THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 5, 1996 TAG: 9601050486
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
If the country's work force had hopes that the brutal corporate cutbacks of the first half of the decade would slow in 1996, AT&T shattered them on the first business day of the New Year when it announced 40,000 layoffs.
Not that December was any holiday, either. Apparently, it is no longer taboo to cut workers during the holidays; employers wiped out 55,237 jobs in December, double last year's December number, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm that tracks layoffs.
``You hate to say it, but 40,000 jobs, 15,000 jobs, 100,000 jobs, they all blend together for the people who are not directly involved,'' said Matt Oechsli, a change and performance consultant in Greensboro. ``But it adds one more seed of uncertainty for people working in corporate America.''
How people react to the stress created by this uncertainty depends on whether they were mentally prepared for the possibility of being pushed out the door, workplace and mental health experts say.
Dr. Charanjit Singh, at Independence Therapy Center in Virginia Beach, said a worker can eliminate some worry by cutting back on expenses, paying off debt and building up savings. Even so, work in the 1990s is more stressful, and people will have to learn to deal with the pressures.
At companies paring their ranks, those lucky enough to be spared aren't necessarily in the clear, she said.
``They could be next in line,'' Singh said. ``And often the company has increased their hours, their responsibility is higher, and people are going to make more mistakes when they're overworked and tired.''
Workers who are laid off, especially at this time of year, may develop low self-esteem or even depression, Singh said. That comes from Christmas shopping bills they may not be able to pay, added to the normal financial pressures.
Marlin Stutzman, a crisis counselor at the FHC-TPI hotline in Norfolk, said those are the same pressures furloughed federal workers are dealing with as the federal government shutdown heads toward its fourth week.
``Our society today is living more paycheck to paycheck,'' Stutzman said, ``so the mortgage, the car payment, food, credit card bills become an immediate concern. Over time, that may become even more of a concern as people use up resources and the creditors run out of patience.''
But even facing all those pressures, laid-off workers should take some time to talk about their fears with friends, collect their thoughts and make a rational decision about what they'd like to do in the future, experts say. And don't get so stressed out about not having a job that you prevent yourself from getting another one, Stutzman said.
``No one hires someone who is down on themselves,'' he said. ``It's a competitive job market to start with, and if you go to an employer and are tired-looking because you haven't been sleeping well, they can see that.''
On the bright side, the nation's economy is adding about 200,000 jobs a month. Virginia is adding 75,000 or more jobs a year, and the unemployment rate is low.
John Challenger, executive vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said his most recent statistics show the average search time for a new job is just over three months.
And contrary to popular opinion that laid-off AT&T employees will become ``hamburger flippers,'' Challenger said 86 percent of laid-off workers are finding an equivalent or better job.
Workers and those laid off should adopt Challenger's assessment of the 1990s job market, a view that is both positive and realistic.
``There's no reason these people won't go out and find good, new jobs,'' Challenger said. ``Unfortunately, they're probably not going to stay even with the next company for the rest of their lives.'' by CNB