'Survivors guilt' for those who keep their job
Whilst many are struggling after being made redundant, those who still have their jobs are also facing an emotional struggle, reports the Times.
Those watching colleagues being made redundant are experiencing a worrying time as they wonder if they will be next, and try and pick up the extra workload. They also suffer from feelings of guilt as co-workers lose their job.
It’s not just relationships in the work place that can become strained – often friendships can alter if a friend loses their job. Of the 29 million people currently working, over 3 million of these will have lost their jobs by the end of the year, reports The Work Foundation, so it is almost inevitable that everyone will know someone who has become unemployed.
Alain de Botton, the philosopher and author of The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work said: “The loss of a job means a loss of income, but also – and no less seriously – a loss of self-esteem and identity. The first question people ask each other when they meet is, ‘What do you do?’; an occupation is at the heart of our sense of who we are.”