What is the “survivor’s fault” of those who were not fired after a wave of layoffs

Mass layoffs that have affected thousands of workers in various industries in the US are leaving consequences that are not so noticeablebut it takes its toll on employees who retain their positions, with so-called “survivor’s guilt”.

The consequences of layoffs may be most obvious for workers who have lost their jobs: difficulties in survival, speaking uncertainly, recover from the emotional impact of feelings of rejection and overcome the search for a new opportunity.

However, for the remaining employees, the consequences can be quiet but devastating, as they must fight not only against the dismissal of their colleagues, but also against It’s their own fault for not getting fired..

Cases of “survivor guilt” in the tech industry began to surface after a wave of mass layoffs that swept destroyed about 60,000 jobs in recent weeks.

Big tech companies like Amazon, Google, which laid off 12,000 employees, Microsoft, Lyft and Meta, have taken thousands of cuts as they adjust for an uncertain economic scenario marked by recession fears.

What is “survivor’s fault”?

After a wave of layoffs in a company, laid-off workers go through several stages before they feel “survivor’s guilt.”

At the first moment they feel relieved that they were not among the fired colleagues; however, this sense of relief gradually turns into discomfort and guilt.

So-called “survivor guilt” is an emotional state that occurs when some people, sometimes for arbitrary reasons, survive in extreme situations such as natural disasters, war, and layoffs from work.

These events are considered traumatic events for survivors, and the question arises among survivors, why am I and others not so lucky?

According to David Noer, a career consultant and author of a book on rebuilding workers after a series of layoffs, begin to experience anger, fear and anxiety in the workplace.

“People who survived layoffs tend to be less productive, more suspicious, more fearful and do less work than expected,” he said in a report from CBSNews.

Companies don’t help their employees

Another negative effect that employees with survivor guilt face is the fear that they themselves will end up in the shoes of their fired colleagues in future layoffs.

This feeling of insecurity feeds lack of company transparency about the criteria by which they fire their employees and not others.

“This can be difficult because most employers are unable or unwilling to comment why some people were chosen for dismissal, while others were notsaid Katherine Minshew, founder and CEO of The Muse, a professional development platform, in a report for CBSNews.

On the other hand, surviving employees may also enter the cycle of paranoia that feeds them. due to uncertainty about their future in the company and their role in the corporation.

“Workers are wondering if the organization cares about their well-being or just wants to make a profit. So there are a lot of psychological effects of a tsunami after a mass layoff,” said workplace mental health expert Sally Spencer-Thomas.

The expert recommended that companies look for a way Be as transparent as possible about the reasons for dismissalas well as information about the future of the corporation.