Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations

Recently, as Noer notes, organizations from public to private to nonprofit have ``embarked on a frenzy of layoffs.'' In this outstanding study, a major contribution to business literature, the author maintains that these layoffs have eroded the trust between employees and employers and have created a new managerial paradigm: ``Organizations that once saw people as assets to be nurtured and developed began to view those same people as costs to be cut.'' Noer ( Jobkeeping ) cogently addresses the violation of the old employment covenant of secure, paternalistic rules. Further, he notes, while those who are dismissed are usually offered counseling services, those who remain are left to cope with their anxiety and distress and the dismantled corporation, a process Noer terms ``layoff survivor sickness.'' He also suggests how companies should downsize, stressing the importance of compassion, communication and the acknowledgment of codependency, in which employees derive their self-worth from their role in the organization. (Oct. )