Commentary: ‘Was I chosen for retrenchment?’ How to deal with your emotions after getting laid off

SINGAPORE: I lately congratulated a buddy who impulsively secured a brand new job after enduring a pair of months of retrenchment. With a generous severance equipment, I had presumed he would favor the opportunity for a paid respite from work. Nonetheless, his unhappy countenance revealed a completely different narrative.

In a moment of vulnerability, he confided: “You know, I am unable to shake the feeling that I became the one chosen for retrenchment.” This assertion underscored the lingering sadness and self-doubt he harboured despite outward appearances of resilience.

In 2023, Singapore saw a primary surge in retrenchments, with 14,320 individuals dropping their jobs – a stark lengthen from 6,440 the outdated year.

This year alone, there salvage been no longer lower than 3,000 retrenchments in the necessary quarter, in response to preliminary data released by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Apr 30.

Factual before Could perchance per chance Day, a holiday intended to salvage an even time the contributions of workers, files broke that Yahoo and Ninja Van had laid off workers, prompting an announcement from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) about its “apprehension” over the timing of the workout routines.

Apart from Yahoo and Ninja Van, Apple has additionally laid off more than 600 workers following the termination of its self-riding automobile project, while Amazon Web Companies and products is putting off several hundred gross sales, advertising and tech roles, in the most modern sequence of retrenchments by father or mother Amazon, which has carve virtually 30,000 jobs for the explanation that end of 2022.

As layoffs increasingly change into a fashionable response by companies to annoying market prerequisites, I’ve noticed a corresponding upward push in psychological injure amongst individuals in my scientific practice.

Many patients salvage cited retrenchment, alongside with the chronic misfortune of job loss and ensuing insecurity, as main stressors triggering their depressive episodes or apprehension complications.