Addressing Employee Emotions is Key to Leading after Layoffs
Between December 2007, the official start of the current recession, and June 2009 more than 40,000 U.S. organizations held layoffs in an effort to reduce costs, increase profits, and improve shareholder value. Ironically, research over past the twenty years indicates that most layoffs fail to achieve these objectives. In fact, studies show that less than half of the companies that downsize see increases in profits whereas twenty-five percent actually see profits decline.
Why don’t layoffs produce the returns executives hope they will? It’s the people factor. Employees are emotionally and psychologically traumatized by layoffs. At a time when it’s critical for employees to be engaged and productive, they are demoralized, fearful, and distrustful. That doesn’t add up to a recipe for business success.
My colleague, Deanna Banks, Ph.D. and I spent the past six months studying what leaders can do to re-energize their workforce after layoffs. We discovered that some leaders succeed more than others at helping employees recover from the trauma caused by downsizings.
What Not to Do
As we interviewed employees from companies that had layoffs, we often heard stories of management teams that took action to stifle any expression of emotion. One company even forbade employees to “congregate” in hallways, offices, and coffee break areas. Rather than understanding and dealing with the outrage their people are feeling, some leaders simply want people to get over it, now. They say “Just accept it and move on.”
The truth is that when emotion grips people, they simply can’t move on. They need time and opportunities to vent their frustrations and process their emotions. The more management attempts to repress their employees’ concerns and rush them back to business as usual, the more angry and upset their employees will be.
What To Do
Whenever a layoff takes place, everyone involved is forced into a state of disruptive change. Most researchers agree that people’s emotional responses to change follow a fairly predictable pattern.
If people on your team are suffering through emotional reactions to layoffs, you can’t force them to skip ahead. You may be ready to charge the hill, but they won’t rally behind you. Rather than trying to get people to immediately move forward, your job is to help them progress through the normal cycle of change.
Interestingly, we discovered that the best strategy for helping employees recover from layoffs is one where the manager actually matches his or her actions to the emotions employees are experiencing. This does not mean mirroring the employee’s emotion (for example responding to anger with anger). Rather, this means understanding what need is underlying the employee’s behavior and meeting that core need so the employee is able to move on.
In our research, we found that successful leaders:
1. Reduce shock by increasing communication.
2. Respond to anger by expressing concern.
3. Address anxiety by emphasizing clarity.
4. Reduce grief and hopelessness by using supporting behaviors.
Employees who are emotionally supported are likely to be able to refocus on their job and maintain commitment to it. Instead of feeling miserable and distrustful, they will look to you for guidance. Instead of stagnating in hopelessness, they will be much more likely to use their creativity and take risks.
While there’s no panacea for recovering from a layoff, how the layoff is approached, how employees who are let go are treated, and how the surviving workforce is supported go a long way to determining the organization’s future success and viability.
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