Losing your job is a powerful stressor that can have a long-term impact on health. A 2006 study by Sullivan and Wachter found that, in the 20 years following the loss of a job, your chances of dying increase by 15 to 20 percent. This makes a lot more sense to me than Chris Ruhm’s recessions-are-good-for-your-health studies.
Losing your job is often preceded by an incredibly stressful period of not knowing what to expect and fearing the worst. My friend Michelle Millis Chappel, singer/songwriter/musician and high tech usability consultant, wrote about her recent experiences at Yahoo. First there were the incongruities.
The fact that Yahoo would be having another round of layoffs was first announced at a company-wide meeting an hour before Yahoo threw a huge Oktoberfest party in which beer, bratwurst and German chocolate cake were served to everyone on campus. A week later we received sparkling wine and cupcakes to celebrate a recent Developer Network (YDN) success. Many people were curious as to why so much money was being spent on these parties, not to mention the upcoming Christmas party, because Yahoo was in such dire straights.
There was a massive re-org, generating lots of rumors.
One woman who lost all her reports packed up her desk weeks in advance of layoffs because she couldn’t take the pressure anymore. … Some people just stopped working altogether because there was nothing to do. … The VP of my division sent LinkedIn invites to all his reports …, so we figured that meant he was going to be asked to leave. But we weren’t sure because he was such a stellar boss. It made no sense. It was a crazy time.
Yahoo ended up laying off 10 percent of its workforce on December 10. Michelle, who was working there on a six-month contract, was not among them. To cheer up her friends and colleagues, she wrote and recorded a music video, “Screw You Yahoo.”
Nothing against Yahoo, says Michelle. It’s one of her favorite companies to work for. “You rhymed the best.”
Related posts:
The economy, stress, and health
An upside to the downturn?
Sources:
Daniel G. Sullivan and Till Von Wachter, Mortality, Mass-Layoffs, and Career Outcomes: An Analysis Using Administrative Data, FRB of Chicago Working Paper No. 2006-21, November 2006
Michael Arrington, “Screw You Yahoo” Says Former Consultant, [L] Washington Post, December 17, 2008
Elise Ackerman, Layoffs spark public venting, San Jose Mercury News, December 23, 2008
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