I just returned from three days in New York where I talked to some members of the business press about my book and about layoff survivor sickness. 

Advertising revenue has dropped precipitously in all of the print and most of the electronic media.  The big spenders for advertising: cars, banks, high end consumer goods, travel, are just not placing the ads.  As a result some very good and talented people are being let go.  It is not hard to get the attention of business reporters on the subject of layoff survivors when they fit that profile.  What I found interesting was that some, in an effort to appear businesslike and objective, initially found it much easier to discuss layoff survivor symptoms in the abstract than to use their own situation and feelings as a frame of reference to understand what was happening to others.

I have found this same phenomena with HR people and others who are involved in layoff planning and administration.  At one level, it is an understandable defense mechanism to remain objective and business like.  At another, it makes it harder to face the inevitable reality that layoff survivors in all professions and in all functions need to personally deal with some pretty toxic emotions in order to move on.

I just returned from facilitating a workshop at a hotel in Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, about 30 miles from the strip.  The scars of the economic environment were everywhere – abandoned construction, vacant shops, and a casino with only four other customers at three in the afternoon.  A security guard told me they now close at 10:30 PM.    That’s a sign of the times!

One of the participants, the owner of a small manufacturing business, didn’t buy my advocacy of giving people who were targeted for layoffs as much advance notice as possible.

“They will act out – not work hard – steal our customer lists – and possibly sabotage some of our equipment.”  he argued.  “Far better to not tell them, and when the time comes, escort them out the door quickly.” 

It was his business, his money, and he was a customer, but I could not disagree more.  There is probably some very small degree of risk that some of these things could happen but that needs to be weighed against a far greater risk of mistrust, alienation, and anger.  I know of no research that concludes that withholding information from those who will be downsized is beneficial.  There is, on the contrary, there is a lot of evidence that employees can not only handle this information, but that it gives them a sense of control which leads to a better adjustment and no decrease in productivity.  There is significant evidence that control is a key variable in a time of uncertainty.  If we have control we can handle almost anything and if we don’t have it, we get worse. 

Then, there is the ethical issue.  If we have information that will greatly effect an employees life – like if she or he will have a job in a few months – how ethical is it to not tell them or even, by our silence, give them the impression that they will keep their jobs?  For me it boils down to our belief in the nature of people.  To go way back to Douglas McGregor, do we have theory X assumptions that we can’t trust people and, unless they are carefully monitored, they will “get” us, or do we have theory Y assumptions that people can be trusted and, when empowered, will do the “right” things.   When it comes to downsizing, I think there is great power in being straight with employees and establishing  a theory Y culture.  That will not only help those who will be leaving but also those who remain and, ultimately,  the organization itself when things turn around.

Re-Framing Ten Old Reality Commandments

I’ll launch this blog with reframing ten commandments.  Not “The” Ten Commandments, but ten assumptions concerning loyalty, motivation, and commitment that have been conditioned into us in the old reality but need to be re-framed in the light of the irrevocable unfolding of the new psychological employment contract between employer and employee.  As is the case with all shifts in ingrained values, accepting some of these new commandments can be an against-the-grain experience for some people.  Nonetheless, I believe the shift is irrevocable and the sooner we begin to live by the new commandments the better we and our organizations will be.

First Commandment: Thou Shalt be Paternalistic to Thy Employees.  In order to insure a dependable work force employers should have a strategy to provide as many services and programs as possible that tie the employees’ sense of purpose and social identity to the organization. 
First Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt not Place Thy Social and Emotional Eggs in the Organizational Basket – It Shalt get Dropped and Thine Eggs Shalt be Broken. Paternalism sends the wrong message. It leads to unhealthy dependency and when, inevitably, downsizing happens employees who overly rely on their organization for social and emotional support are set up for layoff survivor sickness.

Second Commandment: Thou Shalt Trust that the Organization Will Take Care of You.  Loyal employees trust that the organization will take care of them if they meet performance standards.
Second Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt Take Care of Thyself. By now employees should know that it is impossible for organizations to control conditions so that they will have the necessary resources to take care of their employees over the long term.

Third Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Look for Another Job While Still Employed.  Loyal employees don’t look for jobs while still employed.
Third Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt Continually Network and Keep Thy Skills Marketable.  In the new reality, everyone, including the manager, is encouraged to continually network and cultivate outside options. External networking and keeping skills relevant to the needs of the market place are not indexes of loyalty, but of common sense.

Fourth Commandment: Thou Shalt Make Employees Dependent on Thy Organization.  In order to control and direct employees, managers need to structure a long term, dependency relationship.
Fourth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt not be Seduced into Dependence.  People who remain organizations because they choose to be there, rather than because they have to be there, are much more creative, productive, and less susceptible to survivor symptoms. 

Fifth  Commandment: Thou Shalt Motivate Thy Employees by Bestowing Rewards and Delivering Punishments.   Managers provide external motivation by manipulating rewards and punishment.
Fifth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt Provide an Environment That Lets Thy Employees Motivate Themselves.  Employees are capable of self-motivation and this internal motivation is much more powerful than the externally imposed variety. In the new reality, the primary motivators are interesting work and the acquisition of valuable skills.

Sixth Commandment: Thou must always be tough and brutally honest.  Managers must be tough minded, objective, brutally honest, and never let feelings and emotions distract them from getting the job done.  “Touchy feely” management does not work in the “real world.”
Sixth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt be Empathetic and Caringly Candid. Feelings and emotions are the currency of the realm when employees are gridlocked by fear, anxiety, and depression. That’s the “real” real world. Truth telling is mandatory but honesty should not be brutal. Caring Candor is helpful; brutal honesty is destructive.

Seventh Commandment: Thou Shalt Promise a Long Term Employment Relationship. Employees need the promise of a long term, stable employment relationship. Organizations provided it once, and they will be able to provide it again.
Seventh Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt not Expect Long Term, Uninterrupted, Employment Continuity with a Single Organization. The last thing employees need is a promise that things will return to normal. It is a promise that employers won’t be able to keep and when, inevitably, it is violated, management credibility will suffer.

Eighth Commandment: Thou Shalt Covet Permanent, Long Term, Employees.
Permanent, fulltime, long term employees are the glue that holds organizations together.
Eighth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt Not Keep the Wrong People for the Wrong Reasons. Like it or not, in the new reality all employees are “temps.” We need to find new glue. That doesn’t mean that employees won’t stay for a long time. When employers provide good work and empowering leadership, talented employees will stay for the right reasons and they will tend to stay for as long as those two conditions are met. It is much more hazardous to organizational health when employees stay for the wrong reasons: because they are afraid to leave and have no marketable external skills.

Ninth Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Allow Employees to Whine and Bitch. Whining and bitching is bad and managers need to stop it.    
Ninth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt Facilitate Employee Venting.  “Whining” and “bitching”, are prejudicial words and only serve to reinforce norms that preclude employees from the crucial task of externalizing their disabling feelings.   Properly facilitated, venting repressed feelings is an exceptionally powerful managerial tool.

Tenth Commandment: Thou Shalt be in Control at All Times.  In times of organizational trauma and turmoil, it is even more important that those in authority maintain an aura of stern unflappability.
Tenth Commandment Reframed: Thou Shalt be Freed by Unmasking Thine own Vulnerability.  In order to be relevant to the needs of their employees and reduce their own stress, managers give themselves permission to “own” and express their personal vulnerability. That reaffirms their humanity and frees up their ability to form authentic empathetic relationships with their employees.