Layoffs unleash a toxic and potentially corrosive brew of emotions across a company, including among workers who survive job terminations. Those employees are bound to experience guilt, fear, anger, and, especially lately, disillusionment over the often secretive and faceless ways in which some corporate leaders have cut jobs.
Meanwhile, managers find themselves in a tricky predicament, wherein they may share the same sentiments as their direct reports but must wade into the collective morass and somehow keep work humming along. The pressure to keep teams productive after layoffs might feel even more heightened as companies target middle management for future layoffs. The thrust is that—in what Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed “the year of efficiency”—companies will likely expect managers to do more with fewer people and resources, never mind that studies say it’s usually impossible.
