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International Journal of Human Resource Studies
ISSN 2162-3058
2014, Vol. 4, No. 3
www.macrothink.org/ijhrs
178
Lay-off Survivor Sickness Syndrome
(Investigating the Lasting Impact on Performance of
Survivors in the Context of Age and Gender in Private
Sector Organizations of Pakistan)
Muhammad Azeem Qureshi (MS)
Assistant Manager Research & Lecturer, Department of Management Sciences
Institute of Business & Technology, Karachi-Pakistan
Email: azeem.qureshi@mail.com
Syed Arslan Wasti (MS)
Deputy Registrar & Assistant Professor, Department of Management Sciences
Institute of Business & Technology, Karachi-Pakistan
Email: arslanwasti@gmail.com
Doi:10.5296/ijhrs.v4i3.6078 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijhrs.v4i3.6078
Abstract
Lay-off Survivor Sickness Syndrome is combination of different psychological and emotional
disorders like anxiety, stress, depression and fear of uncertain future and other similar
conditions. It arises as a result of organizational change such as implementation of change
process or downsizing which is the reflection of response to external changes such as
changing dynamics of economies like recession, intense competition; political situations and
adaptability. Not only the victims of lay-off suffer from Lay-off Survivor Sickness but also
the survivors who remain within the organization go through the same feelings. These
conditions sometimes last for months or even years and demographic characteristics of
survivors can also influence the duration of lay-off survivor sickness which do not only
affect the employees (Survivors) and their families but also the organizations which
sometimes fail to achieve their desirable objectives through downsizing or change process.
Keywords: Lay-off survivor sickness Syndrome, job performance, Age, Gender, Duration of
Lay-off Survivor Sickness.
1.1 Introduction
The recent trend of lay-off has been subject to impact on various sectors of society such as
organizations, employees who have been terminated, survivors of lay-off and even their
families (Appelbaum & Donia 2001). The Lay-off process in any organization leads to
assume by the management that survivors of lay-off being lucky not to be part of those who
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have been fired will make more efforts and exert higher energy level to perform well.
Downsizing produces a "new breed of individuals", i.e. survivors. These lay-off survivors are
expected to perform better by the management in relatively changed and generally
antagonistic environment (Noer 1993). Previous researches are evident that in reality the
situation is quite different from what is expected. Lay-off survivors experience the same
feelings or sometime worse than those who have been fired. Sense of loosing friends, anxiety,
fear about uncertain future, anger for the management, mental depression, stress of extra
workload are the feelings which are known as “Lay-off Survivor Sickness” (Bravenec 2006,
Cemalcilar et al. 2003, Holmes 2007, Sahibzada 2006, Lahner 2004). It is expected from
survivors to perform new work tasks, be more innovative, adaptable and imaginative
but at the same time work in a changed environment with work over-burden and
having a sense of job insecurity (Hamel & Prahalad, 1994; Keenoy, 1994). Under
such circumstances workers fail to maintain high level of performance execution and these
results in decrease in performance. These conditions vary from situation to situation
depending upon in which circumstances redundancies take place, was the reason for going
towards downsizing genuine? Was it communicated to the stakeholders properly? Was it
justified? Was lay-off the only choice available? If yes, was proper counseling provided to
survivors to cope up with the psychological instability? Treatment by management and line
managers also affect survivors’ reaction and attempt to look for a new job to secure them
from next phase of downsizing. Survivors self perception also makes an impact on their
behavior. In spite of the variation in behavior, redundancy does affect performance and
productivity of survivors that ultimately hurts organizational objectives.
1.2 Significance of the study
Lay-off Survivor Sickness is the topic which has been rarely discussed globally as compared
to different human resource domains. No such study, especially in the context of Pakistan has
been conduct with the model that we have developed. Study of the existence of lay-off
survivor sickness syndrome among non-managerial staff is going to help HR managers to
prevent decline in productivity and efficiency of survivors by taking appropriate measures.
This is going to lead organization to achieve its desired objectives. The degree of association
between lay-off survivor sickness and level of job performance can help HR managers to
devise strategies to cope up the situation according to its severity. The investigation of lasting
impact of lay-off survivor sickness syndrome in the context of age and gender will be helpful
to determine the duration of productivity dip which might help organizations to devise
strategies to keep the phase of crazy time as limited as possible. This study can also help to
develop new theories addressing lay-off survivor sickness syndrome. Recommendations can
be given to management organizations which are going to be privatized which have high
probability of lay-off for instance Pakistan International Airline (PIA) and Pakistan Steel
Mills.
1.3 Contribution of the study
As the topic under discussion is completely neglected in HR practices in Pakistan where
many downsizing initiatives have been taken by public and private sector organizations. This
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study is going to provide a strong foundation to HR managers of public and private sector
organizations to address the prevailing or anticipated unfavorable situations. Since Human
Resource Management (HRM) is all about people. Its domain is people oriented and its
studies revolve around people. People are full of emotions that do impact in all aspects of
their lives including their jobs. When people lose their jobs it is obvious that they feel its
impact but the thing is greater concern is that their colleagues who have survived from
downsizing are also affected by lay-offs. Survivors’ emotional instability affects their
performance which gives researcher a motivation to study their varied work behavior of
lay-off survivors and its strength of association with their job performance. This study is the
primary contribution in this regard.
1.4 Objectives of the study
1. To find out if lay-off survivors suffer from survivor sickness in terms of anxiety,
depression, uncertainty about future, insecurity, confusion, shock and sense of loosing friends,
working in local firm at non-managerial level.
2. To find out if lay-off survivors are the victim of lay-off survivor sickness whether it affects
their job performance according their own evaluation.
3. To find out the impact of age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness syndrome
on survivors’ job performance.
4. To find out relationship between age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness.
1.5 Research questions
1. Is there any association between lay-off survivor sickness and survivors’ job performance?
2. Does lay-off survivor sickness affect the performance of lay-off survivors?
3. What impact do age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness make on the
performance of survivors?
4. I there any relationship among age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness?
2.1 Literature Review
2.1.1 Lay-off
Lay-off has been defined as purposefully curtailment in the size of workforce of the
organization (Cascio 1993; Spreitzer & Mishra 2002). Technological advancement, political
and economical instability, intense competition, customer driven markets, financial crisis and
many more other factors have urged organizations to make quantum or radical shifts in how
they manage their resources. There is a continuous pressure on organizations to provide
goods and services of high at competitive price. This insists organizations to restructure their
processes, practices and utilization of available resources to work efficiently and effectively
(Rugman & Verbeke, 1991). In current global economy characterized by Political instability
and recession, it has become a common practice to carry out downsizing/lay-offs to remain
competitive in the market.
Downsizing or redundancy has been characterized as conscious authoritative choice to
shorten the workforce so as to increase organization’s performance (Noer, 2001). Budgetary
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decrease can trigger the choice employees’ retrenchment (Budros, 2002) while different
elements which contribute are acquisitions and (Appelbaum, Everard and Hung, 1999) or
market regulations (Michael, 1997).
2.1.2 Impact of lay-off
Lay-off does not only affect the victims but create a significant impact on survivors which
remain in organization. Lay-off survivors experience many psychological, emotional and
physical issues. There are additional job responsibilities and workload along with anger, guilt,
anxiety, uncertainty and remorse.
2.1.3 Lay-off survivor sickness
Results of a study indicate that lay-off survivors burden broad range of attitudinal, emotional
and behavioral reactions to the downsizing process. All the individual who were interviewed
reported that they had sense of stress, confusion, feelings of insecurity, uncertainty,
frustration and shock. The feelings were similar to those who were laid-off and those who
were survived such as vagueness, confusion, worried, sickness, impatience, disbelief,
insecure, shock and stress. Obviously feelings contrast essentially as for their individual
experience and closeness to the lay-off process itself (Noer, 1993; Nixon, Hitt, Lee and Jeong,
2004).
The cluster of reactions among survivors of redundancy which have been described earlier
are termed as “survivor sickness” (Noer, 1993) or “survivor sickness survivor sickness
syndrome” (Cascio, 1993). Most Organizations fail to achieve desirable corporate objectives
as an outcome of downsizing because of survivor sickness (Appelbaum et al., 1999).
Noer (1993) writes: “Lay-off survivor sickness is a serious, pervasive, and underestimated
problem” (p. 211). Emotions of loss of control over the circumstances and instability due to
conceivable loss of their own employment cause extreme stress in the lay-off survivors
(Mone, 1999).
The lay-off survivor sickness syndrome shows itself in many ways. These incorporate risk
aversion, depression, anger, trepidation of questionable future, distrust, loss of moral and
motivation, burden of excessive work load and reduced organizational commitment (Nixon,
Hitt, Lee and Jeong, 2004).
Brockner (1988) found that managers in organizations ought to anticipate that lay-off
survivors will confront a broad blend of mental conditions which may prompt a significant
change in survivors' conduct and decrease in their creativity. Armstrong-Stassen and Latack
(1992) and Latack (1986) proposed that redundancies enhance level of sadness, stress,
outrage and nervousness from lay-off survivors.
2.1.4 Long Term Impact of Lay-off
Long term effects of downsizing have been noticed by Moore, Grunberg and Greenberg
(2006). The findings of the research indicated that symptoms of lay-off survivor sickness in
term of job insecurity and stress were present even after five years.
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2.1.5 Work life balance
Additional workload and responsibilities resulting from lay-off can disturb work-life balance
of survivors. Strong positive and significant relationship exists between lay-off survivors and
their work life balance (Saif, Malik and Awan, 2011). It is clear that the associations which
deal with their workers by giving them work life parity and facilities normally have a greater
numbers of satisfied employees (Malik, Ahmad & Hussain, 2010) which leads to the
organizational long-term success.
2.1.6 Survivor sickness and performance
Research proposed by (Brockner et al, 1985, 1986) and (Gutknecht & Keys, 1993) also
suggested that lay-off creates impact on work behaviors for instance performance and
productivity.
Empirical evidences prove that downsizing is connected with reduced work exertion and in
this way work execution. For instance, Armstrong-Stassen (1994) has indicated that apparent
job insecurity is specifically related to the amount of work effort exerted and lowers job
performance. In spite of the fact that many research work has been done on
downsizing/lay-off/redundancy but the effect of downsizing on survivors are still little
understood.
2.1.7 Effect of communication
Organizations’ adaptability helps them to create a good fit to remain competitive or leading
organization in the industry. One of the key aspects of an adaptive organization is to change
itself according to the changing dynamics of the environment. Downsizing does fall in the
category of change process. Resistance to change is a natural phenomenon and
communication plays a very vital role to reduce this resistance to change. If properly
communicated and the benefits of downsizing to all stakeholders are conveyed, employees
who remain in the organization (survivors) least resist the process. Brockner et al, (1994);
Brockner, ( 1992) found out that lay-off survivors are less inclined to show negative
disposition and practices if there has been sufficient and clear explanation for the downsizing
process.
O’Neill and Lenn (1995) and Brockner and Wiesenfeld (1993) argue and provide compelling
reason that administration needs to characterize an acceptable way to the future state of the
organization. At the point when lay-off survivors see proper planning, for the new association,
future vision will be seen by them and they will feel that there is a need for this due process
(lay-offs), trust in management will be the result which will certainly result in lower level of
negative attitude.
Survivors are more inclined to acknowledge choices, even unfavorable ones, if they are given
a sufficient and genuine reason for the change (Saunders and Thornhill, 2003).
2.1.8 Effect of relationship
According to Campbell (1999) the results of the research suggested that survivors' responses
are subject to the interpersonal treatment which is gained from both the administration and
their prompt line supervisor. Further investigation demonstrates that the measure of
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connection and correspondence with survivors from their bosses impacts their level of
organizational commitment, work fulfillment, turnover proposition and employment
shakiness. Lay-off survivors who accepted that their connections were great with their line
directors were less inclined to carry on contrarily to the lay-offs. The exploration
additionally shows that survivors are impacted by their work surroundings and their
associates. The examination found that when survivors perceived their work partners to
respond in negative path to the downsizing procedure, they were more likely to react in the
same way. The current outcomes about likewise give solid implication that it may not just the
level of companionship to ones work however their budgetary need to work. The effects
suggest that the individuals who required staying inside livelihood fiscally responded
adversely to the vulnerability of lay-off methodology than the individuals who were most
certainly not.
At last, with respect to co-workers connections, past research (Brockner et al, 1987) proposes
that redundancy survivors who were comparatively "close" to the individuals who have been
fired as the result of downsizing are more inclined to view the redundancies in negative way.
The recent research backs these outcomes and additionally found that survivors were very
impacted by the behaviors of those encompassing them who stayed inside the association.
2.1.9 Sense of injustice
Brockner and Greenberg (1990) propose that the selection criteria (decisional bias) for
downsizing must be seen to be reasonable; in addition survivors are prone to be indeterminate
about the authenticity of this procedure (downsizing process). Brockner et al (1992)
recommend that the individuals who saw they buckled down in the association were less
averse to feel more excellent feeling of treachery if downsizing happens. On the other hand,
the investigation of Campbell (1999) found that all the respondents saw redundancies as
uncalled for independent of their apparent work endeavors.
For the positive relationship between saw equity of the lay-off execution, there exists solid
backing and the mental and behavioral results of the lay-off for survivors (Fried et al. 1996;
Brockner and Greenberg 1990; Brockner and Wiesenfeld 1993; Brockner, Davy, and Carter
1985; Brockner et al. 1986; Brockner et al. 1987). Preceding the lay-off perception, the
recognition that administration has engaged in appropriate planning that management has
engaged in proper planning prior to the lay-off which has also been communicated properly,
has a closed link to trust in management. A survivor who sees that administration had some
long term plan at the top of the priority list when they chose to downsize the association will
have greater confidence in management’s capabilities and more confidence in their aims.
2.1.10 Self perception & Motivation
Past examination (Brockner et al, 1985) suggests that lay-off survivors with a high amount of
self –esteem responded less contrarily in a downsizing circumstance. The current
discoveries (Campbell, 1999) seemed to help this view that, the individuals who saw
themselves positively, discovered the redundancies less debilitating. Regarding the current
study, survivors self esteem appeared to be backed by their self discernment of their capacity
to discover an alternative employment. Frydenberg and Lewis (2002) suggest that the
attitudes towards the new work situation, motivation to carry out the new tasks and
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commitment towards the organization often frequently experience change as downsizing
starts or after it closes. Such changes can result in expanded level of anxiety which in turn
influence work execution and therefore performance.
Extra research has demonstrated that survivors are more inclined to have job dissatisfaction,
low morale and decreased productivity, especially around the individuals who were firmly
attached to an organization (Noer, 1993). There is further confirmation that long term results
of lay-off survivor's sickness syndrome can continue and exacerbate, which further
exasperate issues in the organization (Noer, 1993; Woodward, Shannon, Cunningham,
Mcintosh, Lendrum, Rosenbloom, & Brown, 1999).
Moore, Grunberg and Greenberg (2006) distinguished the long term effect of downsizing
around survivors. They reported that even five years after the fact issues concerning job
security and anxiety were present around survivors. Moore et al. write: "Our discoveries
show rather obviously that the average worker is not developing inured to working in a
chronically tenuous and ever-changing work environment” (p. 326).
3.1 Research Methodology
Nature of our research is primary. Target population is all the lay-off survivors went through
downsizing and experience survivor sickness syndrome in Karachi. We have focused on
non-managerial staff only, as they constitute majority of organization population and enjoy
comparatively less privileges. Data has been gathered through convenience sampling
technique. Three organizations were identified which have had lay-off process in recent past.
A sample of 185 lay-off survivors from four organizations who have had downsizing in last
recent years has been drawn as a sample, taking 10% lay-off survivors from each. We are
examining the emotions, psychological states and work attitudes aspect of lay-off survivor
sickness at non-managerial level in terms of Sense of loosing friends, Depression, Insecurity,
Uncertainty, Confusion, shocked And Anxiety. Model has been developed by taking above
described variables depicting presence of layoff survivor sickness as independent variable
and lay-off survivors’ job performance a dependent variable. Secondly, Age, Gender and
duration of lay-off survivor sickness syndrome has been taken as an independent variable
while taking lay-off survivor sickness as a dependant variable. Thirdly, correlation between
age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness has been tested. Previous researches in
this domain have focused on different dimensions of lay-off survivor sickness such as
examining the relationship between lay-off survivor sickness and motivation, self-concept,
moral, work-life balance and justice perception, stress management etc while our models deal
with the entirely different dimension. Questionnaires were distributed physically among
respondents by meeting them. Questionnaire contains 16 questions that will measure the date
collected on nominal scale. Qualitative data will be gathered to study relationship between”
impact of lay-off survivor sickness” (Independent variable) on employees’ job performance
(Dependant variable). Respondents were asked to describe whether they felt depressed during
the phase of downsizing and what other symptoms they had during the phase of downsizing,
including Sense of loosing friends, Depression, Insecurity, Uncertainty, Confusion, Anxiety
and Shocked. Survivors were asked to describe their performance according to their own
evaluation during the phase of downsizing. Class intervals of time duration (in months) of
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experiencing lay-off survivor sickness syndrome has been taken as an indicator of the average
time the sample was experienced with sickness with respect to their age classification by
taking them as classes ranging from 20 to 60 years. The responses were gathered in a time
span of 2 weeks. Later the data gathered was screened and processed through Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Chi Square and Regression analysis performed to
determine the level of association among variables and how much change occurred in
dependant variable (job performance) with the change in independent variable (lay-off
Survivor Sickness)
3.2 Limitations of the study:
1. Since no official statistical data related to downsized firms neither in Karachi nor in entire
Pakistan is available, personal efforts were made to locate organizations which have had
lay-offs.
2. Since organizations do not disclose downsizing process due to some legal reasons and are
reluctant to disclose facts regarding lay-off, simple random sampling or stratified sampling
technique cannot be applied (as target population size is not known).
3. One of the limitations of convenience sampling technique which has been adopted in this
study is that its results are not generalizable to entire population. But we are studying
psychological and emotional behaviors of respondents which remain universal in the same
circumstances; therefore we can generalize the results of our study.
3.3 Statements of Hypothesis
H1: There is a significant relationship between lay-off survivor sickness and survivors’ job
performance.
H2: Age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness have significant relationship with
lay-off survivor sickness syndrome.
H3: Age and Gender of lay-off survivors have significant relationship with the duration of
lay-off survivor sickness
4.1 Data Analysis
“Regression”, “Chi Square” and “Correlation” were performed to test the fitness of
the model, level of association between two attributes, correlation and cause and
effect relationship between Independent and Dependent variables.
Following are the results with interpretation of the statistical tests performed on SPSS
v 17.0.
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4.1.1Testing H1:
4.1.2 Regression Analysis:
Impact of Lay-off Survivor Sickness on Survivors’ Job Performance
Variables Entered/Removed
Model
Variables Entered
Variables Removed
Method
1
Sense of loosing friends, Depression,
Insecurity, Confusion, Uncertainty,
Anxiety, Shockeda
.
Enter
a. All requested variables entered.
Model Summary
Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1
.779a
.607
.592
.145
a. Predictors: (Constant), Sense of loosing friends,
Depression, Insecurity, Confusion, Uncertainty,
Anxiety, Shocked
1) R = 77.9 (Describing how well the model fit is)
2) R (Adjusted) = 59.2% is Moderate correlation between DV(Job Performance) and
IV(Lay-off survivor Sickness Syndrome)
3) DV (Job Performance) is explained 59.2% through IV (Lay off survivor sickness). It
is moderate value
ANOVAb
Model
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
1
Regression
5.744
7
.821
39.090
.000a
Residual
3.716
177
.021
Total
9.459
184
a. Predictors: (Constant), Sense of loosing friends, Depression, Insecurity,
Confusion, Uncertainty, Anxiety, Shocked
b. Dependent Variable: Job Performance During Downsizing
1) p <0.05 (Sig.) indicates that, overall, the model applied can statistically significantly
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predict the outcome variable therefore the independent variable (Lay-off survivor
sickness) reliably predicts the dependent variable (Job Performance).
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t
Sig.
B
Std. Error
Beta
1
(Constant)
2.979
.084
35.423
.000
Anxiety
-.014
.023
-.030
-.604
.547
Uncertainty
.035
.023
.073
1.500
.135
Depression
-.967
.063
-.758
-15.385
.000
Confusion
-.050
.023
-.108
-2.154
.033
Insecurity
-.037
.025
-.070
-1.460
.146
Shocked
.029
.025
.060
1.138
.257
Sense of loosing friends
.010
.024
.022
.436
.664
a. Dependent Variable: Job Performance During Downsizing
Depression is the only Independent variable (IV) for lay-off survivor sickness that
significantly impacts Dependent Variable (DV) Job performance. Negative/inverse
relationship between IV (Depression, Anxiety, Confusion and Insecurity) and DV (Job
Performance), so every unit increase in depression will result in 0.967 decreases in Job
Performance. In the same way every unit increase in Anxiety, Confusion and Insecurity will
result in decline in Job performance respectively 0.14, 0.50 and 0.37.
4.1.3 Chi Square
Impact of Lay-off Survivor Sickness on Survivors’ Job Performance
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Valid
Missing
Total
N
Percent
N
Percent
N
Percent
Job Performance During
Downsizing * Layoff
Survivor Sickness
185
100.0%
0
.0%
185
100.0%
Respondents’ Response with Respect to Their Performance During the
phase of downsizing.
Count
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Layoff Survivor
Sickness
Total
Yes
No
Job Performance During
Downsizing
Good Performance
4
6
10
Poor Performance
175
0
175
Total
179
6
185
Chi-Square Tests
Value
df
Asymp. Sig.
(2-sided)
Exact Sig.
(2-sided)
Exact Sig.
(1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square
108.520a
1
.000
Continuity Correctionb
90.242
1
.000
Likelihood Ratio
39.486
1
.000
Fisher's Exact Test
.000
.000
Linear-by-Linear
Association
107.933
1
.000
N of Valid Cases
185
a. 1 cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .32.
b. Computed only for a 2x2 table
Responses to different factors constitute layoff Survivor Sickness:
• Most of the respondents (179 out of 185) claimed that they were depressed during the
phase of downsizing while only three (3) claimed that they did not have any depression.
• The other relatively significant factor is sense of insecurity (claimed by 141 respondents)
• Since p < 0.05 therefore we reject null hypothesis. There is a strong relationship between
Lay-off Survivor Sickness (IV) and Job Performance (DV) during downsizing.
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4.1.4 Testing H2:
4.1.5 Regression Analysis:
Impact of Age, Gender and Duration of Sickness of Survivors on Lay-off Survivor
Sickness Syndrome
Note: Since “Depression” is the significant constituent of lay-off survivor sickness syndrome
in our findings, therefore it has been takes as Dependant Variable in the regression and
correlation analysis.
Variables Entered/Removed
Model
Variables Entered
Variables Removed
Method
1
Times of layoff Sickness (Binned),
Gender, Age (Binned)a
.
Enter
a. All requested variables entered.
Model Summary
Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1
.125a
.016
.000
.178
a. Predictors: (Constant), Times of layoff Sickness
(Binned), Gender, Age (Binned)
ANOVAb
Model
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
1
Regression
.091
3
.030
.959
.413a
Residual
5.715
181
.032
Total
5.805
184
a. Predictors: (Constant), Times of layoff Sickness (Binned), Gender, Age
(Binned)
b. Dependent Variable: Layoff Survivor Sickness
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t
Sig.
B
Std. Error
Beta
1
(Constant)
.927
.073
12.658
.000
Gender
.051
.037
.107
1.405
.162
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Age (Binned)
.023
.019
.094
1.226
.222
Times of layoff
Sickness (Binned)
-.005
.015
-.027
-.358
.721
a. Dependent Variable: Layoff Survivor Sickness
1) R = 12.5 (Showing weakness of the model)
2) R (Adjusted) = 0.00% is very weak or negligible correlation between DV(Lay-off
survivor Sickness Syndrome) and IV(Age, gender and Duration of Sickness)
3) DV (Lay-off survivor Sickness Syndrome) is not significantly explained through IV
Age, gender and Duration of Sickness).
4) p >0.05 (Insignificant) indicates that overall, the model applied cannot statistically
significantly predict the outcome variable therefore the independent variables (Age,
Gender and Duration of Sickness) does not reliably predicts the dependent variable
(Lay-off survivor sickness).
4.1.6 Correlation:
Correlations-Layoff Survivor Sickness & Age
Layoff
Survivor
Sickness
Age (Binned)
Layoff Survivor
Sickness
Pearson Correlation
1
.064
Sig. (2-tailed)
.386
N
185
185
Correlations-Layoff Survivor Sickness & Gender
Layoff
Survivor
Sickness
Gender
Layoff Survivor
Sickness
Pearson Correlation
1
.085
Sig. (2-tailed)
.250
N
185
185
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Correlations-Layoff Survivor Sickness & Duration of Sickness
Layoff
Survivor
Sickness
Duration of
layoff
Sickness
(Binned)
Layoff Survivor
Sickness
Pearson Correlation
1
-.020
Sig. (2-tailed)
.789
N
185
185
Since Pearson’ r values is closer to 0 (Age=0.064, Gender=0.085 and Duration of Sickness =
-0.02), it can be concluded that there is a weak relationship between variables. This means
that changes in one variable are not correlated with changes in the other variable.
So, in the light of the results of regression analysis and correlation, we reject the proposed
alternative hypothesis (H2) that Age, gender and duration of lay-off survivor sickness have
significant relationship with lay-off survivor sickness syndrome and accept the null
hypothesis (Ho).
4.1.7 Testing H3:
Impact of Age and Gender of lay-off survivors on the duration of lay-off survivor sickness
Age (Binned) * Times of layoff Sickness (Binned) Cross tabulation
Count
Duration of layoff Sickness (Binned)
Total
<= 5 Months
6 - 10
Months
11 - 15
Months
16 - 20
Months
Age
(Binned)
21 - 30 Years
74
36
13
6
129
31 - 40 Years
10
15
15
3
43
41 - 50 Years
4
2
0
0
6
51 - 60 Years
2
5
0
0
7
Total
90
58
28
9
185
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Gender * Times of layoff Sickness (Binned) Crosstabulation
Count
Duration of layoff Sickness (Binned)
Total
<= 5 Months
6 - 10 Months
11 - 15
Months
16 - 20
Months
Gender
Male
74
48
26
7
155
Feale
16
10
2
2
30
Total
90
58
28
9
185
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However the duration of lay-off survivor sickness has decreasing trend as the age of
respondents increase and the male respondents suffer the lay-off survivor sickness longer
compared to female respondents, but the following correlation result shows that the
relationship among duration of lay-off survivor sickness, gender and age is not significant.
4.1.8 Correlation:
Correlation-Gender &Duration of Lay-off Sickness
Gender
Duration of
layoff
Sickness
(Binned)
Gender
Pearson Correlation
1
-.048
Sig. (2-tailed)
.519
N
185
185
Correlations-Age & Duration of Lay-off Sickness
Age
Duration of
layoff
Sickness
(Binned)
Age
Pearson Correlation
1
.018
Sig. (2-tailed)
.812
N
185
185
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Value of Pearson r = -0.048 (negative weak association) for and r = 0.18 (Positive weak
association) in case of Gender and Age with respect to Duration of layoff Sickness. So it can
be concluded that there exist a weak relationship between variables. So, in the light of the
results of correlation, we reject the proposed alternative hypothesis (H3) that Age and Gender
of lay-off survivors have significant relationship with the duration of lay-off survivor
sickness and hence accept the null hypothesis (Ho) for H3.
5.1 Conclusion
Results of the study based on the data collected from three organizations of sample of 185
respondents support the results of previous studies that propose that lay-off survivors also
suffer from depression, anxiety, shock, insecurity, sense of loosing friends and uncertainty
which are termed as “Lay-off Survivor Sickness” and this sickness affects their performance
during the phase of downsizing and there is a strong negative relationship between lay-off
survivor sickness and survivors’ job performance. However “Depression” in our context is
the most significant variable that contributes the most in lay-off survivor sickness while
“Anxiety”,” Uncertainty about future”, “Confusion”, “Shock”, “Insecurity” and “Sense of
loosing friends” contribute insignificantly to the sickness and hence job performance.
Results on the analysis data concerning H2 and H3have led us to reject the alternative
hypothesis. However lay-off survivors having age between 20 to30 years and male
respondents were experienced more lasting impact of the lay-off survivor sickness than
elderly personnel and female respondents respectively, no significant relationship could be
exhibited from regression analysis and correlation testing between variables.
5.2 Suggestions and recommendations
To avoid facing undesirable consequences organizations should take all precautionary
measures that may include consultation and proper communication to employees about
redundancy and why it is necessary to take place.
Implementation of culture of change also helps organizations and their members to
embrace the change open heartedly.
Organizations should justify the lay-off process to their employees, so there should not be
feelings of injustice that decreases the moral of both victims and survivors.
Counseling of survivors is also helpful for taking them out of depression, anxiety and
other mental and psychological disorders.
Downsizing should only be taken place when there is no choice left. In countries like
Pakistan where unemployment rate is higher, downsizing can make the economic
situation worse.
5.3 Future scope of the study
1. This study is going to help to understand in future the work behaviors of lay-off survivors
in terms of absenteeism, intention to leave organization, family home conflicts due to
depression can be measured.
2. Impact of layoff-survivor sickness on middle level management’s performance can also be
determined.
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3. Factors causing rejection of 2nd and 3rd hypothesis can be investigated to have deeper
understanding of the phenomenon.
4. The success or failure of the prospective redundancy process in Pakistan can be compared
with the results of this study.
5. What impact of lay-off is created on the customers of the firm which might not be receiving
promised quality of the product or services due to decline in performance of employees?
Can be ascertained?
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Mr. Manzoor Hussain Memon from AASA Consulting Pvt. Limited (AASA) &
Social Policy Development Centre (SPDC), Dr. Muhamad Asif Khan (NBP), Mr. Zeeshan
Khan (FAST) and Shoaib Ahmed (IBT).
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