The company I work for just did a big round of redundancies. I've kept my job, but it was a very stressful period for all involved and a lot of my friends have now been made redundant.
Whilst I'm glad I was safe, I'm massively struggling with survivor's guilt and feel very awkward talking to former colleagues.
It's all started to make me feel very anxious, and also angry towards the bosses for laying off so many good people. Is there anything I can do to help get rid of these feelings?
‘Survivor’s guilt’, Karen… A very tough one indeed. I certainly don’t envy your situation. Your reactions are entirely human and entirely understandable – but you need to address your emotions and approach all of this as a professional.
First and foremost, unless you want to be the next out of the door, you really need to get ahold of your anger towards your bosses. It is very unlikely indeed that they just got rid of all of these “good people” because they are nasty tyrants who enjoy making others suffer!
On the contrary, in such cases it is often underestimated quite how traumatic the whole experience can be for the management, having to implement redundancies like this. They are human too – and I’m quite sure it’s not been a picnic for them.
Try hard to see things from their point of view. I’ve been in this situation myself before and sometimes you just have absolutely no choice but to make some people redundant so as to save the jobs and livelihoods of others.
When it comes to your former colleagues, yes, they might resent you slightly for still having a job – but it’s not your fault they were made redundant and it’s not your fault that you weren’t.
Try to get your head round this. I do appreciate, of course, that this is so much easier said than done!
Top Tip: If your organisation is making redundancies then keep your head down, do your job to the best of your ability – and try to be grateful that you still have a job to do!
Redundancy is a difficult time and there’s often little justice in an employer’s choice of who to make redundant. However, whilst it’s unlikely that anyone is made redundant through any fault of their own, the fact that they have been made redundant may unfortunately be perceived in a negative fashion by a prospective employer.
The simplest solution to this is to not make any mention of the fact on your CV. Including your reasons for leaving any job is unnecessary – and redundancy is definitely no exception.
The subject may, of course, come up in interview. Just make it clear that it wasn’t your fault. It is the position that is redundant, not the individual person.
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