Jump before your pushed!

Workers that choose to take voluntary redundancy are less depressed and are more motivated to find new work compared to workers who are made involuntarily redundant.

This is the finding of Dr Lea Waters from the University of Melbourne, Australia which will be published today, 29 May 2007, in the Journal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology (advance copies available on request)

The study questioned 216 job seekers (102 had voluntarily taken redundancy and 114 were made involuntarily redundant) about their job searches during unemployment as well as depression, perceived job insecurity, organisational commitment and perceived quality of re-employment once a new job was obtained.

The results show that once unemployed, workers who volunteered for redundancy experienced lower levels of depression and engaged in more job-search activity than those who lost their job involuntarily. Workers who were made involuntarily redundant felt powerless and this made them less motivated to find new work. This is reflected in their comments;

ìI didnít want to leave my last job, it was my boss who made the decision. Now it seems that recruiters and prospective employers make the decisions about my next job and my lifeí or ìMy outplacement advisor keeps showing me ways to improve my resume. What is the point? Iíll probably get the boot from the next job anywayí.

Furthermore those who were involuntarily made redundant and then re-employed, felt more insecure at work, were less committed to their organisation and felt the quality of their new work-life was worse than before.

Dr Waters said ìImportantly, this study indicates that depression and the motivation to look for a new job are influenced not only by the individual but also by the way in which the organisation handles the job exit process. In particular, the results suggest that organisations may help to minimize depression of their redundant employees by offering voluntary redundancy options.î

Dr Waters added ìThese results are also important for managers who need to consider the way in which a person exited their previous job in order to understand his/her full reaction upon re-employment.î