Layoffs, Workaholism and Embracing Change

I never thought that I’d live to witness innovative IT companies laying off tens of thousands of people. For some reason I always thought that IT jobs were secure and that if you work hard enough to land a management job in that industry, you’re set for life. It seems I was wrong… No one is safe, not even skilled managers. The reality is that you, the manager, are also just a number in the senior leadership’s book, and sometimes, regardless of your performance, your name can get on the layoffs list. That’s the reality and we need to embrace it!

The saddest part about mass layoffs is that you get thrown out in a now overly competitive market. Surely, you are not the only manager who was laid off, so it will probably take you a few months (at least) to get back on your feet. So, there you go back to the drawing board: dust off your resume, apply to jobs, get no response, apply some more, ask your network if they can help you, get weak offers, get depressed, take a break, get back to job hunting.   

Getting laid off doesn’t only affect your financial wellbeing, but it also strips you of your hard-earned title and throws all your achievements down the drain – the latter hurts the most, especially if you are a workaholic.

The science of leadership shows us that workaholic managers produce great results (but wait, there’s a catch!). So why are workaholic managers so productive? These people are willing to sacrifice almost everything for the success of the organization they are part of. They are the people who put their career first, and consequently push away any distractions like hobbies and even their family. These people know the company inside-out and become obsessed with top performance. No wonder that, for them, getting laid off can be debilitating.

Workaholism is a disease. Workaholism is an addiction. I’m sad to say that I’m very familiar with this addiction as I’ve been experiencing it firsthand for many years. It took me quite a while to understand its pathogenesis. 

Typically, those who are to become workaholics grow up in an environment where self-worth becomes dependent on their accomplishments. To elaborate, if as a child you learned that you can only draw your role models’ (parents, teachers, etc.) attention and admiration when you perform well in school, then you might develop this addiction. Have this specific behavioral mechanism reinforced over time, and you’ll start associating your value as a human being with your professional achievements.

And here’s the harsh truth: workaholism is a compensatory behavior meant to push down your “I’m actually worthless” core belief. You are so obsessed with your work because you are nothing without it! 

Workaholism is a pandemic that is encouraged and sustained by our highly competitive society: the longer the hours you work, the more sacrifices you make to achieve professional success, the higher the chance that you’ll become employee of the month or manager of the year. 

I must underline the following fact: workaholic managers ARE NOT great managers! Workaholic managers are work machines with a high vulnerability for depression, and when they do get depressed their performance plummets.

Conversely, great managers live a balanced life and accept 2 important facts: (1) your job is important, but does not define who you are as a human and (2) change is natural: job stability does not exist. Having that in mind, great managers learn how to maintain their mental wellbeing and deliver great results over an extended period of time.

Great managers do not burn out because they don’t go “all in, all the time” at work. Taking breaks and disconnecting from work is of the utmost importance. Clear boundaries need to exist. Life outside of work is just as important as life at work. 

Great managers do not fall apart when being laid off, because they know there’s more to life than the job they lost. Having a well developed life outside of work (family, friends, hobbies) gives them the ability to recover quickly and move on to building other great projects.

Are you still not convinced? Do you still believe that “all in, all the time” is the only way to go? Join my thought experiment: what do you think will happen if you decide to stop grinding at work? What would happen then? You may respond “I can’t do that, I’ll lose my job!”. Ok. Then let me tell you that layoffs don’t always take individual performance into account. If your department is deemed too costly or non-essential, you’ll lose your job regardless of your hard work. 

So we now know that building your life around your work is detrimental, and we also know that some companies demand (covertly) that you sacrifice your physical and mental health to produce superior results. It’s clear that making a profit beats quality of life.

I believe that the current paradigm is flawed to begin with. We are set to fail. How do we fix it, then?

First, accept that you are more than your job, so start building a life outside of work as well – losing your job doesn’t mean you need to fall apart. And second, accept that you are not in control of your career and that no matter how hard you grind at work, you may still find yourself unemployed.

That being said, should you still set high goals for yourself and for your team and go the extra mile when needed? YES! Treat your job with respect and do the right thing, but maintain a flexible mindset. 

To conclude, remember that you are not the title you hold, you are not the money you make, and you are most definitely not your professional accomplishments. Instead, these elements are part of you… for a while.