Leaders need to be aware of and attend to the

How the hidden cost of downsizing may be impacting your firm’s managers
KAREN VERNAL
For SBT
Leaders in organizations are not aware that many of their managers are suffering from a common disease. Its name: compassion fatigue.
In this climate of corporate downsizing, rightsizing and re-structuring, little attention has been directed to the impact on the messenger as he or she delivers the “tough news” that an employee will no longer have a job.
While many executives may be engaged in delivering the message, most of that difficult task rests on the shoulders of middle management within an organization. It has been suggested that downsizing is here to stay; that organizations will continue to change, re-shape, re-organize in order to meet customer and business needs.
There have been models developed to assist leaders in that process. There are numerous recommendations about how the information needs to be delivered – both to the employees and to the organization. Authors, consultants, and business gurus suggest that leaders need to appreciate that the survivors of downsizing will also need attention as they experience the loss of their colleagues, increased demands on their time, and changes in work expectations.
There is on-going dialogue about whether or not employees need to be informed of the impending decision or be given “pink slips” without notice on a pre-determined day. Within organizations, leaders argue the merits of a systematic approach to letting people go over time versus a massive exodus – “once and for all”.
There are no perfect roadmaps for this very difficult process, and very little attention has been given to the dramatic impact of downsizing on leaders and managers who must be the voice of the organization to the employee that he or she no longer has a job.
A colleague and friend of mine, Karen Schudson, introduced me to the work of Charles Figley, a sociologist, who coined the term “compassion fatigue”. The focus of his study has been directed to professional helpers (hospital staff, emergency workers, caregivers, etc.) In his book entitled Compassion Fatigue: Coping with Secondary Stress Disorder in Those Who Treat the Traumatized, Figley states that: “The capacity for compassion and empathy seems to be at the core of our ability to do the work and at the core of our ability to be wounded by the work.”
Compassion fatigue, is the pain – physical, emotional and spiritual that is experienced as a “direct result of the exposure to another’s traumatic material.” When an employee receives the news that he or she will no longer have a job, that employee is likely to be traumatized. Effective leaders know their employees and they know their stories. They are at the highest risk for compassion fatigue because they are deeply aware of the life circumstances of their employees and what the news of a job loss will mean for them.
Don is a manager of a distributorship for a large industrial organization. Don is well liked and trusted by his employees, and he is identified as a “rising star” by the leadership within the organization. He has been passionate about his work and invites the best work in his people. The company, however, has lost a major client and Don has been directed to reduce his workforce by 20% (translation: He will deliver news that will alter the lives of 25 people with whom he has a significant relationship.)
During a recent consultation, Don disclosed that while he believes that he is delivering the news with sensitivity, he finds himself obsessed with thoughts about Mary, whose husband was in a car accident and is now unemployed, and Sam who has a new baby and a parent recently diagnosed with cancer. Don has difficulty sleeping; he has withdrawn from activities that he previously enjoyed; he is questioning the value of his work.
Kathleen, a manager in human resources for an international financial institution, is a partner to managers as they meet one-on-one with employees to tell them that they are being laid off. For the first time in her career, Kathleen wonders if she needs to voluntarily leave the organization. She is repeatedly tearful in routine conversations, often has headaches, and lives with tidal waves of self-doubt about her role as an HR manager. She experiences difficulty concentrating and is fearful that she no longer is making an adequate contribution to her team.
Both of those managers are exhibiting signs of compassion fatigue, a hidden cost of downsizing.
Unlike burnout, which is a gradual process that worsens over time, “compassion fatigue is a condition that can emerge suddenly, without warning, with symptoms that sometimes seem disconnected from their actual causes. Usually, compassion fatigue has a faster rate of recovery than burnout.” (“Healing the Healers, 2001, handouts prepared by Karen R. Schudson, M.S., and Charles B. Schudson, J.D.).
Leaders need to be aware of and attend to the “trauma” that the process of delivering the downsizing message may have on the health and well-being of their most valued managers. Leaders have an opportunity to provide additional support to managers by:
– Communicating their awareness of the impact to managers
– Encouraging and modeling good self-care and work-life balance (self-reflection, exercise, time off, etc.)
– Providing external resources for managers
– Creating a forum for managers to share their experiences with one another
– Asking managers what they need during this time
– Providing regular one-on-one positive feedback to managers
These are very challenging times for organizations. Leaders are compelled to make tough decisions and managers are asked to implement them. When leaders recognize and respond to the impact of downsizing for managers as well as employees, the organization has the likelihood of a timely recovery and the ability to refocus on future possibilities.
Karen Vernal is president of Vernal Management Consultants in Milwaukee. She can be reached at 414-271-5148 of via e-mail at vernal@execpc.com; www.vernalmgmt.com
July 20, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee