RIF Recovery: Healing, hope and health

A new study by Leadership IQ reveals the glaring truth about the reduction-in-force aftermath. If you have recently experienced a reduction-in-force in your organization, three-fourths of your employees are likely experiencing a decline in productivity. Fewer people are doing the work and less work is being done by those who "survived" the reduciton.

The study of 4,712 survivors in 318 firms revealed other disturbing facts:
- 64% said the productivity of their colleagues has also declined
- 81% said the quality of service the customers receive has declined
- 77% said they are less likely to recommend their organizations as good places to work
- 61% said they believe their companies' future prospects are worse

How does an organization recover from such a devastating blow? In difficult times, an organization cannot afford to have a demoralized, unproductive staff. What is the answer?

Healing
The answer begins with healing at the Senior team level. That's right - the Senior Team members must become vulnerable. Transformational leaders feel the impact of a reduction-in-force just like all other employees. Employees want to know that their leaders are real human beings. The healing process invites Senior Leaders to examine their own role in the reduction-in-force and discuss how it impacted them individually and collectively. These authentic discussions can then extend into the workforce so that healing can take place at every level of the organization.

Hope
Once healing has begun, it is time to plant the seeds of hope. To foster hope, leaders must offer a new vision of the organization that employees can help to build upon. They will help their leaders rebuild the organization and inspire them when they are down. People want their organizations to succeed. Loosening controls and opening to employee involvement is essential in this step. Appreciative inquiry is a perfect tool to use to engage the workforce and inspire hope for the future.

Health
As employees get into action to rebuild the organization, health is restored. If 75% of your employees currently feel unfocused and are struggling to put in a full day's work, imagine all of your employees feeling energized and united around a common vision. Research on successful organizations reveals this as a formula for success.

With recognition that your employees need to heal and find hope, your organization can move from devastation to health in the matter of a few short months.

Reduction-in-force: Who is really impacted?

A friend had been anticipating a pink slip for weeks. The employees of her company had been told it was coming, but of course no one knew who would be impacted. Over these weeks she experienced all of the common feelings - fear, sadness and anger. She began her contingency planning in-between her sessions of disbelief where she stared blankly into space for extended periods of time. It is shocking at first to discover that you are dispensable, after you've given everything you have to an organization for some of the best years of your life. What did all the evenings at the desk mean now? What if she had spent those weekend hours with family? What had she given up?

She was prepared for the worst. If it happened, it happened. Yes, they probably would lose the house, but she is no stranger to hard work. Someone would give her a job. The family would make it through this.

Maybe it wouldn't even be her who is impacted and all this worrying is meaningless. But what if it impacted someone in her department? They were already working with a skeleton staff. How will they get the work done? Maybe it would be better to be the one who is impacted.

She wasn't the one.

She stood there bawling helplessly as her friend and co-worker packed up her desk and prepared to leave. Memories flashed through her head of all they had been through together - engagements, weddings, pregnancy and the birth and death of family. She thought she was ready to handle whatever happened, but here she stood bawling like a -human being.

It was the moments of shared humanness that flashed through my friend's head as she watched her colleague exit, not last quarter's project. Our workplaces are stages for meaningful human connection and when the connection is broken - we mourn. In the weeks that follow the reduction-in-force my friend carries all of the same emotions she experienced before, but she is now able to add guilt to the list. She feels grateful that she has a job, but the gratitude is laced with fear and she struggles to complete the volumes of work thrown her way.

Who was truly impacted by this reduction-in-force?

The ripple effect of a RIF is far reaching and runs deep. The impact is felt for a very long time and the devastation cannot be ignored.

Look for our next blog posting: RIF Recovery: Healing, hope and health.