It’s that time of the year again when the technology industry is making all the headlines.
Headlines that make investors giddy with glee but leave employees wrought by anxiety as Welchian tactics of mass layoffs rampage through the sector. A function of poor capital allocation by leaders fueled by the drunken intoxication that comes from drinking their kool-aid, over 34,000 people globally have lost their jobs this year, with the trend projected to increase.
From Google to Grammarly, Salesforce to Salesloft, and Cloudflare to Cloudera, over 140 companies have already right-sized their workforce in 2024 in a bid for profitable growth.
Sadly, as tech employees, we’ve come to understand that job security isn’t a given as it once was for our parents. It’s a matter of when not if. However, understanding that doesn’t take away from the sting of the inevitability, which sadly hit closer to home for me this time around.
“Not Impacted”
Last week, my organization trimmed 7% of its global workforce.
Though I was retained, it’s a misnomer to say I wasn’t impacted. Several of my close colleagues, mentors, and friends are no longer with our company, leaving me with a hollow feeling.
Now, before we get any further into this post, let’s be clear: I’m not saying my struggle is equivalent to those who lost their jobs. It’s not. This post isn’t meant to diminish their experience—it’s meant to normalize the perspective from the other side.
There’s an unspoken pressure to present a sense of gratitude for not being let go, and any display of negative feelings is taboo. But that shouldn’t be the case. I can be grateful and be pissed off about the situation.
And as it turns out, it’s a common feeling.
I’m a Survivor—Of the Workplace
Queen B and the gang of Destiny’s Child must have realized their song would be the perfect balm for tech employees dealing with workplace survivor syndrome.
It’s a well-documented phenomenon that employees experience after company-wide layoffs. According to Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas, a clinical psychologist, it stems from a mixture of grief from losing colleagues, anxiety regarding their job security, overwhelm from needing to pick up more work, and distress from deteriorating psychological safety.
Grief, anxiety, overwhelm, and distress—check, check, check, and check.
To make matters worse, layoff survivors are less productive, have less trust in leadership, and have a less optimistic outlook on their company’s products and services.
Work fosters relationships, relationships breed community, and community contributes to meaning. With that sense of community in tatters, it’s no surprise that retained employees struggle.
Finding Ways to Move Forward
An annoying character flaw of mine is that I’m quick to identify solutions even amidst challenging situations—this time was no different.
In a recent chat with my coach, he pointed out the importance of giving myself space to sit with my emotions. Just like you can’t rush the marination of a chicken, you can’t fast forward through processing the complex feelings associated with workplace survivor syndrome. So my first piece of unsolicited advice on this is just that: be a metaphorical chicken breast and sit in the marination of your emotions—to my vegan friends, being a carrot works too.
Secondly, reinvest in your community at work. You’re not alone; other colleagues are also struggling. It’s an opportunity to reach out, build new relationships, and reinvigorate that sense of meaning. Importantly, this isn’t about replacing your previous work besties; it’s about rebuilding community at work while staying in touch with your old coworkers.
And finally, help those who have lost their jobs. Part of the guilt that comes from survivor syndrome is the helplessness from not being able to look out for others. But you can take action now: check in on them, write LinkedIn recommendations, and broker connections within your network. These small actions can go a long way, and you’ll find solace in supporting your peers.
Epilogue: People as Numbers
Businesses have a fiduciary obligation to their shareholders to act in their best interests. Part of that means taking shareholder capital and investing it wisely to garner a return on investment. This can be accomplished through paying a dividend, acquiring new companies, and hiring talent to help the business grow. In that light, a reduction in force (RIF) is a clear admission of failure in capital allocation to the market by the leaders of an organization. Sadly, those leaders rarely suffer the consequences of their actions and, if anything, are rewarded by soaring stock prices on the news.
Understandably, the financial health of a business is the priority. That is a fact with which I agree. And companies should strive for efficient operations. However, my qualm is that mass layoffs are becoming habitual in our sector. Leaders consistently fail to learn from their mistakes, and we should demand more from them as shareholders, employees, and society.
Jeff Bezos famously said on leadership: “You don’t get paid to make thousands of decisions every day. You get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions.”
So, I’ll leave you with a final thought: Do our leaders deserve their positions based on the quality of their decision making?
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