Unfortunately redundancy has become an all to common word and it has affected so many people in the current climate. I have personal experience of what this feels like and I am happy to admit it had an affect on my emotional wellbeing.
It is a fact when a person loses their job there is a whole host of emotions they may go through. Firstly, how the company handled the redundancy will impact how an individual reacts and how quickly they are able to accept the situation, remain positive and move on. Research has shown that the emotional impact of a redundancy can reflect the stages of grief people experience with a major loss such as a bereavement. These stages are; denial, anger, bargaining, depression and eventually acceptance. Helping individuals to move through the stages to acceptance in a redundancy situation requires an additional stage which is exploration (Blau & Devaro), which is situated after depression and prior to acceptance. Some individuals may find it difficult to move on from the depression stage and may need professional help and that is okay – it is okay to ask for help.
