As an HR Manager, you are probably hiring new employees every day. Some of these new employees come from another position within their field or from a place of job transition. Those new employees who came from job transition are moving from one career to a new career, and others are transitioning from a reduction in force (or layoff) or were terminated for a documented cause. For today, let’s talk about employees in the midst of a job transition do to a reduction in force.
You may not know it, but those who have lost their job in a reduction of force may suffer from a kind PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) once they have entered for your workplace and start their role. You may never see it in the interview or even in the first month or ever, but the PTSD exists and usually manifests itself in silence. How does PTSD manifest itself for this employee? Why would they have such a stress if they are now employed and back to work?
The PTSD in new employees coming from transition is routed in their experience. These employees have experienced in their past the trauma of losing their job, some of them without warning. This loss of their job has taken away financial stability from their family, at times discontinued health insurance for themselves and their loved ones, but most of all, this loss has touched their pride in their work. A hit to your pride makes you question your abilities to do your job and sometimes can permeate into your confidence in being able to get another job. The employee has lived through the "rejection" of an employer and now they are afraid that the same will happen again. This Post Traumatic Stress is there because they are always waiting for the other shoe to drop and they don't want what happened before to happen again. Being unemployed can have a resounding effect on the employee emotions, self-worth and confidence. How do we help those employees to cope with their PTSD? How do we guide managers to do the same? How do we help employees feel confidence in what they are doing and also the stability of the company and their position?
In looking at an article by Dr. Oz entitled "How to Recognize Post Traumatic Stress Disorder", I found that many of the symptoms you relate to those with PTSD in war situations are the same as those who are in the workforce now after involuntary job loss of the past. Here are the symptoms I believe are the most prevalent to look for in this situation as in Dr. Oz's list on his website (see link below):
Hyper vigilance (overly sensitive to making sure everything is "perfect" every time.)
Intense guilt or worry (second guessing and worrying about every email, meeting, phone call etc.)
Feelings of helplessness or worthlessness (lost confidence in their abilities to do the job to the new company expectations)
Employees with PTSD find fear in speaking up on ideas or points of view for fear of not being in line with their boss. They are in fear of messing something up in their day to day job duties, and also missing deadlines and creating the wrong persona of themselves. The fear of losing their job can be so strong, that employee can over compensate and sabotage themselves without even knowing it
What do we do?
Leadership needs to guide the way to recovery. In these cases, I believe that if managers are really getting to know their employees' work, they are monitoring progress, teaching and coaching and also building the confidence of the employee through praise and engagement this will be the first step to PTSD recovery. Employees who are suffering from PTSD need to know they are doing a good job and that what they do every day has value to the manager and the company. Additionally, it would be good for the company to continue to be transparent about how they are growing. Publishing the results of each quarters earnings and explaining to employees how the company is moving forward based on performance and market are key to helping the PTSD employee know the company is stable. We need to remember that the employee lost their previous position due to downsizing or reorganization. The employee knows the signs of potential for this happening again and they are afraid.
Bottom line: With all employees, continually make sure they know where they stand with managers and company on performance. Be sure you communicating where the company is going and their place in getting there.
PTSD can be very prevalent in your workplace. Many of the employee suffering in silence are products of the 2008 downturn. Continue to improve your communication, transparency and performance management and soon many will start the road to confidence and PTSD recovery, even if you never know it.
