A survey of work trauma on post redundancy survivors in Kenyan organizations

Abstract

The Kenyan businesses have been faced with strong economic factors that have forced organizations to review their cost posture and structures. Inevitably, staff reductions have had to be an option most organizations have considered, in-order to stay afloat. Statistics show organizations increasingly engaged in redundancies, but there is limited data showing how survivors of redundancies have coped with the impacts of this process. Unlike what is commonly believed, survivors of redundancies in organizations go through psychological trauma, just like the victims of change. These trauma factors resulted in low staff morale, which impacts negatively on staff productivity. Existing literature show the different forms of trauma staff underwent post redundancy exercises. It also shows survivors of redundancy were keen to re-negotiate the employment contracts with their employers. The research design used in this study was a cross sectional survey, and the population used in the survey was 76 organizations, all listed in the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) and Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) Management Databases. The findings were that a significant number of survivors of redundancy i.e. 70%, suffered various forms of trauma during and after redundancy exercises. Ironically, a significant percentage of survivors overcame all emotions of the redundancy exercise, and settled over time, although they had not integrated well into the new working systems.