POSTED: May 24 2021
The impact of redundancies on mental health

Employers urge HR managers to prepare redundancy to minimize their impact on mental health

Most economists expect the unemployment rate (those people that can work and want a job, but can’t find one), to rise later this year; this is due to many of the government support schemes ending after September 2021. According to the Department of Budget and Responsibility around 2.2 million people (around 6.5% of the workforce) could be unemployed by the end of this year, according to the latest estimates.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, sectors such as hospitality, retail and entertainment workers have been hit hard, employing many young people who have been blamed for unemployment. Since the early days of the crisis in March last year, 355,000 salary jobs in hotels, restaurant and pubs and 171,000 in stores have disappeared, out of around 813,000 salary job losses in total. During the pandemic, more than half of the employee decline was under the age of 25.

It is important to consider that the redundancy process has an impact on both parties; both the person being made redundant and the person who creates the redundancy, with the situation putting the latter in a psychological dichotomy.

Recent findings from the CIPD reveal that the psychological impact on redundant envoys is important, and many describe it as an “emotional roller coaster,” of fear, anger, frustration, disappointment, regret, sadness, loneliness, and shock. Guilt is the most prolific emotion in the findings.

The serious negative effects experienced during the implementation of redundancy were described by most redundancy missions as “extremely stressful work” that had a “significant impact” on psychological well-being. For some redundant envoys, the burden became unbearable and had a serious negative impact on individuals and subsequent organizations.

Alison Gill, head of hr at advo commented:

“From a personal point of view, I know it’s very difficult to tell employees one after another, with large or small redundancy, that their role is no longer needed. Whether you know and agree with your business reasons, you will encounter anger, tears, despair, and comments such as “how to feed your children.” You can be sad.

“No matter what is said or presented sympathetically, employees often feel that their decisions are personal, and all this catastrophic life-changing event is their fault and prevents this result. You might point your finger at saying that you should have done more to get rid of it.

“The CIPD study mentioned above concludes that companies need to understand the negative effects and emotional roller coasters experienced by redundancy missions. Often sitting across the table to the team. Little or no consideration is given to senior executives and HR professionals who provide unwanted news about redundancy. It is always seen as part of the job, but it has a significant impact on mental health. May be given.

“In these unprecedented times, and as the amount of work and change management practice increased, it was not so important to consider the well-being of all employees.”

advo has put together some tips for preparing a verbosity mission.

  • Make sure you get training, such as role-playing, for managers who have deliver the bad news. They will never be the same as the real thing, but the manager will remain better prepared.
  • Discuss in advance the emotions that managers may face and ensure that a debriefing session is held at each meeting.
  • Ask your delivery manager how you feel about the situation on a regular basis and start the conversation. Some may be worried that emotional expression may undermine them as professional managers, but they are also “humans”, have emotions, and can be upset.
  • Keep in mind that they may have worked with colleagues who are being made redundant over the years and can affect you more than you think.
  • 2021 should be a year of providing support to everyone. This can be achieved by changing approaches, encouraging people to speak openly about their concerns and concerns without fear of criticism, or the opportunity to use employee assistance programs.

Original article here.