Survivor's Workshop

BUSINESS News: How did you recognize that downsizing survivors needed help?
Faue: I was doing some consulting work for GPU Energy. The utility industry is going through a reorganization as it is deregulated. GPU had reduced staff a few years ago through voluntary early retirement, but this time they felt they would have to lay some people off. I was providing the employee assistance program. The employees were talking about the pressures put on them and the feelings they had about losing fellow workers. It became clear to me that the organization was going to have problems.

BUSINESS News: Why was GPU headed for problems?
Faue: Traditionally, a lot of attention is focused on the people who are leaving the organization. Management feels like the people who are left should be grateful that they still have a job. By now we have enough evidence to know that is not how it works. The people who are left are actually more fearful and less productive for a period of time than before the downsizing. They have an enormous emotional investment in colleagues and in the organization. If employees don't deal with their fears, those feelings will be carried forward into their abilities to do their jobs. The management at GPU asked me to put together a program. I did so with the help of the text Healing the Wounds by David Nore.

BUSINESS News: What types of feelings are these employees experiencing?
Faue: There’s a lot of literature out there about death and dying. People go through stages such as denial, loss and bargaining to reach some kind of settlement. The same is true for surviving employees. Almost all of them feel loss - a loss of relationship. Some employees speak of betrayal. They thought they had this lifetime employment contract with the company, but it turns out that contract didn't apply to a friend. Maybe the downsizing survivor had to take a pay-cut or move to keep his job. The betrayal they express is very much like something you would hear during marital therapy. It is intense. Part of that is because so many American workers derive some of their identity from their jobs. Other people are very angry. Experts in the field emphasize that feelings may be more intense for the survivor. The downsized individual moves on and has something to balance the anger. Someone left in the organization is told, "Be grateful you have a job. Get to it." It’s not automatically seen as a problem. There are some other organizations starting to do these kinds of workshops, but few deal with the emotional content.

BUSINESS News: What does your program entail?
Faue: We've worked with everyone from directors to the guys who climb telephone poles. I try to encourage people to deal with their emotions. I realized I had to get at the employees' feelings, but still keep m mind that this was a work situation, not a therapy group. We encourage people to haw a balance in their lives. It's important to get to these feelings, acknowledge them, and then move beyond them. I have used my network of associates to help. I called on a consultant who uses humor to help people in stressful situations. Another associate is an expert on bio-feedback and how to handle the physiology of stress. I do a piece at the end of each seminar that talks about the new work contract - what it means to be out in the workforce today.

BUSINESS News: How has your program been received by employees?
Faue:  Tremendously well. This is not a problem that is limited. It affects everyone from an officer to a janitor. We found in one case that a person said he wouldn't speak up because his boss was in the same group, and it could be career limiting. We now ask companies to send no direct reports in the same group.

BUSINESS News: How do companies choose who will survive a downsizing?
Faue:  The corporate culture dictates a large part of how downsizing is done. I saw a humanitarian approach at GPU. It had a good benefits package for early retirement and a lot of services for the people being let go. That culture has always valued its employees. The other extreme is where somebody arrives for work in the morning, and there's a note on his desk that says to come to Conference Room 12. The employee goes there and finds out he is no longer an employee. Every organization also has some small "p" politics - who you know or who you're friends with. These days you also have to acknowledge that an organization that is serious about diversity is going to give more weight to women and minorities.

BUSINESS News: How does the job change for a survivor?
Faue: For one thing, a survivor has more responsibility. Part of the organizational change is how to figure out what parts to let go. In the old organization, your boss was a content specialist. He knew your job better, and he could help you. In today's downsized environment, often the supervisor has hired you because you're the content specialist. He knows what you're doing, but not how you do it. For both the line person and the supervisor, the new organization is filled with tremendous challenges. The nature of supervision has changed.

BUSINESS News: Will your seminars cure downsizing survivors of their emotional instability?
Faue:  One full or half-day seminar is not the end. We have to stay attentive to employees' feelings. In the general work population, some 20% will never be able to acknowledge their feelings. But I tell my client companies that we need to be looking ahead probably about a year or longer, to provide the resources for those employees who continue to have problems. One of the solutions is to work with the managers. You have to have a deep enough clinical repertoire to deal with this stuff. Done incorrectly, you can get people really messed up. It's not going to be helpful to let employees get out there and bleed all over the floor.