or breakthrough makes it possible to replace a previously human job. It is also an all-too-common scenario that outside influences such as sudden shifts in the market or changed government policies force corporate executives to make coinciding decisions regarding their staff and these external changes. Another one of the major problems in today’s business world are the salaries being paid to the workers. Since employers are not paying their workers high wages, the workers have little to put back into the economy. This causes the system to plummet and forces companies to downsize to keep from going under.The downsizing of a company can affect employees before, during and after it occurs. Employees usually know of a possible downsizing (care of the almighty grapevine) months before it is supposed to happen. Thus, employees may become paranoid and self-absorbed, and their top priority is their own career rather than the bottom line of their employer. This causes them to be unfocused and prevents them from performing their jobs efficiently. Many workers would also be perfectly willing to stab their peer(s) in the back in hopes of keeping their job. Usually when a downsizing is complete, the company is at an all-time low. This is due to the fact that in almost every merger, acquisition or downsize, employees are faced with uncertainty about their jobs before and after the restructure. After a large percentage of downsizes, ten percent of the remaining workforce will easily adapt to the change, while another ten percent will never adapt (Hollreiser 27). Workers who survive the downsize often have feelings of anger, fear or distrust. Further internal problems result from employees who survive with the company, but cannot adapt to their new settings and expectations, and eventually quit their job. Many steps can be taken to ease the transition of the employees after downsizing occurs. For the employees who were let go from the compa...
