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  3. It is a familiar scene these days: employees taking newly laid-off co-worker

It is a familiar scene these days: employees taking newly laid-off co-worker

游客2023-08-06  74
问题     It is a familiar scene these days: employees taking newly laid-off co-workers out for a consolation drink. But which side deserves sympathy more, the jobless or the still employed? On March 6, researchers at a conference at the University of Cambridge heard data suggesting it’s the latter compared with people who are straight-up laid off, those who keep their job but are under a constant threat of losing it suffer a greater decline in mental well-being.
    Brendan Burchell, a Cambridge sociologist, presented his analysis based on various surveys conducted across Europe. The data suggest that employed people who feel insecure in their job display similar levels of anxiety and depression as those who are unemployed. But whereas a newly jobless person’s mental health may "bottom out" after about six months, and then even begin to improve, the mental state of people who are perpetually worried about losing their job "just continues to deteriorate, getting worse and worse," Burchell says.
    Evolutionary psychologists support this theory by arguing that human beings feel more stress during times of insecurity because they sense an immediate but hard-to-discern threat. Patients have been known to experience higher levels of anxiety, for example, while waiting for results than knowing the diagnosis— even if the result is cancer. It’s better to get the bad news and start doing something about it rather than suffer in anxiety. When the uncertainty is prolonged, people stay in a sustained "fight or flight" response, which leads to damaging stress.
    But not every employee in insecure industries has such a gloomy view, Burchell says. Entrepreneurs seem to thrive. In general, women fare better too. While reporting higher levels of anxiety than men when directly questioned, women scored lower in stress on the GHQ 12, even when they had a job they felt insecure about losing. As Burchell explains, "For women, most studies show that any job—it doesn’t matter whether it is secure or insecure—gives psychological improvement over unemployment." Burchell hypothesizes that the difference in men is that they tend to feel pressure not only to be employed, but also to be the primary breadwinner, and that more of a man’s self-worth depends on his job.
    So what advice can Burchell offer to those lucky millions across the globe who are still employed but are worried about losing their job? After searching thoroughly through the surveys in search of the key to an even mental keel, Burchell came up with, "Nothing. Certainly some individuals cope better, but we don’t know why. It seems there are just certain things about job insecurity that can’t be overcome."
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