Saturday, June 07, 2003
Survivors Guilt
Psychologists and business professors say that survivors of layoffs experience many of the same conflicting emotions as survivors of much greater hardships, such as plane crashes or wars.
"On the one hand you're happy to be alive, a positive emotion," says Columbia Business School professor Joel Brockner, a leading expert on corporate survivor syndrome. "But it's sprinkled in with a heavy dose of negative emotion: 'Maybe it's not over,' 'It could happen to me.'"
Brockner says survivors often feel guilt that they kept their job while others lost theirs. "The more they feel, 'It could have been me,' the greater the guilt," he says.
Yeah - it could've/ should've happened to me. The former intern currently holding the postition of "Envelope Licker" should not be the one left after a restructuring . . . Esp. since Becky is the one who helped me with everything I didn't know (and still don't know!) don't like this - - don't like it at all
Psychologists and business professors say that survivors of layoffs experience many of the same conflicting emotions as survivors of much greater hardships, such as plane crashes or wars.
"On the one hand you're happy to be alive, a positive emotion," says Columbia Business School professor Joel Brockner, a leading expert on corporate survivor syndrome. "But it's sprinkled in with a heavy dose of negative emotion: 'Maybe it's not over,' 'It could happen to me.'"
Brockner says survivors often feel guilt that they kept their job while others lost theirs. "The more they feel, 'It could have been me,' the greater the guilt," he says.
Yeah - it could've/ should've happened to me. The former intern currently holding the postition of "Envelope Licker" should not be the one left after a restructuring . . . Esp. since Becky is the one who helped me with everything I didn't know (and still don't know!) don't like this - - don't like it at all