Steve Cates is no fan of downsizing/ restructuring/layoffs--whatever they're called lately. But Cates, now a core faculty member in the graduate school of management at Kaplan University, is also no stranger to layoffs: As long-time head of HR for Miller Brewing Co., he oversaw six successive rounds of layoffs that, over a period of years, sent almost 40 percent of the firm's workers out the door.

Are layoffs necessary? Much as he dislikes them--Cates decries the way some organizations have adopted layoffs as a handy way to manage, performed whenever sales dip--he acknowledges that restructuring or downsizing is sometimes the right response to changing markets. Compelling motives can include gaining economies of scale, centralizing specialized customer service or tech support functions, "flattening the organization" by eliminating unnecessary levels of management, and others. Specifically, restructuring may be truly necessary in the wake of a merger or acquisition.

As organizations like big pharmaceuticals either lay off huge numbers of workers (Pfizer) or are acquired by another firm and eliminate whole classes of jobs (Bayer), helping the remaining employees get through it is key, Cates says. He believes that the impact of layoffs is as bad or worse for survivors as for those ushered out. Their main worries, he points out, are the constant fear that they'll be next and uncertainty about their ability to handle all the work of their departed colleagues. In an organization that conducts multiple layoffs, those not selected go through the process over and over again.

He explains that those who are laid off experience a predictable progression of emotions: shock, denial, anger, healing, and refocus. A survivor's first reaction is very likely to be relief--but he or she then goes through the same series as a laid-off co-worker. And the relief phase slows the whole process down, so that healing and refocus are delayed. All these effects are magnified if survivors lost close friends or mentors through downsizing--and if additional rounds of layoffs follow.

Communicate before, during, and after downsizing. Survivors will be hungry for information about the organization's reasons for layoffs, what it hopes to accomplish, and how well it achieves its financial objectives in the aftermath. More pressing still will be their need for as much reassurance as is available that the future will be more stable. Managers need to understand that downsizing is traumatic for survivors, too, rather than assuming they feel lucky to have kept their jobs.

No matter what format is used for layoffs, and Cates has used six different modes and studied countless others, significant morale issues among survivors can't be avoided--there will be some disillusionment and depression. Supervisors should be armed with enough information by top management to help them answer, at least partially, the dozens of questions survivors are likely to ask.

Focus on Those Who Are Staying

Cates recommends these strategies for protecting the organization's reputation and productivity after layoffs.

• Provide significant severance packages and "outpatient" services to those being laid off. Otherwise, prospective candidates will hear that layoffs were insensitive and shun the organization.
• Give the remaining workers plenty of training in how to perform the extra tasks that they must take over from former colleagues.
• Boost the rate at which processes are automated, to relieve survivors of manual work.
• Rewrite survivors' job descriptions and ensure they are very clear on their responsibilities.
• Immediately after the restructure, instruct supervisors to cut the remaining employees some slack for a week or two, allowing them to grieve and readjust.
• Offer counseling for survivors to help them adapt to changes, especially to avoid the "survivor syndrome" of guilt that they still have jobs.
• Encourage top management to hold regular meetings with employees. They can focus on the  beneficial effects of restructuring and the company's progress. But they will also signal to the remaining employees that the organization takes their concerns seriously.
• Support teamwork and strive to help surviving workers rebuild their relationships with one another.