Show some love to survivors in the aftermath of layoffs

It's a common mistake for organizations to believe that employees who manage to hold on to their jobs after a number of layoffs or a major restructure, are happy. They may feel a sense of relief for a short time, but that relief will more than likely be taken over by at least one of the following emotions:

• Fear that they could be the next to go.
• Guilt of keeping their jobs while friends have been ruthlessley told to go.
• Sorrow of losing a colleague.
• Stress due to potential increase in workload.

In a new article for the Internal Comms Hub, Melissa Dark, CEO, Melissa Dark and Associates and Melcrum's Black Belt trainer in Australia, urges internal communicators to be more aware of this "survivor syndrome".

"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 symptoms can also manifest as physical illness," she says.

One of the tips Dark offers, as a way of dealing with this anxiety, is to focus on the things that will stay the same. "Give employees an anchor to hang on to," Dark advises. "Demonstrate that some things, however small, won’t change."

Read on for more of Melissa Dark's tips on how to support employees suffering from survivor syndrome, and create a more positive atmosphere in the aftermath of redundancies.

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. 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.

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.

Recreate the feeling of 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

• 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.

Finally, 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, especially in tough times.

The full article by Melissa Dark is exclusively available to members of the Internal Comms Hub.

Until next time,

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