How to Support Teams Through Workplace Survivor Syndrome

In the wake of a layoff, we’re supposed to feel grateful. 

The people who are leaving leave, and goodbyes are shared. And for those who get left behind, secure in their jobs for now, the work has to go on. 

But everywhere there are the little reminders that something happened. They’re in a document a colleague created, a deactivated Slack thread, or their imprint in a meeting invite. 

Employees are told to move on — through new targets, new workloads, and a new normal. But nothing feels normal when gratitude is weighed with guilt, and safety turns into fear.

This emotional whiplash has a name: workplace survivor syndrome. And its business impact runs far deeper than just how your employees feel. 

What is workplace survivor syndrome?

Workplace survivor syndrome is the psychological, emotional, and behavioral impact on employees who are left behind after an organization goes through a traumatic event, like a layoff or restructuring.

It’s characterized by fear, anger, anxiety, grief, and powerlessness. It’s all at once a mix of relief — that you’re glad it wasn’t you — and guilt, because you’re glad it wasn’t you. The intensity of these emotional responses can reshape how we behave at work.

“On the cognitive side, there’s a lot of distrust, rumination, and hypervigilance,” said Nicole Eisdorfer, PhD, founder and principal of organizational strategy consultancy Truer Words. “The remaining employees are thinking, ‘Am I next?’ They’re also left wondering, especially after multiple rounds of layoffs, ‘Am I part of the problem?’

“But the behavioral shift that follows it leads to disengagement and risk aversion. Employees could under- or overperform in response — either because they’re trying to avoid being next, or trying to punish their organization for taking their friends away.”

Its impact extends far beyond just individual employees — affecting creativity, productivity, performance, and employee engagement. This translates into tangible costs across the business as projects are disrupted, high-performers leave, and employees lack the morale they need to get work done. 

“Layoffs don’t just remove people,” Eisdorfer noted. “They remove coherence and belief that the logic the organization runs on is understandable. They remove certainty and predictability — and humans anchor in predictability. We like to know who’s on our team, what the rules are, how decisions are made, what our effort gets us. Layoffs fracture all of that at once.”

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Why Workplace Survivor Syndrome Happens

Our relationship with our job can often feel like an unspoken contract: We trust that if we show up and work hard, we’ll be fairly rewarded. 

But when colleagues leave, it destabilizes team workloads and heaps extra pressure on those that remain. High-performers and low-performers alike get hit — and there’s ambiguity over when the next wave is coming. 

Employees are left grappling with their emotions, often without support — and often with radio silence from leadership. And in the end, they realize that even if they do work hard, it might not be enough to ensure job security.

“You’re not just witnessing a layoff — you’re losing your sense of safety,” explained Marissa Alert, PhD, clinical psychologist, workplace wellbeing strategist, and founder of MDA Wellness. “Your assumptions about fairness, about security, about who you can trust — all of that can crumble depending on how the layoff was handled. And your body responds the same way it does to any threat by going into high alert.”

This has a huge impact on our psychological safety — the extent to which we feel comfortable speaking up, taking risks, and sharing ideas without fear of judgment.

“When there’s the introduction of fear and uncertainty, psychological safety takes a hit,” Alert said. “People become risk-averse and stop sharing concerns. They stay silent in meetings where they’d otherwise speak up. The energy on the team might feel different, like people are walking on eggshells. People aren’t able to be as creative or forthcoming because they don’t want to take a risk that could make them look expendable.”

What Actually Works to Support Employees Through Workplace Survivor Syndrome (and What Doesn’t)

During a downsizing process, many company leaders default to some form of damage control. But what may feel like a rallying call for layoff survivors to get back to business as usual can often fall flat — because emotionally, employees often just aren’t there yet. 

HR leaders know this all too well. In our 2024 State of People Strategy Report, 74% of HR leaders said it takes from four months to over a year for employee morale and productivity to bounce back after a layoff. Meanwhile, 66% said their C-suite leaders expect a full recovery in three months or less. 

This critical misalignment leads organizations to make mistakes. Employees get increased workloads as leaders vie to get performance back on track. Organizations ask for feedback, but often aren’t ready to hear it. And they rush remaining staff past grief and feelings of guilt with breezy platitudes and promises of stability. 

The underlying message is that employees should feel grateful — indebted even. And for layoff survivors, it can often deepen the wound.

“Many companies respond to employee distress by saying, ‘You should be grateful you still have a job,’ and tell them that it’s time to move forward,” Eisdorfer said. “That’s not the right approach — you’re just increasing the damage. 

“You have to place the news in the context in which it’s delivered. Leaders often get more time to process this news because they found out months ahead of everyone else. You have to respect that everyone is going to be on different stages of their emotional journey and that they need time and space to process that.”

So what should HR leaders actually do in the wake of mass job cuts? Focusing on communication, employee mental health, and how teams work together is critical.

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1. Focus on transparent, direct communication — on everything.

During periods of ambiguity, your employees are waiting on you to give it to them straight. They need clarity, honesty, and consistency — even if the news isn’t good, or the full picture isn’t clear.

But many organizations think they’re being clearer than they actually are. And that’s where assumptions swirl. 

“In the midst of uncertainty or ambiguity, people create their own stories,” Alert said. “And often, they’re not positive. Our brains deal with that by thinking about the worst-case scenario so that we can best prepare to handle what’s coming. If you’re not communicating clearly, your employees will fill in the gaps, and those narratives are almost always darker than reality. You have to tell people what you know and what you don’t know.”

This goes for expectations moving forward just as much as what’s happening in the moment, Eisdorfer added. In fact, you need to overcommunicate.

“If the narrative about the layoffs doesn’t match the narrative of what the company says they value, your people are going to be hypervigilant,” she said. “You need to be more transparent across the board in all your communication. Be explicit about what your expectations and priorities are.”

Create clear lines of communication by:

• Varying communication formats and channels to reach as many employees as possible.
• Signposting and opening up two-way mechanisms for feedback — such as employee engagement surveys, pulse surveys, all-hands meetings, and bookable office hours.
• Providing talking points to managers on how to discuss the news with their teams.
• Explaining decision-making criteria, as much as possible, on who was let go and why.

2. Acknowledge the impact and validate how employees are feeling.

During redundancies, employee emotions are running high. It’s not enough to say what happened — you have to acknowledge its emotional impact. It’s acknowledging that yes, this sucks, and it’s totally okay to feel that way. 

“After a layoff, employees are reliving what happened daily,” Eisdorfer said. “Every time you see a standing meeting on your calendar that was with a colleague you left, you feel a little sad. Every time you talk to the person that’s taken over their role, you feel resentful. 

“We know from research into trauma psychology and PTSD that witnessing loss, especially of people you care about, is a profound cognitive and emotional disruption. You have to name that loss and acknowledge it. Normalizing that feeling is essential to helping people move through it.”

In practice, this means:

• Noticing patterns or recurring themes in employee questions, behavior, or groups that seem especially impacted (such as those who lost a key peer or mentor).
• Tracking employee wellbeing and sentiment via survey data to understand if there are at-risk groups within the organization who need more support.
• Equipping managers and people leaders with specific language to validate and manage emotional responses within their own teams, rather than redirecting toward action or responses.
• Giving employees a safe space to express their feelings, such as small peer support groups or anonymous online forums.

3. Proactively signpost mental health resources.

“When there’s a major layoff, it creates a whole host of responses — not just emotionally, but in how people work,” Alert said. “It can be really helpful to talk to someone about how to manage and process these emotions.”

A layoff brings a whole bunch of new stressors. But employees are unlikely to go through the employee handbook in search of buried coping strategies. HR leaders and managers need to make that support visible and unmissable.

Pointing employees to paid benefits like employee assistance programs (EAPs) and providing explicit instructions on how to access counseling or therapy may remove just enough friction for employees to seek out support. 

The bottom line is that mental health support needs to be normalized — and employees need to hear that message in multiple different ways.

Support employee mental health by:

• Making mental health support low-friction with an intranet or handbook page detailing all of the benefits on offer and simple ways to access each one.
• Highlighting options for additional time off — including flexible working or mental health days.
• Offering access to digital mental health tools like meditation apps or coaching platforms.
• Supporting managers with scripts to check in on wellbeing during one-on-ones and team meetings.

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4. Help managers safeguard their team’s emotional wellbeing.

Diagnosing capacity issues is one aspect of a manager’s role during a layoff. But the other is making space for its emotional toll on their team. 

Support can come in regular conversations and meetings. But it’s also in recognizing the subtle signals that someone’s struggling emotionally — like a team member becoming withdrawn due to stress or burnout. 

And critically, it’s recognizing what’s causing employees not to share and creating the right conditions for them to do that.

“Some of these behaviors might show up in just how people interact with one another,” Alert said. “Are there shifts in how people converse, relate, or collaborate? Is someone being quieter in meetings than usual? Are you noticing more huddled conversations?

“The question managers can ask isn’t just ‘How are you doing?’ — it’s ‘How has this affected your sense of security here? What’s making it harder to do your work right now?’” she added. “But here’s the thing: Asking only matters if people actually feel safe answering honestly. So the real question managers need to consider is ‘Have we created an environment where people can tell us the truth?’”

Managers can support their team’s emotional wellbeing by:

• Watching for behavioral changes in team dynamics, such as changes in meeting participation or share of voice.
• Monitoring employee engagement surveys for signs of declining mental wellbeing — including survey data, participation, and survey comments.
• Implementing recognition practices to ensure individuals’ contributions are highlighted and celebrated.

5. Redistribute workloads and adjust performance expectations.

A layoff both is and isn’t business as usual. The company still has to run, and employees still need to get their work done. But they’re doing so while managing their own emotions and the pressure of an additional workload from former colleagues.

And when workloads and emotions are running high, it can act as kindling for burnout. In this moment, HR leaders must support managers to realign team priorities, redistribute work, and adjust performance expectations in line with reality.

“Managers need to be clear on what work should stop and what should continue,” Alert said. “Performance metrics also need to shift during this period — you shouldn’t expect people to perform at the same level that they did when they had one role versus three. 

“Managers also need to ask, ‘Is this too much? What feels unclear about what you should prioritize? What can we take off your plate?’”

HR leaders can create the conditions for this by:

• Equipping managers with real-time data on their team’s engagement, sentiment, and overall attrition risk.
• Introducing workload management tools to understand where individuals are experiencing blockers or becoming overburdened.
• Integrating workload check-ins as part of regular one-on-ones that go beyond project status updates.

6. Rethink team structures and rhythms.

Redistribution isn’t just about managing workload and capacity — it’s also about managing the people-sized hole in the team. It’s recognizing that the team’s strength comes from how it works together.

“Don’t just focus on work,” Eisdorfer said. “There’s a lot of research around military team composition and cohesion where if a unit lost a member, they were often better off redistributing all of the members into other units rather than replacing them.”

Eisdorfer isn’t suggesting organizations literally redistribute their teams — but she is saying that psychologically speaking, teams may feel more primed to get stuff done if their rhythms and regular touchpoints are reassessed. 

“If a team lost half their number, at least half of their standing meetings and half of their standing work is going to remind them of that absence,” she noted. “They get re-triggered every single day. Where you can, rearrange meetings and check-ins to fit the team’s new reality, rather than continuing old patterns.”

Support new team rhythms by:

• Auditing standing meetings and recurring workflows to identify which ones no longer serve the team’s needs
• Restructuring projects and teams to reflect current dynamics and capacity
• Creating new team rituals and team-building exercises that reflect the current size and workload
• Revisiting role definitions so each person knows who does what, and how approval chains look

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