward, often emotional, topics. Perhaps draft some pointers for leaders on how to handle difficult conversations. Let your own behavior model what you want to see from others.
Your organization no doubt has a crisis communication plan, with tips and templates for leaders on what to say during disaster situations. Why not take a look and see if there’s anything you can apply in this situation. It is a crisis and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel.
Make information available to all
Use your internal communication channels to reinforce messages about the changes – the topic should not be confined just to the channels defined in the change strategy. Imagine how employees feel when they see the special "tightening our belts" emails from the CEO, hear the news about their colleagues’ retrenchment from their line manager, and then open the employee magazine to find absolutely no recognition that the company is going through turmoil. It's inconsistent, lazy and bad key-message practice.
Change communication strategies should include indirectly affected employees. They will want to know what’s happening to their colleagues and will want to see how the organization treats the people it decides to let go. Make sure this information is accessible to anyone who wants to see it. Make sure that the employee assistant programs (EAP) or support services that are usually put in place for those being retrenched are also made available to employees who will be retained.
Don’t instantly create a black out on all people who are about to leave. I recall being told by an executive to remove a newsletter article about the long service of an employee because they were about to be retrenched. What would you do in this situation? Obviously it’s callous to crow about the individual’s outstanding service with the company and then footnote it with the news that they're leaving. But there are other ways you could sensitively handle the story, being honest about the situation and still recognizing that individual for their commitment. This gives a boost to the individual's self confidence and shows the remaining employees that the company still values loyalty and commitment, even when the environment means difficult decisions must be made.
Focus on the things that will stay the same. Give employees an anchor to hang on to – demonstrate that some things, however small, won’t change.
Safety and stability
One of the next most important forms of therapy psychologists advise to sufferers of survivor guilt is to get back a sense of safety and stability. In the current economic climate, that can be an exceptionally difficult thing for internal communicators to do. You may not yet know the full extent of cut-backs; your leadership might have all kinds of strategies and plans under way that can’t be revealed for various reasons.
Focus on the things that will stay the same, for example, your values, your location, your commitment to customers and to delivering a quality product or service, or your organization’s commitment to a community cause. Whatever it is that you can be reasonably certain about, make sure you state it loud and clear. Give employees an anchor to hang on to – demonstrate that some things, however small, won’t change.
Final tips for internal communicators
Here are some ultimate pointers to guide you in dealing with survivor syndrome within your organization:
- Work with your HR team to ensure your employee assistance program or employee welfare support service is well publicized and capable of handling the sorts of issues your organization is experiencing.
- Make line managers a key focus. Help them to help themselves with toolkits, advice lines, handy hints sheets, special intranet sites – whatever it is that will assist them to recognize and deal with survivor guilt in their teams, and in themselves.
- Watch out for "emotional contagion" – a normal human reaction where we pick up and adopt the emotions of those around us. If a significant proportion of a team is retrenched, it's entirely likely that the remaining employees will pick up the emotions of their departing colleagues and may start to behave as if they too were leaving. These people need extra attention.
- Help those who are left find meaning in what has happened. Continue to reinforce the reasons why decisions to reduce employee numbers were made with reference to the environment, competitors, customer behavior, etc. Your change communication strategy shouldn’t stop the moment the last retrenched employee leaves.
The final, and most difficult, tip for internal communicators is to stand strong in your position as the organization’s conscience. We all know in our hearts that treating people kindly and respectfully is the right thing to do, even in tough times. And yet when we involve complex and difficult emotions like fear, guilt and embarrassment, many people’s gut response is to do whatever it takes to avoid them. You will need to be convincing, because the instinctive response from many people – especially your numbers-focused management – will be to ignore it.
Have your say
Seeing colleagues suddenly pack their belongings and leave the company is undoubtedly going to have some effect on remaining employees. Have the survivors in your organization been offered the opportunity to talk about these events, and ask questions or does your organization prefer to forget and move on? How do you create opportunities to discuss layoffs?
Recommended resources:
Melcrum report: Viral communication in the workplace
How Deloitte's video competition engages internal and external audiences
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