Navigating the Emotional Impact of a Job Loss: The Three Stakeholders Impacted By The Decision To Fire An Employee

By: Richard Butz

Second of a Two-Part Series

In the first of this two-part series, we discussed how the loss of a job impacts the individual – how it not only results in the loss of income, but also the experience of other common feelings like shock, anger, grief, fear, guilt, anxiety, depression, financial trauma, vulnerability, or even betrayal. Work is more than just making a living for most individuals. If you missed the first part, you may go back and read it here – Navigating the Emotional Impact of a Job Loss

In this part, we are going to discuss how transitioning the individual out of the organization not only has an impact on the person who is losing their job, it also has an emotional impact on the manager who has to deliver the message. The change can also be potentially traumatic for the employees who remain, just as it is for those who are terminated.

1. Emotional Impact On The Manager
Managing a termination is one of the most difficult roles any manager is expected to perform. Frankly, few organizations have training programs on how to skillfully conduct the meeting. As a result, once the stressful meeting is over, the manager is personally relieved emotionally and moves on.  Most often, they do not think much about how the event has impacted the employee emotionally, think about what support that person may need going forward, nor do they think much about how this transition will impact existing employees.

For the organizations that do not have training programs designed to help manage a termination skillfully, they should contact The Center For Leadership Excellence for a complimentary online training video or for personal coaching exercises that outline the Five Steps To Managing A Termination Skillfully. Those steps are:

• Planning The Termination
• Crafting and Delivering the Message
• Handling Emotional Reactions and Objections
• Transitioning The Person out of the Office
• Communicating With the Team

2. Understanding The Emotions Of The Team
Change can be potentially traumatic for the employees who remain, just as it is for those who are terminated. They need to understand what happened and how it might impact them. Why?

• Lucky ones: Some of the survivors may feel they are “the lucky ones” and may feel many of the same emotions of disbelief, anger, or depression that are being experienced by their departing colleagues.
• Guilt: Some members of the team may experience or feel the “guilt of surviving”. It is in the best interest of the organization to help them acquire some emotional composure by helping them understand how carefully management considered all of their options before making its decision.
• Additional Workload: In the midst of this psychological turmoil, survivors realize or worry that more work may be expected of them.
• Talent Flight: Your most valuable employees will be watching for signs of job stability. Top performers are the ones who will be targeted by outside recruiters or may dust off their resumes on their own to see “what else is out there”.
• Focus: Employee energy must be focused on performing their responsibilities well, not dwelling on the past or the welfare of the terminated employee.

3. Emotional and Job Search Support For The Employee
There are some employers who know that the person they are about to fire will be faced with this stress. Unfortunately, a recent Mercer Survey reported that only 44% of organizations provide outplacement services that include the support of an individual who needs to cope with the stress they and their families now face! For those organizations that are not providing support to those people being transitioned out of their organization, they should begin by providing Outplacement Services and a career coach with every severance package. Why?

The impacted person needs guidance from a trained Career Coach who can assist the individual to break through the initial depressed state, accept the situation, and understand that something good can come out of it. This is challenging when someone feels rejected.

In the first part of this series, we referred to the report one of our clients gave about her Career Coach.

     “My coach literally saved me from myself. I didn’t think
 I would survive the loss, and I almost didn’t.
Her kindness and compassion went a long way,
but her tough love kept me on the up and up!”

Every employer who provides outplacement services, should also do their due diligence and make certain the Outplacement vendor they chose can prove their Career Coaches are skilled at helping individuals cope with the emotional aspects of having lost their job.

Conclusion
Three stakeholders need emotional and coaching support when the decision has been made to transition a person out of the organization – the individual, the manager, and the team. By providing this support to these three stakeholders, it proves the organization cares about its people beyond their employment with the organization. It also demonstrates to your existing employees that your people are important to you – and you’ve made an investment to prove it! You are truly the best place to work.

Learn More about how The Center For Leadership Excellence’s Career Transition Services provides leadership training and emotional and job search services, visit our website at www.cleindy.com/outplacement or contact Jane Richardson, at (317) 652-1681 or jrichardson@cleindy.com.