Recession leaves many in employment limbo

Allison Linn Senior writer • Profile • E-mail

The morning after she lost her job, Patty Powers expected to wake up with that feeling of dread you get when you realize that something bad has happened, like a death in the family.

Instead, she felt relief.

“I almost felt like a new opportunity had opened up for me,” she said. “I really felt worse when I was waiting.”

For months, Powers had gone to work knowing there would be little if any work for her to do because of a steep slowdown in business at the health care consultancy where she worked.

At first, her boss used the lull to encourage employees to take additional training. The staff also took on a pro bono case and was encouraged to seek out other potential business leads. In their copious downtime, they sent around computer games to play.

Toward the end, Powers said her boss literally gave her the assignment of updating her resume. Finally he called her into his office and, in an emotional hour-long meeting, told her he would have to let her go.

It was only after that that the Ontario, Calif., resident realized how hard it had been to go to work every day knowing that it might be her last — or might not.

“I really didn’t know how stressful it was until I got laid off,” said Powers, 50. “It was like a hindsight thing.”

The economic recession has pushed hundreds of thousands of Americans into a similar  employment limbo, still holding on to a job but worried that they might lose it any day.

U.S. companies announced plans to lay off 241,749 workers in January alone, the largest monthly total since January of 2002, according to data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The pace of job cuts hasn’t abated much in February, either, with companies such as General Motors announcing plans to cut thousands more jobs over the next year.

It can often take months for companies to complete a massive layoff, leading to a nerve-racking period in which workers are left to wonder whether they will be targeted, and anxious to defend their position.

Of course, no one relishes the thought of the unemployment line, and the nation’s soaring jobless rate has left many laid-off workers unable to find a new job at all, let alone one that is comparable to their old one.

Still, for some the most stressful part is the ambiguity of not knowing if, or when, they will be joining the swelling ranks of the unemployed.

“The condition of uncertainty is sometimes actually worse than actually knowing that you’re going to get laid off,” said Leon Grunberg, a professor of comparative sociology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., who has studied downsizing extensively.

His research showed that people who were fearful of losing their jobs but hadn’t lost them yet were more likely to suffer symptoms of poor health, such as headaches, indigestion and sleep disorders.

The widespread fear of layoffs, combined with an absence of any concrete information, also can have a deep impact on both morale and productivity, as workers find it hard to keep their minds on their jobs amid rumors about who could be next and anxiety over what will happen if they are the ones to get the pink slip.

‘Just a matter of time’
Every payday for the last two months, Jackie Hopkins has watched as some of her co-workers have been let go. And every payday, she’s wondered if she will be next.

“I know it’s just a matter of time,” she said.

The 40-year-old purchasing supervisor for a manufacturing company already has had both her wages and hours cut as the slowing economy has led to a drop in business.

Hopkins' fears are compounded by the fact that her husband, a welder, has been unemployed since October 2007. The couple lost their home of five years to foreclosure and are currently renting a trailer in Bremen, Ohio, and trying to save money wherever they can.

The situation has left her riddled with anxiety, worried about doing her best at work and consumed at home with looking at job sites and wondering how she will pay her bills and keep food on the table.

“This is something that consumes my whole life,” she said. “It’s all I think about.”

Hopkins said one of the hardest parts is that she actually has always loved her job, which she has held for nearly eight years, and would never have thought of leaving. Even now she is trying to keep her morale up despite her worries about her own future.

“You try to let the company know that yeah, you’re rooting for them and everything else, but deep down inside it’s like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do when I’m on the unemployment line?’ ” she said.

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