Layoffs: Support for Every Side of the Experience

Layoffs touch more than the people who lose their jobs. They touch the people who remain, wondering if they’re next, and often, someone who has to lead a team through the aftermath. Whichever side of it you’re on, the experience is disorienting, and there’s no single right way to move through it.

This Isn’t a Reflection of Your Worth

Whether you were laid off or you’re one of the people left behind, it’s easy to internalize a layoff as something personal, but it almost never is. Economic conditions, restructuring, and business decisions drive these outcomes far more than individual performance. Remembering that doesn’t make the experience painless, but it’s worth holding onto, especially on the days it’s hardest to believe.

If You’ve Been Laid Off

• This isn’t your fault. Say it to yourself, even on the days it doesn’t fully land yet. Economic and business decisions, not your worth or performance, are almost always behind a layoff.
• Watch your self-talk. It’s easy to spiral into “I’ll never find anything” or “I’m not good enough.” Catch those thoughts and replace them with something truer: there is a job out there, and you will find your way to it.
• Keep a routine. Get up, get dressed, and give your days some structure, even if you’re setting that structure yourself. A schedule protects momentum in a way that’s easy to lose without one.
• Treat the job search like a job but protect real life too. Update your resume, research openings, build new skills, and work at it with purpose. But also protect time away from the search entirely, rest, movement, and things you genuinely enjoy matter just as much right now.
• Don’t do it alone. Hiding a layoff from family or isolating yourself removes a source of real support. Letting people know what you’re going through, even if it feels uncomfortable, often leads to help, leads, or encouragement you wouldn’t have found otherwise.
• Watch for warning signs in yourself. Depression or increased substance use can creep in quietly during a hard transition. If you notice either, seeking counseling early is a sign of self-awareness, not a last resort.

 A few updated places to start a search: LinkedIn and Indeed for job listings, and your state’s workforce agency, searchable through CareerOneStop, for unemployment benefits and local resources.

If You’re a Layoff Survivor

Staying on a team after layoffs happen around you comes with its own emotional weight, one that often goes unnamed. It’s called workplace survivor syndrome, sometimes layoff survivor guilt: a well-documented mix of relief at keeping your job, guilt about that relief, grief over colleagues who are gone, and anxiety about whether you could be next.

Feeling relieved and guilty about that relief at the same time is genuinely common, not a character flaw. A few things that help:

• Acknowledge the feelings instead of pushing past them. Pretending you’re fine when you’re not tends to extend the discomfort, not shorten it.
• Stay connected to colleagues who were laid off, outside of work, if the relationship was real. The loss of those day-to-day connections is a real loss, even if the friendship continues elsewhere.
• Watch for guilt-driven overwork. It’s common to take on more, faster, to prove you deserve to still be there. That instinct is understandable, but it’s not sustainable, and it’s not actually what determines your value here.
• Be patient with the timeline. Morale and a sense of stability often take months to return, not days, even when leadership hopes for a faster bounce back. Giving yourself that same patience is reasonable.

If You’re Leading a Team Through This

Leading people through the aftermath of a layoff is its own hard task, especially on top of absorbing the decision yourself. Over-communicating beats going quiet; uncertainty tends to fill gaps with worse assumptions than the truth. And expecting your team to bounce back quickly can feel dismissive of what they’re processing; recovery usually takes longer than leadership hopes for. If you’re navigating this yourself, Leadership Consultations through your VITAL WorkLife EAP are built for exactly this kind of moment, not just for managing others through it, but for you too.

A Quick Self-Check

• Whichever side of this I’m on, am I being as patient with myself as I’d be with someone else in this situation?
• Have I isolated myself, or let people know what I’m going through?
• Am I watching for signs, in myself or a teammate, that this is becoming more than day-to-day stress can hold?
• Would talking to someone, a counselor, a coach, or just an outside voice, help right now?

Whichever Side You’re On, You Don’t Have to Navigate It Alone

A layoff reshapes things, whether it happened to you, to someone you work with, or to a team you’re responsible for leading. None of it has to be carried alone.

Need Support Through a Layoff or Its Aftermath?

Whether you’ve been laid off, you’re adjusting after losing colleagues, or you’re leading a team through change, confidential support is available. As a VITAL WorkLife member, register / log in to access confidential counseling, coaching, and well-being resources available to you and your family.

Disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment.