How to tackle stress post job loss

Gone are the days when people had complete job security at work. It is no longer that scenario where one did not have to worry about losing one's job

The markets are changing dramatically and so is the economy. In olden times, the trend was to get into a government or public company and never worry about losing the job as such jobs were prominently permanent. But now, with the economy shaping up, companies today resort to cost-cutting as a wild-card strategy, to sustain itself for long.

It largely happens that the employees blame themselves for such involuntary resignations, but the truth is that the individual is nowhere at fault. It is just a management decision to postpone the expansion to a later date when the economy is more fruitful, so as to get a balanced return on investment (ROI) ratio.

But, as the western culture starts to dominate, the thought process, though, changes at a slower pace. The employee is highly traumatised and is under a dilemma of a job loss. A job loss becomes as psychologically challenging as a loss of a relationship in some cases when a person is emotionally attached to the job.

It is natural to identify yourself with the job as it gives you a status in society and offers the financial freedom to live a normal life. It becomes a source of self-esteem when you are appreciated in office, for a job well done. There is no doubt that a loss of job leaves us famished and jolted. We may not accept it so easily, it may take some time for reality to sink in. The mind is boggled with questions like: "What will I tell my spouse, my children, neighbours, relatives?" You may want to isolate yourself, avoid social gatherings to hide yourself from unwanted questions. We would feel helpless and would want to blame our boss, colleagues, or ourselves for the situation we are in.

If we ponder deep into the ‘Why me' or the ‘If not' it would become difficult to come out of it. Well, now is the time to counter the stress caused due to job loss. There are a few things that you can do to reduce the damage and harm to yourself and your family. You can constructively manage the situation in order to avoid falling into the realm of disbelief, self pity, anger, frustration and depression.

Essentials to manage stress of job loss -

Discuss: Involve your spouse or family members. Discuss the situation with them. Plan out alternatives to reduce the current spending for a while. Inform your children regarding the matter and assure them that such things are normal. Few words of assurance will give your children confidence to lead a normal life;

Use the time: Do not cry over spilt milk. Do not waste your time in lamenting over the situation. Instead, take it as an opportunity to do the things that you have always wanted but could not do them due to lack of time. For example, spend some time with your children. Take them to school, play with them. They will cherish such memories. Get in touch with your old friends. Follow a new-found hobby such as photography, interior designing, etc;

Plan your finances: Evaluate your financial position. Determine what payments need to be made in the near future. Use your savings judiciously. Prepare a short-term financial plan which you must stick to in order to sort things out;

Insurance: Be sure you understand your insurance options so that you and your family can remain covered without any lapses during your search for a new job;

Curriculum Vitae: Prepare a new resume highlighting all your achievements till date. Mention all the accolades you received in your previous job. Mentions the times when you were appreciated by your previous bosses;

Optimism: Think positively and offer positive, reassuring thoughts to yourself and your family. Positive thinking can make a huge difference on how quickly you find the right job. Enthusiasm will impress prospective employers much more than if you sink into a negative outlook and carry it with you unintentionally during interviews;

Consider all options: Many a times in life, what initially appears to be negative ends up being a blessing in disguise, and losing your job is no exception. Perhaps you weren't completely happy with your job, but were hesitant to leave it. Now that the decision has been made for you, you finally have the opportunity to try out a new profession or company.

Publised on online edition of ItsMyascent.com

What should be rewarded: Efforts or Outcome?

We may begin by comprehending the distinction between ‘efforts’ and ‘outcome’. In layman terms effort is regarded as an attempt or endeavour towards a task or job the final result or outcome of which may be desirable or undesirable. Furthermore one can say that there are no available means to measure the ‘effort’ as a quantifiable variable compared to outcome which can be quantified or easily measured; Example an increase in sales can be measured in actual figures.
When a management is faced with a situation where it has to decide on parameters such as effort or outcome to reward an employee it becomes most advisable to select an approach which incorporates both aspects i.e. effort and outcome in a balanced proportion. Similar to holding a weighing scale where one must avoid extreme cases.
What we can learn from the story of the ‘Hare and the Tortoise’ (project Gutenberg’s)is that in spite of putting greater efforts than the tortoise, the hare lost the race; suggestive of the fact that outcome is not dependent on the doer of the task as the tortoise is said to have won due to the negligence on the part of the hare. This in a way leads us to a conclusion that outcome is an independent event not entirely dependent on the labour of the employee but also dependent on external factors. For example in a game of cricket the outcome of win or lose is also dependent on the performance of the opponent team thus very wisely a Man-of-the-Match award is presented to the player who has shown exemplary performance (in a way, put in efforts) irrespective of him being from the winning side or losing side.
Some may argue that the above reasoning is indicative of a pessimistic mindset of a person who may want to avoid taking the blame on his shoulders. But it is easy to agree on the fact that effort will definitely lead to a better outcome. The theory which we have always tried to push into the minds of young students by delivering a gospel to them that: if you study (put in efforts) you will pass with good grades and if you do not study you will definitely fail!
This also suggests that we ourselves have been placing greater emphasis on Effort knowing that its outcome would be undeniably better that an outcome derived without employee’s efforts, which may be better sometimes due to chance or good fortune but not always. Thus we can conclude that employees who put in efforts should not be neglected while rewarding since in time their efforts are bound to give way to sweet returns.

Emotional Quotient @ Work

Emotional Quotient or EQ is a measure of a person’s emotional intelligence. A person’s awareness of his/her own feelings and emotional triggers, those of others around him/her and the ability to respond appropriately to them, based on what the situation and social norm requires rather than what personal emotions dictate. It is about knowing when and how to express emotion in any situation, and equally importantly, about recognizing emotional triggers and controlling them.



In contrast, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) defines the level of intelligence an employee possesses to understand, interpret and implement one’s knowledge in varied situations.



In his book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman has described emotional intelligence as the wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. The book outlines four main constructs upon which EQ is measured:-



Ø Self-awareness – Awareness of one’s own emotions and the ability to recognize their impact.



Ø Self-management – Control over one’s emotions and impulses while adapting to changing circumstances to bring about the desired positive outcome.



Ø Social awareness – Ability to sense and understand others emotions and expression of the same within social norms.



Ø Relationship management – Inspire, influence, and facilitate development even while managing conflict.



EQ can be learnt and developed so that it becomes a tool, a skill set. Some roles, especially as you climb higher up the corporate ladder, require a higher EQ. Leadership roles, management level roles and particularly customer-centric roles place a high premium on a strong EQ. Handling difficult situations and difficult people maintaining one’s own equilibrium and controlling volatile situations with the right attitude is the true mark of a leader. It is reflective of his/her high EQ. It is important to assess this perspective of EQ during a selection process.

Retaining Employees

One of the biggest challenges for a company is to retain its workforce, especially considering the growing competition, surviving businesses, having the best talent, the amount of time and cost involved in recruiting and training a new hire, etc. Enormous efforts are put by companies to retain the hired people, sometimes even enormous costs but they are not always successful.


There are a few basic components of a retention strategy that must be addressed in order to infuse confidence among employees:-

Ø Career development opportunities

Ø Effective performance management

Ø Work-Life balance

Ø Compensation and recognition


Lifelong employment with one company is no longer a desired or necessary option to many employees and they are continuously scouting for the best benefits, culture and work environment. With turnover costs running very high, companies must make retention of top employees a priority and address the retention issues of employees in order to remain competitive in the business.

One of the important things to remember if you have not been successful in retaining an employee is to stay connected to him. This is the next best thing companies can do and convert him as your external PRO. This is one way of turning a threat into an opportunity. It is worthwhile to communicate to them that they are welcome back. The more you stay in touch with them, the more are chances that they will refer more people to you or even consider returning

Building a better workplace

As an organization we all focus on our products and business. But apart from being known for its business it is very important for every organization to be recognized as a people-oriented company. We must remember that products cease to have an existence without people to create, market and support them.



Each organization should be respected for its intrinsic belief in people. Understanding employees and knowing their satisfaction levels is very important for the sustainability of the company. Conducting employee satisfaction surveys is one of the most common and popular methods of understanding the pulse of the organization.



Studies show that organizations make improvements upto 10 percent annually in overall employee satisfaction scores, provided that persistent efforts are made to improve HR systems and culture. While 100 percent employee satisfaction scores may be unheard of in the Indian industry, organizations who have consistently worked on improving their HR systems and culture could have satisfaction scores ranging from 60 percent to 80 percent.



However, if the organization does not communicate the results of a survey or does not act on the key concerns of employees, subsequent surveys often show lower scores. Thus, measurement or diagnosis is only the first step. It must be followed up with significant efforts to address the key areas of concern indicated by the survey, to build a better workplace.

Engage Your Employees

There are typically three types of employees in every company. The ‘Engaged employees’ who are completely committed to the role that they perform and deliver superior results. The ‘not engaged’ employees who do pretty much what they are supposed to do (nothing more or less) but are susceptible to overtures from competition. The third band, the ‘actively disengaged’, is employees who have completely lost their link from the job they are supposed to perform in the company.



As you read this, think about which of these three groups do you fall under? Think of your colleagues. Almost certainly you will be able to categorize all the people that you work with into one of these three groups.



Companies have attempted to work on this issue for a long time now. They have relied on employee satisfaction surveys to provide them inputs about what needs to be done to create employee engagement. It is an ‘emotional economy’ and at the heart of this emotional economy is the ‘manager’, the leader of a team. The manager makes or breaks the journey that the company makes on the road to emotional engagement. Great managers do four key things-

> Select for Talent. Great managers are very careful about their choice of team-members and make sure that there is a clear talent-role match.

> Set clear expectations. Great managers define outcomes and let each employee find their own way to achieving these outcomes.

> Motivate people based on their strengths

> Develop people based on their fit, instead of simply moving them up the hierarchy.


And all this works, and works dramatically. Emotionally engaged teams are more productive, more loyal to the company, create higher levels of profitability, and higher levels of customer satisfaction. In other words, it’s about business success, not just about creating a great place to work.

(The author - Sudhir Dhar is Head - Human Resources, Motilal Oswal Financial Services)

HR for Non HR Managers

We all might have noticed that most Managers in any organization get to leadership role because they have proven their excellence as individual contributors in their areas of operations and specializations. But same time not many of them have had any formal or structured orientation to managing people, even some may have not attended any management program informally. As we all know still it is people in the organization who build organizations, achieve results, strategize for growth and bring about change.

It is well know thing “ people leave their boss not company” thus it is important for all line managers to have that capability of understand their people better. An employee walk to office every day with an initiation that he is going to work for that day, now it depends on the boss is he able makes sure that employee contributes to the organization goal. It has been seen that employee will perform best when they are in their best of “Mood”.

New to management or a seasoned professional, is how they can manage mood of their employees so that their performances can increases continuously assuming that they has required KSA for the assigned role.

Mostly, we all as managers view the employee as economic employee who works for money or salary, I feel all managers should treat the employee as human being having economic, social and psychological needs. Thus, human resource management in not only the responsibility of the HR department it is responsibility of all reporting manger.
-Sudhir Dhar, Sr VP - HR, Motilal Oswal Financial Services