Restructuring, job cuts, layoffs – these terms are now part of our everyday working vocabulary. In Germany, according to an economic survey by the German Economic Institute, 36 percent of companies plan to cut jobs in 2026. In such moments, attention rightly turns to those affected: people who lose their jobs are suddenly faced with great uncertainty.
But there is a second group that almost always remains hidden: those who stay. From the outside, they are the lucky ones. They keep their job and their salary and their health insurance. So what is there to complain about?
A job cut also leaves deep marks on those who remain – psychologically, emotionally and often physically. Overlooking this can cause lasting damage to companies because it has a direct impact on the motivation and performance of the entire team.
That’s why it’s particularly important for HR managers and managers to understand the situations of the remaining employees and to support them. We’ll take a closer look at how this can be achieved in this column.
What is Workplace Survivor Syndrome?
The so-called Workplace Survivor Syndrome describes the psychological, emotional and physical reactions of employees who have survived a job cut – i.e. who continue to work while colleagues have been laid off.
At its core, it’s about a mix of contradictory feelings: relief at not having been fired and, at the same time, feelings of guilt because you feel like you somehow don’t deserve to stay, or because you believe you are responsible for someone else’s firing. This emotional ambivalence is human and often very stressful. Because the very fact that Feeling relieved can further fuel feelings of guilt.
How Workplace Survivor Syndrome manifests itself
The researcher Pedro Neves (2014) distinguishes between two basic reaction patterns: Destructive Survivorswhich focus primarily on the negative, and Constructive Survivorswho, despite everything, remain forward-oriented. Which type predominates depends less on personality than on how the company handles the situation.
What those affected experience is broad – and goes far beyond the classic feeling of guilt:
- Anxiety and increased alertness: “Am I next?” is a thought that persists. Many employees are trying more and more to understand the signals from management. Every email and every meeting is scanned for possible clues.
- Grief and loss: When long-standing colleagues suddenly leave, it means a loss of familiar working methods and work friendships for those remaining.
- Anger and distrust: Layoffs are often experienced as a breach of contract – not in the legal sense, but in the psychological sense: the company has broken an unspoken agreement. This creates mistrust in the leadership and fears that more jobs will be cut
- Physical stress reactions: Sleep disorders, concentration problems, headaches and stomach aches – the emotional burden often manifests itself somatically, i.e. in the form of physical symptoms, although the cause is psychological.
- Withdrawal and risk aversion: Psychological safety suffers during layoffs. Employees are suddenly afraid of losing their job, so they don’t talk about things openly, come up with less creative ideas and are unwilling to try new things or take risks.
Consequences for the company
A look at the 2024 State of People Strategy Report from Lattice, an HR software platform for performance and talent management, shows how lengthy this is: 74 percent of the HR managers surveyed said that it takes between four months and more than a year for the motivation and productivity in the team to return to the old level after job cuts.
This quickly creates a vicious circle: the remaining employees find it harder to concentrate because their fear ties up cognitive resources. At the same time, the pressure to achieve more is growing because the tasks of the laid-off colleagues have to be taken on. For fear of being perceived as “not resilient enough,” personal limits are silently pushed back.
In the end, employees are exhausted or, in the worst case, completely absent – exactly when the company needs them most. And the damage doesn’t stay internal: employees who have resigned internally express their frustration externally. Layoffs not only leave their mark on the team, but also on employer branding – an aspect that is often underestimated in restructuring planning.
What HR managers can do
How employees react to layoffs is largely determined by the behavior of the organization. Here are some levers HR can use to support:
Actively renew the psychological contract
For many remaining employees, the implicit agreement of “loyalty in return for security” appears to have been terminated through job cuts. HR should therefore explicitly discuss the employment relationship and working conditions with the team again: What can the company continue to offer? What has changed?
Strengthen ambiguity tolerance in the team
After a job cut, all questions are rarely answered. When employees are left alone with these questions, they usually fill in the blank spaces with the worst. HR can counteract this by actively addressing ambiguity: What do we know right now – and what don’t we yet? What decisions are still pending and when should they be made? At the same time, it helps to make the familiar visible and convey stability: Which values, structures and contact persons remain?
Say goodbye to employees who are leaving together
A separation ritual may sound strange at first. But when colleagues are simply gone from one day to the next, an emotional emptiness remains. A short shared format – a farewell, a final lunch together, a heartfelt message – gives shape to the loss, shows appreciation for those who are leaving, and allows the rest of the team to actually process what happened. This strengthens trust in the corporate culture in the long term.
Realistically redistribute workload
Downsizing usually means that the same workload is distributed among fewer people. This is not adequately addressed in many restructurings. HR should actively insist that tasks and priorities be reassessed – realistically and fairly. An honest look at what really needs to be continued and what can be canceled protects against overload and signals: We are not indifferent to your well-being.
Support managers
Managers themselves are not immune to Workplace Survivor Syndrome and are burdened twice: they have often communicated or at least supported the layoffs and at the same time have to lead their team through the process. HR can provide targeted support to managers: through individual discussions with coaches or psychologists, moderated group formats in which managers can exchange ideas at eye level, or low-threshold digital support offers.
Offer support to employees
Support formats should also be introduced for employees. HR should ensure that concrete contact points exist – and actively communicate that using them is not a sign of weakness. Individual discussions with coaches or psychologists can also be helpful for the team, as can guided workshops in which the experiences are processed together, or digital platforms for mental health that are accessible at a low threshold and anonymously. It is not only important that the offers exist, but that they are actively communicated and visibly supported by management.
Direct the focus forward
Employees don’t need slogans to persevere. What helps them is a clear and honest answer to the question: What role do I still play and where is the company going? Future prospects that are concrete and realistic provide more support than vague promises. HR can help to make development paths visible and thus strengthen the feeling that the remaining employees in the company are valued.
HR can retain remaining employees
Workplace survivor syndrome is a predictable reaction to a stressful experience – and it affects a group that rarely features in the public discourse about layoffs.
This group in particular is crucial for what comes after restructuring: productivity, culture, stability. Companies that do not proactively support remaining employees risk multiplying the costs of job cuts through absences, internal terminations and declining motivation. HR has a key role here – as a forward-looking force that thinks into the planning stage: What do those who stay need?
