The Kept-On Workforce of 2009: Building Options or Bummed Out?

The range of employee needs after a layoff is broad and complex. Organizations can move toward several specific requirements that help create a motivated, connected, and energetic kept-on workforce.

"Waiting for the other shoe to drop" is often the refrain after the dust of downsizing setties. Those employees who have managed to retain their jobs often find that they feel worse about their work lives than those who were forced out. Just as laid-off workers are struggling to reclaim their professional lives, kept-on workers are suffering from the stress of losing organizational life as they once knew it. Others seem to be adjusting quicker. They find themselves, though not thrilled with the new work environment, surviving and even thriving.

The bad news is that downsizing, restructuring, and their cousins have caused companies to lose many loyal, talented, and hardworking employees. Many did not leave their organizations easily or without great distress.

However, data has shown that many laid-off workers are reporting that their terminations caused great difficulty in the short term, but eventually created opportunities that resulted in changes for the better. Those layoff victims, now resuscitated, are "Pushed Out, But Better Off" (POBBOs). This article is not about them.