Last month, Google laid off over 12,000 of its employees from different sectors. This news caused negative feelings among employees in other companies ranging from guilt.
“Why do I still have a job while my friends are jobless” to feeling insecure “am I going to be next?”.
Psychological safety at work is an important concept that is often overlooked. We all need to feel secure so we can give our full potential to the work we are doing and focus on our performance, yet the recent climate of job losses and companies closing either due to Covid or any other causes leaves us worried about the future.
Some of us experience constant fear of being laid off which can be severe enough to affect our mental health.
Therefore it’s not a surprise that more people overwork in order to prove their worth or use immoral techniques to keep their jobs and throw “others under the bus”, while others experience lack of confidence doubting their contributions to the company and falling prays for worrying overthinking which impact their performance and increase the chance that they do get laid off.
The advance in technology and the use of Artificial Intelligence in different industries including healthcare and education has also contributed to people losing their jobs.
What used to be the plot of science fiction movies a few years ago about machines taking over certain jobs are now reality. The Internet of things and chatbots have taken the jobs of some customer service workers and public relation officers and are making progress in some health care jobs, in short, no one is safe.
So, what can we do if we are experiencing anxiety about being laid off from work?
Psychologist Mark Travers in an article published in Psychology Today suggests two tips to overcome such feelings.
First, focus on maintaining the good quality of your work, it’s understandable that you may experience a lack of enthusiasm to continue working on a project if you are not sure whether you will be still around to complete it or not.
Psychologists suggest that uncertainty can be a great motivator to keep going. Think about it this way, if you are terminated from your current job you will need to show your new employer that you are confident and able to work under stressful situations which will make you ahead of other applicants.
If on the other hand you start to be occupied with the risk of being terminated you would lose focus on your work which will have a negative impact on your performance, this would be noticed by your employer who may decide to add you to the list of people who would be terminated.
This way your fears become true because you're overthinking.
The second tip is to keep learning new skills. This will help you focus at work rather than trying to understand why your colleagues got laid off and when it would be your turn.
Think about it as an opportunity to grow in your current organisation and bring new skills and contributions to the company.
It’s even better if you select to learn new skills that are beyond your areas of expertise as this will make you indispensable.
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