The economic forms under which men produce, consume and change are transitory and historical. By acquiring new productive forces, men change their mode of production.
Karl Marx (1846).
The loss of a job or employment, in any circumstance, is usually very painful, so much so that it is difficult to find meaning in life: it is one of the most difficult griefs to manage. The reality is that we are always in the possibility of living this experience, and it is important to know how to move on.
For the last three decades or so, many companies have been offering a support service called outplacement, aimed at people they decide to make redundant. It is a term that does not have a precise translation into other languages, but it refers to providing help for those employees to return to the labor market when they lose their jobs for various reasons, including retirement.
Companies hire a firm that helps them to offer a professional reorientation process, a policy increasingly used by corporations concerned about the future of people who have been part of their organization. They help to reflect and analyze the strengths and weaknesses, to accompany the transition and change to a new stage of life. Afterward, a search plan for a new job is developed, which includes updating the curriculum vitae and preparing for job interviews in new workplaces.
The people in charge of carrying out this collaboration are mental health professionals, so the process begins by analyzing the emotions, facing them without resistance, and feeling the pain of the loss. This grief affects people’s self-esteem and can create an emptiness as big as the one suffered after losing a loved one.
According to psychologist Gabriela Vergara, 80% of people know when their job will end or assume it, and 20% do not know or are taken by surprise; however, the emotional impact is always strong. There is a difference in the behavior of men and women in the face of job loss. It is common for men to resist acknowledging their grief, blame companies for firing them, lose the power that certain jobs give them, and refuse to show their grief in front of others. Sometimes they hide the news of their dismissal from their families, separate to live their process alone, and often fall into addictions.
On the other hand, women acquire occupations that replace the lost job, process grief and find motivation in different activities, are more expressive in showing their frustration with their loved ones, and do not resist crying.
The human resources specialist comments that the reason for suffering the loss of a job is due to the vision we have of work. For most people, work is everything and people define themselves through their work life.
Another important aspect is that we do not understand that losses occur at every moment of life and that, when we do not manage grief, cycles are never closed, we do not accept the endings and, for this reason, many people show irritability, lack of sleep and symptoms of depression.
If you find yourself in the situation of having lost your job, we suggest these #tools that could be useful to go through this grief. We share with you this video of Jane Stacey, the speaker for TED x Working where she comments on the personal transformation that occurs in these circumstances.
- Remember that you are not the job you lost, the job is a means to live, it is not everything. Avoid feeling guilty about what happened and start to turn the page.
- Seek new activities and learning, and prepare yourself for something better. Strengthen your virtues. Reinvent yourself.
- We understand that the loss of financial resources is critical. Generate a savings plan while you find a new job, it is a total life adjustment.
- Share your emotions with your family and loved ones, they will always support you.
- Grief may have a different duration for each person, but remember that suffering is optional and cannot last forever. Seek help.
- Grief, being part of life, is something for which we must prepare ourselves from childhood. Changes provoke grief, we must live it and experience the pain, for example: do not avoid the funerals of loved ones for children, and talk about death in the family, without avoiding the subject.
- Avoid attachment to material values and even to people, it helps to process losses. Find happiness within yourself.
At Del Pueblo Funeral Home we believe that facing grief transforms us and leads us to learnings that we would not otherwise obtain. Many people who have lost their jobs felt great despair at first but found new purpose, new skills they didn’t know about themselves, and great resilience in the face of adversity. Discovering these personal strengths brings great joy. Thus, we remind you that we make the most difficult moments easy.
