Why Is Losing A Job So Traumatic
Work is seen as an important part of human development and central to the human experience of meaning but not necessarily a precondition to live in a meaningful life.
"...- ensure a secure existence, on an improving basis
- ensure that activity work does not needlessly endanger intellectual, physical or psychological health
- fosters individual creativity in the social production process
- need to be compatible with worker competencies, whilst allowing the development of potential competencies. This means the individual has autonomy over decisions on what, with what and how to produce and for whom and what purpose
- fosters self-respect..."
R. Standing as quoted by Ryk Croukamp, 2018
Another way of understanding this:
"...- Physical needs, including the need for food, water, protection, warmth, rest, sex, and other physical needs. Employment provides the money to purchase these things, whereas retrenchment will endanger this security
- Safety needs may be threatened by the loss of income, protection against bodily harm, illness, medical insurance, pension, uncertainty, etc...... job security constitutes a very important component of this level of need
- Love and Acceptance. This level of need includes membership of groups, acceptance, friendship, understanding and care. These need to become more social in nature and fulfilled with contact with other people. Retrenchment therefore endangers this level of need through the disruption of contact at work with colleagues
- Egotistic needs include elements of pride, self-respect, self-confidence, acknowledgement, praise, status, etc. During this level of needs' satisfaction, the individual still feels wanted, needed and useful. Being retrenched will obliterate this level of need satisfaction......
- Self-actualisation will obviously be the last thing going through the mind of the retrenched employee. He may, however, feel incredibly betrayed by his management after being retrenched...."
M. A. DuToit as quoted by Ryk Croukamp, 2018
If these needs cannot be met in their work environment, they are met elsewhere, like in clubs (hobbies, sport, social, etc).
NB
"...if work stands central to the human being's existence, being unemployed has a significant bearing on his experience of life as being meaningful....found strong correlations between affective experiences, attitudes to work, and job application behaviour of unemployed people...... unemployed experience their state as very unpleasant, and associated the experience with boredom, loneliness, uncertainty about the future, concerns about financial matters, emptiness and conflict...... almost all them regarded work as important..."
H. De Witt et al as quoted by Ryk Croukamp, 2018
However there can be a short-lived feeling of euphoria, freedom, etc after losing one's job; this can be linked to the perceived feeling of independence and liberation from the many constraints of working life.
On the other hand, there is clear statistical evidence of a link between job insecurity and illness, eg anxiety, somatic symptoms, social dysfunction, hopelessness, worthlessness, depression, etc