“Like a dream come true” is the classic reaction many have after finally making it to a FAANG company. Google’s cold emails and Meta’s gutting of managers is not something these candidates would have thought of while accepting the offers. The recent mass layoffs at these companies have led to a cloud of fear, shame, and worry among the workforce. The affected employees have experienced various emotional stages and are often left feeling appalled and disappointed.

In mental health parlance, ‘cluster feelings’ are normal to experience but layoffs can function as an untimely trigger. Research shows that a person’s stress level is 5 out of 10 when employed but it can rise to 8 or higher when healthy coping mechanisms are compromised. 

Number Talks

According to Layoffs.fyi, 10,8346 have been trimmed from the tech workforce since the beginning of 2023. Historically, fluctuations in the global economy are natural. But experts believe that the current ongoing wave is infamous for several reasons. The first is their scope and scale. Secondly, the redundancies are noteworthy. As a result, many workers are feeling a sense of cognitive dissonance, living in the fear of being the next in line to be sacked. 

One of the summaries of over 300 studies shows that the unemployed are highly troubled and more likely to report mental health struggles than the employed. Furthermore, firing is linked to a higher risk of suicide and mortality, more typically in the decades after, as a ripple effect.

Another 2008 research shows that the chances of developing a health condition grows by 83% during the initial 15 to 18 months after a layoff, with stress disorder being the most common condition. Layoffs have been consistent since the first wave of the pandemic but the ongoing mass redundancies were unanticipated and are widely deemed to be much more devastating than the ones before. A global Randstad survey of 35,000 workers indicated that more than 50% of respondents are concerned about the economy and job security. 

Overhired, Now Repent

The same workforce that was highly valuable to employers during the pandemic is, all of a sudden, increasingly disposable. Unfortunately, the economy has a lengthy history of booms and busts. Even if management changes its tune, the next downturn is likely to lead to layoffs again.

In a letter terminating 12,0000 of employees, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai wrote, “Over the past two years, we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today”.

The pandemic led companies to abundant hiring as the market demands evolved globally overnight under lockdowns. In the initial months of 2020, there was a paradigm shift towards online services. Companies witnessed substantial growth and resorted to overhiring to meet the demand without a contingency plan in place. 

For instance, Google instantly revamped ‘Google Meet’ to accommodate more participants. Similarly, Meta rapidly changed WhatsApp’s video conferencing product. The technological replacement required seasoned manpower which inevitably led the tech giants to go on a hiring spree. In the past three years, the products have matured and not much change is warranted at present. So, companies are trying to reduce their headcount. 

In Long Run

In case of worsening psychological issues, people often turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse, to manage stress. Though they provide short term relief, in the long run such mechanisms only worsen overall health and wreak havoc with numerous side effects. It is a destructive and chronic issue as the long-term effects are deep-rooted and vary from erosion of skills due to lack of usage to a feeling of homelessness due to dislocation. 

“Often, job seekers will say that when I interview them, that’s the first time anyone has asked them kind of probing, deep questions that invite them to candidly explain their experiences and their pain,” said Ofer Sharone, PhD, who founded the Institute for Career Transitions (ICT), a pro bono support centre for the long-term unemployed. “And they do want to talk about it if they think someone is going to be empathetic and wants to hear.”

“I think the best way to help, in addition to listening, is to think about whether you know anybody in your network that could be a lead for them,” Sharone said. “Because this is really how the game is played. And we can be critical of that—I am critical of that—but that’s the reality for job seekers.”

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