Question

Managing survivors in a layoff is important. As a manager, what concerns would you have about the surviving workforce after a layoff? How can the HR management staff be of assistance in providing support for the survivors of a layoff?

Answer 1

Layoffs in a company tend to increase employees' levels of insecurity, burnout, stress, job satisfaction, decrease morale and trust. These perceptual changes are connected to diminished willingness of employees to help one another, greater turnover, and poorer organisation and job performance. It is essential that when an organisation implements layoffs, it's preparation and planning take the well-being and concerns of the surviving workforce into account. Such cconcerns’ should include: Is the company going to lose more good employees due to the burnout and stress?; What efforts can be put to keep employees motivated?; Will the surviving workforce going to be overloaded because of layoff in the department?; What can be done to keep morale from plummeting?

As the Human Resources professional is important to help employees in seeing the downsizing process to be fair and showing that other options had been first considered. Managers need to help employees see the downsizing process as fair and show that other options had been considered first. The communication, openness, counseling and clarity can make the difference