Downsizing Creates ‘Me First’ Work Force

Almost half of all employees worry about losing their jobs, and this fear is breeding a “me first” attitude, making workers suspicious and impairing their creativity, workplace experts say.

Employee fears have grown steadily since 1990 as employers cut an estimated 3 million workers from their job rolls.

Workers who say they worry frequently about being laid off soared to 49% last year from 20% in 1990, according to a poll of 350,000 workers by International Survey Research Corp. of Chicago.

“We live in an age when every employee has good reason to worry about being laid off,” said Chicago outplacement authority James Challenger.

“No one is immune from the job-cutting ax. One day you are a member of a team and the next day your entire division is being dismantled,” Challenger said. “Clearly, employers have the upper hand.”

“Job security has taken a real downward leap,” agreed Jim West, editor of “Labor Notes,” a Detroit-based publication. He sees more employers cutting pay and benefits and sending work out to nonunion workers.

“If you’re a bank employee today,” commented Larry Pisacka, vice president of Bankers’ Bank of the West in Denver, “you have to be very concerned about your future in the industry.

“ ‘Am I going to be employed next week, next month, next year?’ they ask,” Pisacka said. “If a bank is acquired, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell how it affects morale,” he said.

Downsizing survivors often must take pay cuts of 30% to 40% and work part time, the banker said.

“Fears of downsizing cause employees to view each other with suspicion as they want to be the ones to survive,” said William Parr, director of the University of Tennessee’s Center for Advancement of Organizational Effectiveness.

“The knives come out. You might not have sabotage but you won’t go out of your way to help others,” Parr said.

“Employees who feel insecure can become suspicious about others, including their manager,” said Craig Dreilinger, president of a Bethesda, Md.-based firm that advises companies on downsizing.

Such employees “focus on organizational politics, concentrate on looking out for No. 1 rather than cooperating with the team, rely on their own judgments more [and] avoid risk,” Dreilinger said.

“Employees who feel an injustice has been done,” Dreilinger adds, “can reduce their contributions in very subtle ways that they feel won’t get them fired. They may avoid helping others . . . distance themselves from the organization.”

“There is less creativity and innovation,” said management consultant Craig Schneier of Pennington, N.J., as employees fear that “if they make a mistake they will be the next to go.”

“People more so than ever are looking out for themselves and focus on what they want out of their career as the old social contract is broken,” said Paul Kostek, of Seattle, chairman of career maintenance and development for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Downsizing, he said, not only has made engineers more cynical but it has swept away a level of managers they counted on for career guidance.

“I see more of a ‘me first’ attitude,” added management professor Abigail Hubbard at the University of Houston. “They’re focusing on ‘I’d better take care of myself’ and when we take care of ourselves we don’t focus on taking care of the organization.”