Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Labor & Employment Law Blogs -> Thoughts from a Management Lawyer

Labor & Employment Law

: Thoughts from a Management Lawyer

Emotional Impact of Being Laid Off

By Michael Fitzgibbon

The New York Times has an article aptly entitled Wall Street Exodus: Fear, Panic and Anger that discusses the psychological and emotional impact of being terminated.  It's an interesting article written in the context of downsizings in the financial sector (Wall Street in this case).  According to the article:

..... psychologists say, for those being laid off, whether or not they are comfortable expressing it, there is boiling anger, a sense of betrayal and loss that is bound to rise to the surface.

I think it is helpful for employers to understand the impact of the termination on the employee as well as on the survivors.  That knowledge allows the employer to appropriately deal with both groups in a manner that responds to the psychological impact while not aggravating or exacerbating it. 

Full post as published by Thoughts from a Management Lawyer on May 30, 2008 (boomark / email).