Workers who Survive Downsizing More Likely to Become Sick, Study Says

      - Do you get headaches or high blood pressure at the thought of co-workers getting fired?

      You have company. Employees surviving a downsizing are more likely to suffer sickness and stress if they perceive the layoff process to be unfair and secretive, Boston University researchers are reporting today.

      The researchers surveyed more than 6,000 contract workers at five Department of Energy sites, including Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Nevada Test Site, hoping to investigate the best way to preserve the health and morale of employees who remain during the job-cutting process.

      The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health funded the seven-year study of the agency, which had been tightening its ranks since a 1993 Congressional mandate.

      Stressful Situations

      "No one has considered the health impacts of reducing workforces," says Lewis Pepper, an associate professor of environmental health at BU''s School of Public Health and lead author of the study. "When individuals are put into workplaces where there is chronic stress, the likely outcomes are malaise, unhappiness, anxiety, as well as high blood pressure, and possibly heart disease."

      Pepper found workers at highest risk for suffering health problems such as backaches, headaches and anxiety were those who perceived the layoff process as unfair, those who felt uninformed about the process, and those who ended up overworked in high-demand low-authority jobs.

      Employees were also more likely to suffer health problems if they had direct contact with the downsizing process, such as firing people themselves, getting fired or rehired, or changing jobs as a result.

      Physical Manifestations

      Experts agree a sense of unpredictability and lack of control common during a downsizing can lead to feelings of anxiety and stress that can eventually contribute to physical symptoms.

      "Feelings are frequently converted into physical symptoms," explains Dr. C. Donald Williams, president of the Academy of Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry in Tysons Corner, Va., and a psychiatrist in Yakima, Wa.

      Mitchell Marks, a San Francisco-based management consultant who has consulted on downsizing for Fortune 500 companies, says he often sees increases in sick-leaves for workers after their companies have downsized. "People get depressed," he says, "they don''t want to get out of bed and go to work and see all the empty desks."

      A study by Finnish researchers published in the Lancet this year also found long-term sick leave taken by surviving government employees doubled after a period of major downsizing.

      These workers are not just calling in sick out of spite, Marks says, but are truly suffering physical ailments. At one high-tech firm shedding 10 percent of its workers, the company nurse found that the number of employees with high blood pressure rates doubled after the downsizing, from 11 percent to 22 percent.

      Layoffs Still a Risk

      Even with one of the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years, ongoing corporate consolidations and dot-com disasters make downsizing still a "prime management strategy" that can strike any worker, Pepper says.

      "Both presidential candidates have promised that under their watch government is going to get smaller," he adds. "What that means is that downsizing isn''t over."

      Ideally, Pepper says, downsizing companies should emphasize fair procedures and open communication during a process of layoffs. They should also institute stress management programs and assess workload demands to prevent overburdening the remaining workers.

      Although such guidelines were already in place at the Department of Energy facilities, they were not always implemented during the process, he says. "Truthfully," Pepper says, "from the perception point of view, individuals who work at those facilities don''t feel they were involved."

      "Employers can lessen the ill effects of changes on their workers by being up-front with them," agrees Williams. "The worst thing is for there to be an information blackout."

      Can You Protect Your Health?

      But what if surviving employees find themselves at the mercy of secretive and arbitrary managers after the pink slips have gone out?

      Marks suggests workers make use of Employee Assistant Programs, venting sessions, or even writing in a journal, to express their anger at the situation. "Let it out," he advises. "Control your emotions rather than let them control you."

      Pepper also points out that those who were members of a union or a "bargaining unit" were less likely to report health problems. "I think there''s a greater sense of control over the process and the outcome," he explains. "I think that''s important for people to know."

      Workers shouldn''t blame themselves for the situation. "What is happening is not their fault," Williams says, "They are not a failure because of it."

      And if all else fails, he adds, "consider the possibility of looking for work in a better company."

    

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