One Foot Out the Door

How to Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business

Author: Judith M. Bardwick
Pub Date: 2007
Your Price: $24.95
ISBN: 0814480586
Format: Hardcover

• Overview
• Listen to the podcast
• About the Author
• Sample Chapter
• Employee Commitment
• Customization
• Press Release
• The Psychological Recession
• Statistics
• Request an Evaluation Copy, INSTRUCTOR ONLY!

The Psychological Recession

Definition: A Psychological Recession is an emotional state in which people feel extremely vulnerable to economic hardship, leading to a dour view of the present and an even bleaker view of the future, which more often is not based on current reality. This gloomy mindset reinforces people’s perception of the world as a risky place in which they have little or no control. Anxiety, depression, and a sense of being powerless are a poisonous mix.

Cause: A Psychological Recession starts with fears surrounding the vital issue of job security. After years of familiarity with downsizing, outsourcing, and a cavalier corporate attitude that treats employees as costs and liabilities rather than key assets, most workers today no longer feel committed to their company or engaged in their work. The mood of pessimism and resigned acceptance of a permanently half-empty glass extends to business and the economy in general.

Progression: A Psychological Recession is self-fulfilling. Tragically, focusing on fears only reinforces them. In understandable but irrational ways, people who are frightened move ever forward toward panic. The prolonged, sustained fear that characterizes this condition assures that good news will be discounted while bad news is accepted as the stuff of reality.

Symptoms: The signs of a Psychological Recession are especially visible in the workplace. Chronically fearful people are too exhausted to be creative and innovative. Since they expect the worst to happen, they see no reason to give their all. As many as two-thirds of U.S. employees are either actively looking for new jobs or merely going through the motions at their current jobs. While they still show up for work each day, in the ways that really count, many have quit. This results in a measurable, significant loss of productivity.

Sufferers: This dire condition is now common among Americans of all ages, occupations, and income levels, including successful employed professionals. Not surprisingly, the Psychological Recession lies especially heavy among young Baby Boomers and GenXers, who came of age at the height of the good times and launched their careers believing there were no limits. Many well-educated and ambitious people in their late twenties, thirties, and forties feel cheated and scared by the bad luck of hard times.

Final Prognosis: A Psychological Recession is not just an idea; it is a real phenomenon with real consequences, all of them bad. When people are anxious and depressed for a long time, fear and despair replace optimism and faith. Given the fact that two-thirds of our gross domestic product is based on consumer spending, which is profoundly affected by consumer confidence, in the larger economic picture, this emotional condition is extremely dangerous.

Adapted from ONE FOOT OUT THE DOOR: How to Combat the Psychological Recession That’s Alienating Employees and Hurting American Business by Judith M. Bardwick, Ph.D. (Published by AMACOM Books).

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