Friendly Fired

This article considers the idea of peer support for people experiencing compulsory or voluntary redundancy. It includes a case study of a successful redundancy support group.

A redundancy support group is for colleagues who have been made redundant from an organisation at roughly the same time, although there is some fluidity in that some people may join and others leave over the lifespan of the group.

Many of the difficulties people face having been made redundant are practical and emotional. Peer support helps individuals to overcome both. The practical, in terms of supporting each other through the change with advice or ideas, the emotional by helping people through the loneliness, loss of confidence or motivation and, in some cases, anger. Emotional departure does not always happen at the same time as physical departure and the time lag can be difficult to cope with, causing a sense of isolation and possibly strong feelings of need for affiliation as well as rejection. Being able to maintain the connection with the company through other leavers can ease the transition.

Peer pressure helps individuals to move forward - it is quite common for people to lose their desire to get things done when there is nobody around to encourage them, or who rely on the outcome. At work we are often motivated by our desire not to let down colleagues or to appear unreliable. Peer support provides for this function.

The group can be made up of people in a range of ways. It may be open to any employees of an organisation that have been made redundant or are facing redundancy, people from a particular functional area within the company, or based on level of seniority. While some of the advantages of mutual understanding are lost if a group comprises people from different organisations, this situation still has the potential to foster a valuable experience for the members.

The pros and cons of each model are:

All Employees

Advantages * Few people leaving * Small, tight knit organisation

Disadvantages * People with different needs and issues may not be able to help each other well